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When I teach high school students why the arts are important I use this analogy. I ask them to imagine that everyday on the way to school they passed a statue - a piece of public art. Say they are 5 years old walking to school and everyday they walk by this statue. It’s big, its abstract, its a bit scary even. Perhaps it invokes a feeling in them. Perhaps they tell themselves a story about super heroes or monsters. Jump forward. Now they’re ten years old. Now when they walk by the statue, they see it for what it is. A man sitting on a horse. The horse and the man are round. Maybe they ask themselves, “why are the horse and rider so fat?” Jump again. Now they’re 15. They have so many things going on in their lives, now as they walk by the statue they barely notice the statue that they’ve passed every day since Kindergarten. Let’s jump way ahead. They’re 50. They come back to show their own children the path they used to walk to school everyday. Now when they walk, they are struck by the statue. It’s not just nostalgia. They see the expression on the face of the rider as he looks to the side, in pursuit of something. They notice the forward facing and downward tilt of the horses’ head. There’s a sense of duty in the action of the horse that they understand. They identify with both the horse and the rider. -- Our experience informs the message. As humans we can’t help but filter life through not just our experience but our own God-given imaginations.
Ignatian contemplation is part of the “Spiritual Execises” developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, in the early 16th century. These weren’t new by any means, but Ignatius made them into a system that both religious and lay people could follow to grow their spiritual lives. This specific exercise he called “composition of place” and it uses our imagination as a form of prayer. Father James Martin in his book Together on Retreat: Meeting Jesus in Prayer, describes it this way:
“You ‘compose the place’ by imagining yourself in a scene from the Bible or in God’s presence and then taking part in it. It’s a way of allowing God to speak to you through your imagination.” Father Jim at first thought this was crazy until his spiritual director said to him, “If God can work through relationships, through our intellect, through church services, through music, through nature, why couldn’t God work through our imagination? We’re not making things up, but rather trusting that our imagination can help lead us to the one who created it: God.
Here’s how it works:
What I love about this is it allows us to interact with scripture from exactly where we are right now in our lives. Just like the statue of the horse and rider, you can come back to the same scripture in two years, five years, ten years and different things will stand out to us as its filtered through our experience and imagination.
Now - in thinking about how we change and how we filter information, I’d like for you to reflect on, journal about, discuss these questions:
For this week’s action:
Start to notice when your images of God come up for you that are more linked to the past rather than what you truly believe now. For example, perhaps just take the image of an angry God. Set an intention to notice moments when you feel you “should” do something because to not do it would make someone (God) angry. Or, notice how many times you fall into shame. Or notice if you bargain with God. or hide from God. Choose something and then actually keep a record.
When I teach high school students why the arts are important I use this analogy. I ask them to imagine that everyday on the way to school they passed a statue - a piece of public art. Say they are 5 years old walking to school and everyday they walk by this statue. It’s big, its abstract, its a bit scary even. Perhaps it invokes a feeling in them. Perhaps they tell themselves a story about super heroes or monsters. Jump forward. Now they’re ten years old. Now when they walk by the statue, they see it for what it is. A man sitting on a horse. The horse and the man are round. Maybe they ask themselves, “why are the horse and rider so fat?” Jump again. Now they’re 15. They have so many things going on in their lives, now as they walk by the statue they barely notice the statue that they’ve passed every day since Kindergarten. Let’s jump way ahead. They’re 50. They come back to show their own children the path they used to walk to school everyday. Now when they walk, they are struck by the statue. It’s not just nostalgia. They see the expression on the face of the rider as he looks to the side, in pursuit of something. They notice the forward facing and downward tilt of the horses’ head. There’s a sense of duty in the action of the horse that they understand. They identify with both the horse and the rider. -- Our experience informs the message. As humans we can’t help but filter life through not just our experience but our own God-given imaginations.
Ignatian contemplation is part of the “Spiritual Execises” developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, in the early 16th century. These weren’t new by any means, but Ignatius made them into a system that both religious and lay people could follow to grow their spiritual lives. This specific exercise he called “composition of place” and it uses our imagination as a form of prayer. Father James Martin in his book Together on Retreat: Meeting Jesus in Prayer, describes it this way:
“You ‘compose the place’ by imagining yourself in a scene from the Bible or in God’s presence and then taking part in it. It’s a way of allowing God to speak to you through your imagination.” Father Jim at first thought this was crazy until his spiritual director said to him, “If God can work through relationships, through our intellect, through church services, through music, through nature, why couldn’t God work through our imagination? We’re not making things up, but rather trusting that our imagination can help lead us to the one who created it: God.
Here’s how it works:
- Take a passage from Scripture that you enjoy. Read the passage to yourself or out loud. The prayer invites you to enter into the scene to “compose the place” by imagining yourself in the story with as much detail as you can.
- Use your senses to enter the story:
- What do I see?
- What do I hear?
- What do I smell?
- What do I taste?
- What do I feel?
- You don’t merely watch the scene as if it were a movie. You let it unfold as though you were a part of it. Let it play out in your imagination with as little judgement as possible. Let yourself be pulled into what is interesting to you. A detail or a person.
- Just gently allow God to lead you through the story in your imagination.
What I love about this is it allows us to interact with scripture from exactly where we are right now in our lives. Just like the statue of the horse and rider, you can come back to the same scripture in two years, five years, ten years and different things will stand out to us as its filtered through our experience and imagination.
Now - in thinking about how we change and how we filter information, I’d like for you to reflect on, journal about, discuss these questions:
- How has your image of God changed as you’ve become an adult?
- What things did you let go of?
- What helpful things did you hold onto?
- How do you continue to deepen your image of God?
For this week’s action:
Start to notice when your images of God come up for you that are more linked to the past rather than what you truly believe now. For example, perhaps just take the image of an angry God. Set an intention to notice moments when you feel you “should” do something because to not do it would make someone (God) angry. Or, notice how many times you fall into shame. Or notice if you bargain with God. or hide from God. Choose something and then actually keep a record.
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