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By Rob Des Cotes
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
Psalm 42:1-2
 We are, by nature, desiring beings. We can't help it. And though our
attachments to our desires often work against us, they can also
serve God's purposes in leading us towards union with Him. We are used
to thinking of attachment, especially in its extreme forms of addiction, in
negative terms but there is also a positive form of addiction where similar
features of craving as well as the discomfort of withdrawal can actually
work in us for the good of the soul.
As easy as it is to become addicted to external stimulants we can also
be addicted to our inner moods and dispositions depression, shyness,
fear, anger, cynicism. As we habitually favour these responses to life,
our psychology and our physiology naturally default to them in a given
situation. This is the negative side of our inner attachments. But this
same principle of habituation to a particular inner state can also apply
to our being attached to positive behaviours.
People who regularly practice prayer, for instance, find that their mind,
body and soul become more and more identified with this inner state of
spirit. It becomes a mood that they come to expect as a norm in their
lives. Once the state of prayer becomes established as a norm we also
begin to recognize symptoms of withdrawal a longing, or craving to
return to what is familiar if we depart from that norm for too long. Our
physiology will register discomfort whenever our prayerful inner state has
been neglected for a longer than usual period. Of course, if we continue
to remain absent from a regular prayer pattern it will eventually establish
a new norm for us one that presumes that prayer is the foreign state
rather than the normal one.
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The more we understand the principle of habituation the more we can
apply it positively to our lives. We can intentionally choose to habituate
ourselves to whatever we consider beneficial. It takes a little time and
intentionality but, once our physiology gets over the initial resistance to
a new behaviour, it will eventually habituate to it as a new norm. Once
so, it will not only anticipate the new disposition each day, but will even
crave it when it is absent. Our physiology will then serve to help us stay on
track by alerting us, through the uncomfortable symptoms of withdrawal,
whenever we neglect the new habit that we've established.
In a nutshell, we are attached to whatever makes things normal for us.
The longer a norm continues, the more things will become associated with
it and the more entrenched it will be in our lives. This is a useful principle
that we can apply positively to whatever we deem beneficial as we seek to
become more and more habituated to the norms of a spiritual life.
Rob Des Cotes is a spiritual director and pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He teaches Contemplative Traditions at Trinity Western University, as well as courses on spirituality and the arts at Carey Theological College and Columbia Bible College. Rob also directs Imago Dei (MB), a network of faith communities that encourages the practice of prayer and a transforming relationship with God. Rob is a regular contributor to canadianchristianity.com
To obtain 'Higher than I' go to: www.clementspublishing.com
March 5/2008
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