Day Two - Silence vs A Lack Of Noise - Outer vs Inner Silence.

One of the books that had a profound influence on me in my earlier years of following Jesus was 'The Way of a Pilgrim.' For those who don't know it, it is a Nineteenth Century work recording the pilgrimage of a young man across Ukraine, Russian and Siberia. He has been struck by St Paul's words in 1Thessalonians 5:17 to '... pray without ceasing' and the book records his inner and outer journey to discover what that means using what is now known as the Jesus Prayer,

'... Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner...'

The prayer has been important to my own spiritual journey, to the point that I say the prayer regularly, and my purple stole (worn in the penitential seasons of the Church year) has the words of the prayer appliqued on it.

~~~

As I set out on my walk this morning I decided that I would pray the Jesus prayer as I went.

I get the most out of the prayer by doing one of the exercises the the pilgrim is given in the book and to use my breathing:

As I breathe in I say 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God... '

As I breathe out I say '... have mercy on me a sinner.'

So the dog and I made my round a lake in the morning sun. Praying in, praying out. 

What I noticed was how few people there were out walking. It gave a sense that the place was as much a gift to me as was the time. Breathe in. Breathe out. One foot in front of another. Prayer in. Prayer out.

I understand something about the physiology of deep breathing, and the affect that the extra oxygen has on my system. I understand the impact that that has on my inner world. One foot in front of the other. Breathe in. Breathe out. Prayer in. Prayer out. All of that transforms an ordinary walk into a spiritual experience.

I noticed the trees and the shrubs as I walked. I noticed the sky and the birds. They were there just because they were. This morning they were there because they were meant to be. Their purpose in the world was being fulfilled in just being there. As they were, they radiated what I can only describe as glory. I noticed, as I walked past, that each tree, each shrub, each bird had something extra. It is there all the time but as I walked one foot in front of the other, breath in, breath out, prayer in, prayer out I got just a little glimpse... It reminded me of an experience that Thomas Merton wrote about in 'Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander',

“In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world, the world of renunciation and supposed holiness… This sense of liberation from an illusory difference was such a relief and such a joy to me that I almost laughed out loud… I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.”

This all transformed an ordinary walk into something quite extraordinary.

It felt like love.