Exciting AND depressing Holiness!
Yes - I was back on Iona yesterday, working at future plans for Bishop's House. [What a gem, I wish more of our Diocese and indeed the Scottish Episcopal Chuyrch would use it.]The wind and the rain made following anybody and anything an interesting challenge. All kinds of emotions 'flooded' (!) through me as I stepped on to the jetty. I tried to imagine the practical concerns of Columba and the early community on Iona: Travel by boat and foot, taking so much time... patience.... Planning and diary dates would not really be that useful! Making something out of cultivation on the island, the daily chores, [for example....primitive sewage systems not working properly...] writing a little, reading a little and praying.... Oh and who are they arriving in that strange boat? Emotions? Fear, boredom, tiredness, excitement, wonder, anger.... the usual? I suspect so.
So the next little stage on the journey inwards is about the emotions. Remember, I don't call them 'my' emotions, but the emotions that I experience within me. Of course, I take responsibility for them. The difficult emotions are sometimes hard to handle. The temptation is then to shift them on to someone else. Taking responsibility for myself - is the key. In fact, I can't really take resposibility for anyone else at all! Yes, I can be careful and creative with you as a process of loving you and serving you. I can't however, take responsibility for you - just me! So I spend time in the silence being aware of the emotions that course through me; not identifying with them, just watching and and accepting even the difficult ones. If I feel good about you, then the feelings I have are within me, not you! If I feel negative towards you, its not you that has the feelings, it's me....! Difficult? Of course. That's why paying attention to these feelings is essential work in prayer. In Christian terms, it is the Spirit that enables the discernment to happen within me so that can respond more truthfully... out of love and not of possession, or out of resentment...
Big subject this....! Just notice your emotions and Christ presence will be in the noticing.
+Martin
Argyll and The Isles.
So the next little stage on the journey inwards is about the emotions. Remember, I don't call them 'my' emotions, but the emotions that I experience within me. Of course, I take responsibility for them. The difficult emotions are sometimes hard to handle. The temptation is then to shift them on to someone else. Taking responsibility for myself - is the key. In fact, I can't really take resposibility for anyone else at all! Yes, I can be careful and creative with you as a process of loving you and serving you. I can't however, take responsibility for you - just me! So I spend time in the silence being aware of the emotions that course through me; not identifying with them, just watching and and accepting even the difficult ones. If I feel good about you, then the feelings I have are within me, not you! If I feel negative towards you, its not you that has the feelings, it's me....! Difficult? Of course. That's why paying attention to these feelings is essential work in prayer. In Christian terms, it is the Spirit that enables the discernment to happen within me so that can respond more truthfully... out of love and not of possession, or out of resentment...
Big subject this....! Just notice your emotions and Christ presence will be in the noticing.
+Martin
Argyll and The Isles.
posted by Martin at 8:34 am
7 Comments:
What do we consider the desireable emotional state? Contentment? An easy acceptance of where we are at the moment? That would encompass the wonky sewage system, the rain, the boredom, wouldn't it? Or are we like the people Stephen Fry was talking to and about the other evening - the people with bi-polar disease who said they wouldn't want to be cured because the highs were so good/ Sorry - too many questions. But I think we have to come to terms with our emotions, no matter how wildly they swing, and accept them rather than accepting extraneous factors - love ourselves because God loves us, sort of thing?
Maybe the 'desirable emotional state' is not 'stasis' but fluidity, the freedom to respond with'lightness of being' to whatever is going on at the time . This is Clare I forgot my password.
I have spent two retreats at Bishops House - Iona is the most wonderful, emotional, restful place I have ever experienced; and feeling that God is everywhere on the Island. I also agree with Chris, - love ourselves because God loves us.
Bishop's House is a great place and I've enjoyed taking people there in the past.
However, you do have to pay out a lot of money up front before a booking can be accepted. It makes it hard for treasurers of congregations to feel any great enthusiasm when someone says - "Let's go to Bishop's House". This must be particularly difficult for smaller congregations.
I had written a comment when I thought again about what you said and started to consider why I had reacted to some of the comments.
I realised it was 'me' reacting (albeit to external stimuli), but it was the result of 'my' baggage which I was carrying.
Possibily not my emotions, but my responsibility!
Thanks Martin. I may not be quite as adrift as I was before.
I think the SEC do use Bishop's House but as you have to book about 3 years ahead it makes it difficult to raise enthusiasm. And as Kelvin said, it is not the cheapest place to stay for some of our little flocks, not to mention to deposit thing.
I'd love to go to Bishop's House but it would appear harder to get a booking there than at The Ivy!
John.
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