A Decluttered Inner Life
Recently, Sandee and I started the process of converting a part of our home into a Christian Meditation and Retreat Centre. This requires us to create sacred spaces for conducting the planned sessions. In doing so I became astonished at the amount of unnessary stuff that we had accumulated over the years, that now cluttered up space. It brought me to thinking of my mind and the understanding of an inner or interior life.
So often in my evangelizing, I refer to having an inner life and persons look at me quizzically. I imagine they think - ‘but I already have an inner life and it causes me anxiety and stress that prevents me from having a good night’s sleep’. They probably understand an interior life to mean all that goes on in the mind - imaginings, fears, worries, regrets and the incessant stream of thoughts that occupy us.
An inner life, as used in spirituality, is the life lived within the heart, where we relate with God. A life of communion with God. It is wordless. It is an interior solitude. It is prayer and love from God. It is a decluttered life. It requires a stillness of the mind and a silence of thoughts. It is a stirring of the heart. To experience this life, that great mystic and contemplative, Thomas Merton, advises us to :- ‘keep your eyes clean and your ears quiet and your mind serene’. It is a trusting in Jesus.
I think of Jesus’ words to Martha :- ‘Martha, Martha, you worry and fret over so many things’.
To live this inner life, we only have to open a window, even if only to a crack, and God’s grace rushes in, as a refreshing wind. We make a small conscious effort to deliver ourselves from the desires and cares and the attachments in this world. We carve out a time from the noise and the business of men.
We find ourselves filling garbage bags with stuff to get rid of, creating small sacred spaces. This activity triggers and interior decluttering as well, a letting go of useless attachments. I experience a gradual detaching from so much bad news that I cannot do much about, except pray. And to pray I need periods of silence and solitude. Quietly join us on this journey.