Awakening to Wholeness is a series of prompts, reflections, and teachings about how holding the tension of opposites can help us to heal division and experience wholeness. If you feel moved to share your own reflections, we invite you to email us with the subject line “Wisdom of Opposites” or tag us on social media with #EHoPWisdomOfOpposites.
One of the Christian creeds makes a reference to “all things visible and nonvisible.” Things visible are easier to see, yet often harder to deal with. While things invisible are harder to see, but perhaps easier to dismiss, and consequently easier to deal with.
Yet, most of us are familiar with the pattern of what happens when we bottle up, or do not deal with, invisible things like emotions. Over time, they bubble back up from within, and sometimes exploding in the form of very-visible behaviors. This is especially true with strong emotions such as anger, shame, and jealousy.
One might question, then, whether the invisible things have as much, or any, power when compared to the visible ones. Is a thing only powerful once it blasts past the surface of visibility? Invisible things are certainly more difficult to perceive. They are more subtle, and we usually must at least pause, if not totally stop, in order to catch them, to reflect on them. I suspect that most anyone who has tried to become aware of thoughts, feelings and sensations as they sit to attempt quiet, still prayer, would certainly attest to the persistent power of invisible things!
Perhaps the best reflection is not whether things visible or things invisible are more powerful, but what of the force that arises when we connect the two? For good or for bad, we can choose, or not, to make a connection between things visible, exterior, and things invisible, interior. What might become of our choice?
Contemplative Questions
We offer the following questions as prompts to help you reflect on the presence of opposites in your spiritual practice and your life.
- Think about the visible forces that are at play in your life. What role do they play in your life, experiences, spirituality?
- Think about the nonvisible forces that are at play, from emotions to spirituality and beyond. What role do they play? What happens when you ignore or bottle them up?
- How do the visible and nonvisible things connect (or not)? What new force arises when you choose to integrate the two?
Join the conversation! If you feel moved to share your reflections, we invite you to email us with the subject line “Wisdom of Opposites” or tag us on social media with #EHoPWisdomOfOpposites.
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Christine Luna Munger
Christine Luna Munger, PhD currently serves as the director of the Episcopal House of Prayer. She previously served as Coordinator of the Spiritual Direction Certificate and Professor of Theology at St. Catherine University. She regularly writes, teaches, and leads group prayer sits at EHoP.
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