ken wilson online

Second or third morning on psalm 4, Robert Alter translation. I’m still intrigued by the process or way of praying that is meditative rather than analytic. Which is not quite the way of saying it because thought is happening. But it’s more like awareness. Stupid thinking. Or very slow thought. The thoughts don’t cascade as in normal thought mode. Whatever it is, it’s a different way of being inside your head, and it’s an important way of being inside your head.This morning, the assertion “The Lord hears me when I call on him” became the focus. This stupid thinking is a kind of willing entry into the confidence of the psalmist, taking the words at face value–what would it feel like to feel that? It involves a similar skill that we approach movies or stories with–the willing suspension of disbelief or objection. This is the trusting part, the lowering of the guard part. And when you slip into the words in that way, something wonderful is conveyed through them. The thing itself, that is–the very thing of which the word speak. An awareness of the moment of recognition when the calling out to another catches their attention and they turn to attend. Such a simple thing that happens every day. But it came with the fresh sense of discovery that one imagines a very young child has when it becomes aware that others out there respond to such calling out.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 at 7:46 am and is filed under the praying brain. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.