From Cloisters to Cubicles

So what if we changed our “vision” for spiritual disciplines? What if spiritual disciplines weren’t about “getting” anything? Would spiritual disciplines take on new meaning and new appeal if we understood them in a more practical sense?  I believe they would.  Instead of closet-bound, early-morning, mystical experiences, spiritual disciplines can become all day, every day faith exercises by which Christlikeness becomes more real in our “real” lives. 

Dallas Willard, departing from the ancient models and even the derived Protestant model, proposed views of spirituality and spiritual disciplines that are much more Scriptural. At the core of Willard’s view is the understanding that the spiritual realm and the worldly realm have been torn apart. Two realms never meant to be separated have been! I call this phenomenon dis-integration.

While disintegration likely brings to mind images of Martian Death Rays, that isn’t exactly what I mean. Disintegration is the breaking down of a whole (integer) into little bitty pieces. (Okay, so the atomization of the Martian Death Ray actually isn’t too far off!) For us as humans, sin has disintegrated us because the very fiber of our existence was our imago Dei, or Image of God, in which we were made and which is now corrupted by sin. What once was a complete being (more on this in a minute) is now, in Willard’s terminology, a disembodied self. The physical self is separated from the spiritual self, but contrary to Dualism, this is an unnatural state that needs to be corrected. In other words, the spiritual and physical lives need to be reintegrated into a single life.  

A Few New Definitions

Building on Willard’s work, we can begin to redefine every aspect of the discussion on spiritual disciplines, beginning with a new definition of spirituality.  If the spiritual life is not supposed to be separate from the physical life, it becomes impossible to discuss spirituality in any sense that does not include the physical life as an integral part. In other words, any concept of spirituality must be fully spiritual and fully physical. This truth should come as no surprise since spirituality is generally associated with transformation into the likeness of Christ, who, in his incarnation, was 100% God and 100% Man!

The definition that meets this criterion is a rather simple one. Spirituality is the integration of one’s faith and one’s whole life.  To put it in measurable terms, individuals would possess a high degree of spirituality if they interpret and respond to everything in their life according to what they believe about God (Heb 5:11-14).  The opposite is intuitively true; those who choose to make decisions based on anything other than their faith we consider very unspiritual.

By re-visioning spirituality as something that engages and captures the world, this view becomes better:

While not as “smooth” and clean as a well-oiled machine (life never is, right?), this revised view is supported by two important verses, “and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor 10:5) and “But he who is spiritual appraises all things” (1 Cor 2:15).  In this view, Christians must remain “in the world.” However, unlike the mystical, monastic model, Christians learn to “take every thought captive.” We take each thought and situation captive by “appraising” EVERYTHING through the lens of our newly recreated, spiritual beings.  Spiritual disciplines, in this view, are the exercises in our Christian life that help bring every aspect of our life under the reign of Christ in our lives (a.k.a. “the obedience of Christ”). In other words, they facilitate the integration of faith and life. Or we could say they facilitate transformation!

The Role of Spiritual Disciplines

This recognition of our need for on-going transformation through the reintegration of faith and life brings us to spiritual disciplines.  Spiritual disciplines are practices or exercises in the life of a Christian that aid him or her in the transformation process.  Spiritual disciplines should help Christians integrate faith into their daily lives. And while this process begins by bringing the spiritual world back into our physical lives, ultimately the goal is to tip the scale. As reintegration occurs, we should reach a point when we are no longer living as physical beings incorporating faith and spirituality, but spiritual being taking the world captive by our faith.

If we consider the fact that most practitioners of spiritual disciplines have historically been mystics, monks, and hermits, one might think detaching oneself from the world is the goal.  When we consider the nature of prayer, fasting, meditation, solitude, simplicity, etc., how could disciplines be about anything else than detaching from the world?  This is perhaps the most common misunderstanding of spiritual disciplines.  

If we look at the examples of Christ and the disciples, when we do see them practicing some of the spiritual disciplines, it is to prepare themselves to engage the world.  Jesus fasted before beginning his ministry (Matt 4).  He prayed before he went to the cross (Luke 22).  The church at Antioch, including Barnabas and Saul, prayed and fasted before appointing Barnabas and Saul to their first missionary journey (Acts 13:2-3).  Spiritual disciplines are not for escaping the world; they are for engaging it!