Dear Ones,
Recently I was listening to a podcast called “The Way of Love with Bishop Michael Curry.” You probably all know that Michael Curry is the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, a great preacher and a very popular speaker. I highly recommend the whole podcast; this particular episode was an interview with the Franciscan priest Richard Rohr. The two of them spoke at length about theology and the church, as well as about what life is like during the pandemic and shutdown.
At one point, Rohr said something like, “The spiritual journey has much more to do with subtraction than addition.” That caught my attention!
Rohr was quoting Meister Eckhart, a 14th-century German mystic, but his words struck me as startlingly appropriate to the present moment we’re living through. Subtraction feels like something we know all too well; so many things have been taken away because of the pandemic! Mostly I experience these subtractions as losses, even grief–and surely some of what is being subtracted from our lives is deeply valuable and deserves to be mourned.
But if you, like me, are lucky enough to still have your health and a basic level of financial stability, then maybe it’s possible to find some lessons from all of this subtraction. I know that I have a tendency to want to replace everything that’s been taken away, to fill back up all the empty spaces and lost opportunities. The problem is, when what we have lost is valuable, replacing that valuable thing with something less valuable isn’t really all that satisfying in the long run. A simple example: If I am sad because I can’t visit my father this summer, will it really help me feel better to binge watch another Netflix show? After all, what has been subtracted is so much more meaningful than what I’m adding–how does this equation balance out?
The short answer: It doesn’t balance out. Even as we are seeking balance, not to mention solace and comfort, we are so often looking in the wrong places.
Don’t get me wrong–binge watching Netflix or relentlessly baking sourdough bread or whatever coping strategies are working for you are not bad things in and of themselves. We just need to think about the equations we’re creating. If we have to keep adding in more and more distractions and entertainments and even numbing agents, we could be missing some beautiful opportunities to dwell in the empty spaces, the opportunities created by subtraction.
Subtraction, after all, isn’t all bad either. Recognizing that some of what has been taken away maybe wasn’t, in fact, essential can be a step toward greater spiritual freedom. Even recognizing the depth of loss we have experienced and letting ourselves feel and mourn it can, paradoxically, lead us to new levels of peace.
I’ll end with a question that was asked during the podcast, a question I will be pondering in the days ahead: “What hurdles are you facing as you seek to turn from the non-essential to the essential in living the way of love?”
Blessings,
Pamela+
