“To know God’s presence we need to adopt an attitude of awareness” (Fr. Marko Ivan Rupnik, S.J.).
I enjoy reading personal development blogs. I benefit from the insights that many bloggers offer on how to improve our lives, how to be more productive, and how to stay balanced and positive. A recurring theme that many personal development bloggers write about is mindfulness.
Mindfulness has it roots in Buddhist teaching. It’s really a spiritual state of being which enables us live in calmness, being deeply mindful of who we are, what we’re doing, and the world around us. We can walk mindfully, eat mindfully, work mindfully, and interrelate mindfully. It’s a state of peace and awareness which ultimately, Buddhism teaches, leads us to enlightenment.
Most proponents of mindfulness teach that to foster the state of mindfulness we need to practice it. We need to learn how to meditate, and then allow the peace and calm of meditation to permeate our daily lives.
I do see value in mindfulness. My reading about mindfulness has helped me to understand more deeply that It is a noble aspiration to live in a state of peace and calm, particularly in our hectic culture. However, while reading about it I have also been left with a feeling of emptiness. In the two books that I read, there was never a single reference to a personal, loving God.
The other day, as I was reading another book, I came across this sentence: “To know God’s presence we need to adopt an attitude of awareness.” This led me to ask the question, is there a Christian version of mindfulness? Sort of, but it’s called “Living in God’s Presence.“ This is the awareness to which the author, Fr. Rupnik, is referring.
Mindfulness is good, but I believe that in our hearts we desire more than just peace and calm; we desire to be loved. We desire eternal love.
The difference between mindfulness and living in God’s presence is that mindfulness is all about what I’m doing to bring myself to peace, calm and enlightenment, whereas living in God’s presence is focused on God’s action, His grace, and His loving presence in my life. Living in God’s presence, then, is actually more transcendent. Living in God’s presence takes us out of ourselves and focuses us on Him, whereas mindfulness seems to focus us more on ourselves.
Mindfulness is good if we take it to the next level of using it be aware of God’s loving presence. For example, when I sit down to pray I might take a few moments to be aware of my surroundings, my breathing, and my body. But then I turn my focus to the Lord’s love for me. It seems to me that mindfulness for the sake of mindfulness still leaves us with an awareness of the space inside of us that longs to be loved.
True, mindfulness is a way to live in peace and calm, but living in God’s presence also brings us peace and calm while enabling us to know that we are loved by a personal God.
All of the mindfulness buzz reveals a deep truth of our existence: we are spiritual beings. We desire peace, calm, and love. But where do these desires come from? I believe they come from God. Our spiritual desires are God’s way of pointing us back to Him while leaving us with the free will to choose to receive His love or reject it.
To live in a state of peace and calm is good; to live each day knowing that I am loved by a personal God is better. To live each day knowing that I can be in a personal friendship with the Lord of creation, that I can begin to experience here a taste of the peace, joy, and happiness I will experience in the hereafter, is one of the deepest longings of the human soul.
So go ahead, practice mindfulness: be mindful of who you are, what your are doing, and the beauty around you; but go deeper. Live in God’s presence each day and know that you are loved by Him and that He is showering His grace upon you.
I’d love to hear your thoughts. You don’t have to agree with me; it makes the conversation more vibrant! Please feel free to comment.
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