Daily Light: Reflections for Holy Times - Tuning Into Something New

Tuning in to Something New by Caroline Martin

I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? Isaiah 43:19a

We live in the 21st century—around 2000 years since the early followers of Christ lived and Jesus, the one sent from God, walked the earth, and around 2,800 years after the prophets of Israel and Judah brought the word of the Lord to God’s people that God was going to do a new thing. The Day of the Lord was coming, a new covenant would replace the old one. Can we conclude that God still is creating a new way? Can our prayers for the coming of the kingdom in fullness be real? Can we wait in faith; can we prepare the way? Do we hope, trust today?

Knowing God’s ways, finding God’s presence, hearing God’s directives, is not often clear. For most of us the word of the Lord is not written large nor are we often ready to receive. We have lives to live, responsibilities to meet, and a world to engage. Time set aside to become attuned to our Creator, to bear witness to the good news of Jesus, and to nurture the spirit life within, though our intention and definitive we say of who we are, because we are overwhelmed by our own affairs, is often missing from our daily living. People of faith through the ages tell us that knowing God and the self in God requires work, dedicated time, and perseverance. Times of contemplation and prayer train the mind to be open to the divine.

Recent scientific investigations of the brain and our mind suggest that the development of our consciousness, the activity of our mind, follows the emerging pattern of all of the universe, which implies that we are a part of the wholeness that is reality. Our consciousness according to the research of Roger Sperry depends both on a particular region of the brain and its complexity which is a function of the degree of its interconnectedness. Exponentially increasing feedback and feedforward loops create a brain that is a multilayered frequency receptor. As we tune in, we pick familiar frequency patterns and “train” the mind. If we become locked into fixed loops we will fail to evolve or, in other words, we will be forced to live in a particular static reality. The brain is now known to have a certain degree of plasticity and is continually in flux and potentially creating new. It is an open system operating on many levels. Meditation or contemplation can focus the brain and allow the mind to center on its inner reality. Repeated meditative practice can develop a mind that is freed from egocentric narrowness and false identities. According to Ilia Delio, over the years a contemplative practice of conscious emptying of the mind of thinking brings us “not [to] nothingness but, paradoxically, [to] ‘all-ness’ or ‘oneness.’…[This reveals] the deepest core of oneself beyond thought, words and concept, the level at which there is no separate ‘I.’ Only when we experience emptiness can our innate compassion arise.”

This silencing can increase our chances of perceiving the new thing God is doing that now springs forth. Continuing or establishing a regular time of contemplation this Advent may be the means we need to heal, to perceive, to be instruments of making all things new as God intends. Will you try?

Lord, save us from misusing your words and help us stay awake. Amen.

Caroline Martin

Retreat House Covenant Partner

Trained Spiritual Director

This excerpt is part of Retreat House’s Daily Light series. To sign up to receive these, email us.