In some expressions of religion, certainly in the evangelicalism with which I was familiar growing up, separation was quite important. Morality, and spirituality were often described in terms that equated holiness or righteousness with a standing against. You may be familiar with this way of understanding. Perhaps, you were told that you were “not like everyone else,” that you were somehow supposed to be better.
If there was a motion of the spiritual life, it was a motion mostly away from rather than towards. I suppose you could say that the teachers of such a system would argue that this kind of spirituality was a moving towards God. The idea that you can ever move towards God by moving away from people, from humanity, is counter to the very heart of Christian faith. In my experience, both personally and pastorally, faith marked by separation, a holiness of division, also tended to produce fear and angst and spiritual anxiety. It tended towards psychological damage.
Recently I read a description of motion that said it “is not just another accidental characteristic, like being blue or round, but is foundational in some deeper way.”
In other words, motion is key to life. It certainly is key to hopeful Christian faith.
The same book described an incident of vertigo experienced by a 62-year-old man living in Vienna. This man reported that when he attempted to cross the street, he perceived that cars were rushing towards him very quickly, both from the right and the left. When he focused his vision towards the cars, they seemed to be moving very slowly. The same thing happened with pedestrians. In his more peripheral field of vision they moved very quickly, but in the centre of his field of vision they moved very slowly.
This description reminded me of the old Mario Brothers video game in which some of the villains that worked for the demise of the character (the ghost - Boo) moved much quicker than Mario when Mario was moving away, but froze when you, as a player, turned Mario towards them.
It becomes a prayer. It doesn’t take much convincing to show that Christians, in many places and examples, have come to be characterized by being against people, by moving away from them.
The prayer is that, today, I would be open to consider that, at pretty much each moment, I can find life in moving towards. I can seek to move towards people in understanding, in conversation, in interaction. We can even think of this moving towards in other relationships, with nature, with quiet. As much as stillness can mean peace, it can be enlivening and comforting to consider that motion towards brings a kind of stillness of mind and soul.
Dear God,
Thank you for the gift of this day. Grant that I would be open to the motion towards others, towards life and understanding. Thank you that the heart of hopeful faith is that you move towards us. May we know stillness of spirit in this life giving motion.
Great article..and I would add that, since God is omnipresent, when we move away from others are we actually also moving away from God?