Richard Rohr, Breathing Under Water
“The work of spirituality is the ongoing liberation of head, heart, and body toward full, luminous seeing and living, not a mere mental ‘decision for Jesus’ or a one-time insurance policy of sacraments received. Most head churches do not touch the heart; most heart churches do not bother with the head; and almost all churches ignore the body.”
Richard Rohr’s book, Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps, is a masterpiece on how to turn our lives over to God. It is for everyone, even those who may not have an addiction. But Rohr believes that, in truth, everyone has some form of addiction that helps them live life on life’s terms.
Rohr describes our need to open three inner spaces: our heads, minds, and bodies. To open our minds, he suggests a contemplative or meditative practice. This is not about saying or reciting prayers. These are emptying prayers. Two of the most common are centering prayers and mindfulness prayers.
As we open our minds and let the committee in our heads rest, Rohr directs us to fill our hearts in the same way, at the same time. Filling our hearts means healing the harms we have carried from the past, passed down from generation to generation. He suggests learning about the Enneagram, which helps us understand the strategies we have used to survive with our injured feeling function. Each Enneagram type is a half-truth about ourselves.
Rohr also believes the heart space can be opened through “right-brain” activities, such as music, art, dance, nature, poetry, games, and the art of relationship, which Christians might call seeking God, the Spirit, or Christ in one another.
Our body grounds us to the earth. The body keeps us in the present moment. God meets us in the present moment. For many, the body is more repressed than the head and the heart, and it is taking its revenge through compulsive eating, repressed sexuality, anorexia, and disregard for our planet, water, animals, and healthy foods.
The head, heart, and body reconnect as one when we set our egos aside and begin to see the ever-Presence, the immediate embrace of God, healing our limited and toxic image of God.
Joanna joannaseibert.com