Action That Reveals

What we say and what we do reveal, in some sense, what we have seen and interpreted. When someone says to us “What’s your problem?” they reveal something about themselves. This is true for everyone. Some are better at hiding true intentions/insights then others, but if you hang around a person long enough, more than likely the real person will come through.

Now this simplifies a lot of psychology into a single paragraph, but it very important to see. People will know you by what you do, what you say. They can tell things about you that you don’t know about yourself. This information can be used to help you or hurt you depending on the intentions of the person. The more you are aware of what you see, the more you can be aware of what your actions say. The impact this can have on relationships is tremendous.

Observation, Interpretation, Application

Observation, Interpretation, Application. These three steps are involved in every action we take.

Observation is what you see. Interpretation is the meaning or value we attach to what we see. Application is how we use the interpretation to take action.

If your observations are wrong, there may be negative or unexpected impact of the resulting actions. Same goes if the interpretation is wrong or faulty.

Seeing is the first and most important step. Everything else follows from there. Assumptions color interpretations. Unseen assumptions limit the interpretations from the observations. Unseen assumptions can also trigger a bypass of interpretation altogether.

Remembering, Forgetting

Some things are meant to be remembered: anniversaries, birthdays, happy times, some sad times, certain facts and figures, solutions to problems, etc. Other things are meant to be forgotten: wrongs committed against you, negative feelings associated with failure, superstitious justifications, etc.

Of course the scenario is not totally black or white, but what is true is that negative remembrance is very powerful and whatever tools are at our disposal to fight it, we should employ.

On Christian Yoga

On Christian Yoga

After much debate and conversation, I have come to the conclusion that yogic practice does not conform to biblical principles of worship and meditation. The end of yoga is kundalini which in the end is demonic. Ok, this is strong terminology for some and yes, basic yoga positions won’t kill you, these are not my real point. My point is that practice taken to its logical end is evil and thus the basic positions lead one on a path that is evil.

To those who do find benefit from yoga, I suggest looking seriously to God for a replacement practice. Perhaps there are movements from liturgical dance that can be adapted to positional meditation.

Yes, positional meditation is a biblical practice. What is needed are the right positions and the right meditations. For those that are already familiar with yoga, this is an opportunity to come up with something new that will be pleasing to God. Keep in mind that there seem to be certain positions that are common to much religious practice, like two hands together palm to palm as part of position of prayer. The practice should invite the Holy Spirit and His ends should be the end of the practice. And the name is important yoga is associated with the demonic. Positional meditation as a whole is not.

Here is the main difference between Christian positional meditation and yoga. The Christian has already arrived through the finished work of Jesus Christ. This temporal difference is very important because self striving is eliminated. Instead one is sacrificing oneself in service. It is not so much a matter of obtaining transferable skills, as it is hearing the voice of God and obeying. Positional meditation in an orthodox Christian context is not a “relaxation” technique. It is act of worship focused on God with the intent of relating to him and pleasing him. It is NOT an act whose end is in our own pleasure or performance. Claims of an acceptable combination of classic yoga and Christianity in the end are misleading and not founded in an understanding of who God is. Yes, the debate is complicated, and there are valid arguments to partially support the claim, but if the most developed practice of yoga is in kundalini and the most developed practice of Christian positional meditation is the imitation of Christ, it is apparent which has more value and is truly sponsored by God.