Thursday, November 21, 2024
At the center of every crisis
is an inner space
so deep, so beckoning,
so suddenly and daringly vast,
that it feels like a universe,
feels like God.
When the unthinkable happens,
and does not relent,
we fall through our hubris
toward an inner flow,
an abiding and rebirthing darkness
that feels like home.
—Barbara Holmes, “What Is Crisis Contemplation?”
Dr. Barbara Holmes explains the essential conditions that give rise to crisis contemplation:
The crisis begins without warning, shatters our assumptions about the way the world works, and changes our story and the stories of our neighbors. The reality that was so familiar to us is gone suddenly, and we don’t know what is happening….
If life, as we experience it, is a fragile crystal orb that holds our daily routines and dreams of order and stability, then sudden and catastrophic crises shatter this illusion of normalcy. The crises … are usually precipitated by circumstances beyond the ordinary. I am referring to oppression, violence, pandemics, abuses of power, or natural disasters and planetary disturbances.
Until the moment that the crisis begins, you feel relatively safe and situated. Suddenly, everything changes. You are stolen from your village, placed in chains, and loaded onto ships headed to the Americas to be sold as slaves. Or, you are rounded up, placed on trains headed for a German death camp: Auschwitz, Treblinka, Bergen-Belsen, or Dachau. Or, upon the orders of the US government, you and members of your tribe are rounded up to begin a forced march from native lands in North Carolina to Oklahoma. Or, without warning, they send you and other Asian neighbors to internment camps. In each circumstance, some of you will survive the experience, but many of you will not. [1]
Holmes reflects on the distinct nature of crisis contemplation:
When the ordinary isn’t ordinary anymore and the crisis is upon us, the self can center in this refuge that I am calling “crisis contemplation,” a space that is neither the result of spiritual seeking nor the voluntary entry into meditative spaces. It is a cracking open, the rupture and shattering of self, community, expectations, and presumptions about how the world works. It is the result of trauma, freefall, and wounding….
Contemplation after or during crisis is a stillness in the aftermath of a primal scream, the abyss of unknowing, and the necessity of surviving the trauma together. Perhaps our definitions of “contemplation” need adjustment to reflect our unique social locations and inward journeys. .
+bodies as engaged as our minds, but we must relinquish control and seek grounding within the mystical depths of inner spaces. [2]
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Sarah Young; Jesus Calling: November 21
Thank Me throughout this day for My Presence and My Peace. These are gifts of supernatural proportions. Ever since the resurrection, I have comforted My followers with these messages: Peace be with you, and I will with you always. Listen as I offer you My Peace and Presence in full measure. The best way to receive these glorious gifts is to thank Me for them.
It is impossible to spend too much time thanking and praising Me. I created you first and foremost to glorify Me. Thanksgiving and praise put you in proper relationship with Me, opening the way for My riches to flow into you. As you thank Me for My Presence and Peace, you appropriate My richest parts.
RELATED SCRIPTURE:
Luke 24:36 (NIV)
Jesus Appears to the Disciples
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
Additional insight regarding Luke 24:36-43: Jesus’ body wasn’t a figment of the imagination or the appearance of a ghost – the disciples touched him, and he ate food. On the other hand, his body wasn’t a restored human body like Lazarus’ (John 11) – Jesus was able to appear and disappear. Jesus’ resurrected body was immortal. We will receive this kind of body at the resurrection of the dead (see 1st Corinthians 15:42-50).
Matthew 28:20 (NIV)
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Additional insight regarding Matthew 28:20: How is Jesus with us? Jesus was with the disciples physically until he ascended into heaven and then spiritually through the Holy Spirit (see Acts 1:4). The Holy Spirit would be Jesus’ presence that would never leave them (see John 14:26), Jesus continues to be with us today through his Spirit.
Hebrews 13:15 (NIV)
15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.
