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By Rob Des Cotes
 [other pieces by By Rob Des Cotes]
The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.
Matthew 26:41
It is a dismayingly common experience, having finally settled down to pray, to find that you are not able to do so. The mind seems to suddenly become more active than usual with a thousand concerns, all unrelated toour goal of prayer. Why is this? Is there any hope that we can ever adapt to the Spirit of stillness and become what prayer requires of us?
The late psychiatrist and spiritual director Gerald May thought so, and in his book, Addiction and Grace, offered a physiological explanation of what takes place within us as we set out to pray. Over the course of our lives, each one of us has established what our bodies understand as their normal inner disposition a particular equilibrium that it strives to maintain. Even if the normal that we live with is an uncomfortable one, it is the one that we have become accustomed to and any attempt to alter this inner state is going to be met with physiological resistance. We are, in a sense, addicted to whatever constitutes our norm and, as Gerald May puts it, I don't let that normality change without a struggle.
He identifies the struggle involved in any attempt to transform our norms as similar to that of someone withdrawing from an addiction in this case, an addiction to self.
For many modern spiritual pilgrims, the simple matter of taking time for daily prayer can become a battle of will excruciatingly reminiscent of that encountered in chemical addiction. Issues of control and will power, surrender and defeat all rage within the drama of a true spiritual warfare. Increasing numbers of us are discovering that we would rather stay the same than experience the real discomfort that becoming peaceful produces in us. Prayer, by its very nature, encourages an altered state of reference within us. It seeks to establish a new norm. We should not underestimate the withdrawal process that such transformation entails. We have, after all, spent years establishing a norm for ourselves, apart from God.
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As Gerald Mays puts it, "mediating all the stimuli they receive, the cells of our brains are continually seeking equilibrium," developing patterns of adaptation that constitute what is normal. Thus the more we become accustomed to seeking spiritual satisfaction through things other than God, the more abnormal and stressful it becomes to look to God directly for these. This logic particularly applies to the abnormal demands that the practice of prayer places on our physiology. It also explains why, at least initially, our bodies register this sudden change of inner state as discomfort. Since we are addicted to a much more active inner life, we naturally have trouble letting go of it as we attempt to enter a state of prayer. As May notes, "If a person takes a vacation or tries to settle down to pray, the sudden removal of external stress immediately causes the body to generate less stress chemicals." The neurons, having been adapted to high levels of stress chemicals, now react as if something were wrong. They send signals, ironically, of stress to the rest of the body, trying to get things going again. Prayer is a catalyst for transformation and, for this reason alone,we should anticipate that it will imply a struggle between the flesh and the spirit. Adapting to change will inevitably mean going through the stress of withdrawal from our old normality, until our new one is established.
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 (www.imagodeicommunity.ca) 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
June 12/2008
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