Which End of the Pencil? Part 1 of 3

A mini-series on meditation, spirituality, and sharpeners

Part I – Human Beings?

In the space of maybe 72 hours over Christmas, I had three, no four, conversations about Meditation.

The odd thing was that three of these exchanges were not initiated by me, one of the four was a follow-up. Odder still I had written a potential blog titled ‘A Meditation on Time’ which I was sitting on – still am.

Meditation – it seems – is in the air.

Current images associated with meditation do include the Yogic levitator or at least sitting cross-legged in an Eastern meditative tradition, collectively or individually, repeating a rhythmic mantra. Or, maybe, a Christian mystic. A Franciscan brother, perhaps. But things have moved on. Or should I say, ‘gone mainstream’? Now, ‘spirituality’ is a word that is used as an all-encompassing paradigm within which meditation is a subset, a practice rather than the thing itself.

There’s no shortage of self-help books and podcasts that advocate meditation as an antidote to the frenetic lives that erode any sense of calm. Mindfulness speaks so powerfully to a generation that has learned to take mental health seriously - even if the catch-all phrase ‘mental health’ is ill-defined.

Equally, a more detached Western form, clinging on, some might say, to the wreckage of The Enlightenment, Rationality, and Empiricism, you have the evidence-based research and medico-scientific version espoused by Dr Mosely in his Just One Thing series on Radio 4:

In the Meditate episode of his Radio 4 podcast Just One Thing, Michael Mosley explores how an ancient and seemingly simple practice can have such big benefits:

How meditation can help your mood, memory and immune system

If you’re short on time and struggling to unwind, meditation could be the solution.

Just a little bit of practice a day has been shown to improve sleep, mood, boost your immune system, and even physically rewire your response to stress and pain.

This more ‘spiritual’ approach to living presupposes we know what we mean by using the term ‘spiritual’.

Many moons ago I asked a Year 10 tutor group ‘What is a human being?’ After much lively discussion, the consensus was that we have an outer life – our bodies - and an inner life, but no label for the inner life was agreed. It was more that we ‘live inside’ our bodies.

St Paul wrote these words:

‘We do not lose heart even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is renewed day by day’ 2 Cor 4 v 16

Some might say ‘soul’ others might say ‘spirit’ some might say something like ‘inner man’. The bible uses a range of terms to describe the inner life, soul and spirit are well known, but heart, liver, and bowels also get a mention!

The simplest biblical breakdown is spirit, soul, and body. The Buddhist version is similar: Form (body), Sensation, Perception, Thoughts, and Consciousness.

The problem we have in the West is that we use ‘soul’ and ‘spirit’ interchangeably

The problem we have in the West is that we use ‘soul’ and ‘spirit’ interchangeably and generally without too much idea of what either really consists or means. An alternative word is ‘self’, the idea that we are individuals, defined by our ‘self’ as distinct from others.

I have found the following model useful:

Body – the five senses that inform us about our environment, what we see, hear, taste, smell, and touch and the various organs that maintain our organic and physical life

Soul – is part mind (our ability to think and have thoughts), part emotions (how we feel), and part will (our ability to make decisions)

Spirit – a deeper part of the person designed to have communion with God, ourselves, and others – unhurried communication

All three work together, potentially, to form our ‘consciousness’ of what is the true state of things, a deeper knowing and sensitivity to the world and people around us…and God.

Why call this a mini-series on Spirituality and Sharpeners?

A true pencil is sold unsharpened. It has no beginning and no end. In fact, both co-exist…until you decide which end to sharpen. That is a clue to the title. More to be revealed in Part III after an excursion in Part II Breathe Deeply.

If we are to understand meditation it is useful to know who is meditating. The answer is…an intriguing combination of body, soul, and spirit, a living human being.