Isaiah’s Advice

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gossip, hearsay, inner work, Isaiah, judgmental, prayer, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

My two-day hiatus from writing was not because I was buried in the snow but I must admit to feeling the quiet and the inactivity that such a weather event has on me. I prefer to move with the silence that the storm engenders when there is no accompanying wind. Yesterday was certainly a day to attend to inner work even while looking out the window. Today I am back to checking what Isaiah has to say; his voice is very often present during this season of Advent. This morning he makes reference to King David as “the shoot” that will “sprout from the stump of Jesse,” (his father). He says a lot of hopeful things but there’s one statement that seems quite appropriate for our times and to which we might turn our attention for this day.

Not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearsay shall he decide…(IS 11:3)

Just think about that for a moment. Consider all the hearsay on the internet and the gossip in magazines. Think of how celebrities are hounded and the political scene has turned into a race for scandalous tidbits. People are judged by the clothes they wear or the color(s) of their hair or the way they speak or how much money they have – because of course the media has shown us all that information.

Do I sound harsh or judgmental? If so, it’s probably because I think we’ve gone too far down this “information highway.” And don’t get me wrong. I can easily get seduced by a headline and follow it until I wake up and ask myself what the point of my search is…I’d be better off reflecting on Chapter 11 of Isaiah!

Getting to the bottom of things is different from digging in the dirt. We would do well to consider our sources and our own biases when making decisions about people in our lives, those who lead our organizations, candidates for office and the person who just joined our church. Finally, our prayer might well be that the Spirit of the Lord will be upon us, calling us always to look for and to find the truth in love.

Stop Judging!

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Center Prayer and Inner Awakening, centering prayer, clarify, Cynthia Bourgeault, hearsay, honesty, Jesus, judge, Matthew, Ope Mind Open Heart, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas Keating

One of the “tricky” faculties of the human mind is our ability to judge. We need to be “razor-sharp” in using the quality of discrimination – knowing first the two sides of that “coin” – while refraining from making judgments based on insufficient information, hearsay or our own narrow perspective. To clarify what might sound rather complicated in that sentence, I have two examples.

1. In Matthew’s gospel text for this morning I heard Jesus say to his disciples: Stop judging, that you may not be judged…Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?…(MT 7:1-5) Jesus is so clear in asking us to look in the mirror of honesty rather than thinking too much of ourselves in relationship to others.
2. I always explain to people who ask, that the major positive effect that my ten years of centering prayer* has had in my life is that it has made me a less judgmental person. The practice of letting go of thoughts during the prayer allows me to “let go” of other things in daily living. Circumstances that would have previously caused me consternation are often “just the way it is” now – including times when I have felt myself less than successful. That helps me to allow other people to be imperfect as well.

The key to all of this discrimination (the good side of seeing honestly, i.e. the difference between one thing and another, as in “discrimination between right and wrong” rather than a prejudicial stance toward a category of things – or people) is awareness. We need to wake up to our thoughts and where they come from, to our motivations and where they move us. Walking mindfully through our days is a goal to be achieved one moment at a time.

*See Cynthia Bourgeault’s book Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening and/or Thomas Keating’s Open Mind, Open Heart.