Part Two
Once we see that “I” is a variable, in the sense developed in the previous Post, it becomes an option to deepen and expand our identities. How can we go about that? One practice that Bruteau suggests is a form of contemplative prayer she calls the Hodos Method. The Greek word hodos means “road,” “path,” or “way” and appears many times in the Gospel, such as the saying by Jesus, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
The first step is to choose an event from the life of Jesus as an object of meditation. A story Bruteau likes is the healing of the leper by Jesus as recounted in Matthew 8:1-3:
“When he came down from the mountain, huge crowds followed him. Just then a leper appeared, bowed down to him, and said, ‘Sir, if only you will, you can make me clean.’
“And Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, ‘I will do it—you are clean!’ At once his leprosy was cleansed away.”
Play this story in your imagination until you know it by heart. View it objectively, as if you are a spectator, watching the scene unfold. Imagine as much detail as possible and make it real.
When you know the story by heart, when you have made it real, the next step is to make a shift of identity:
You become the leper in the story, you see from his point of view, you feel what he is feeling: you see Jesus coming from afar, hurry to meet him, bow down, and make your request, feeling with a deep sense of conviction that he can heal you. You feel his touch, hear his words, believe in your heart that his words are true, you feel the healing vibration, see all the marks of leprosy suddenly disappear. You are clean!
At this point you hold steady in imagination the central image: the moment of healing as Jesus touches you, as he speaks to you. And, as you hold this image, you repeat, silently to yourself, the words of Jesus, over and over again—as a mantra: I will do it—you are clean! . . . I will do it—you are clean! . . .
And then, as Bruteau says, “what may happen is that you will find that by repeating the words over and over, you have slipped out of being the leper and are being Jesus. This is a startling and powerful experience, because now you look out on the world through his eyes, see the leper before you, and feel the enormous power of Jesus’ will to heal flowing through you, out to that person.”
And thus, by a shift of identity, by a creative transformation, you have “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”
Is this the end of the journey? Far from it! Another event in the life of Jesus, taken as a subject for the Hodos Method, would yield a new and fresh perspective.
The baptism of Jesus by John comes to mind, especially as interpreted by Thomas Moore in his book, Care of the Soul:
“Consider the story of Jesus standing in the Jordan River to be baptized as he is about to begin his life work. This scene is a portrait of a significant moment in any life: one finds oneself standing in the powerful, streaming currents of time and fate. . . . The Jordan is the archetype of our willingness to live fully, to have our own work and mission, and therefore to be blessed, as the Gospel story tells, by a higher father and a protecting spirit. It’s an inspiring image of the willingness to step courageously into the river of existence, instead of finding ways to remain safe, dry, and unaffected.”
Any event in the life of Jesus, suitably interpreted, thus becomes a road, a way, a hodos, that leads to creative transformation and deepening of identity. An analogy can be drawn between the stories about Jesus in the Gospels and the stories, known as koans, that are used as subjects of meditation in the Zen tradition. The possibilities for enrichment, and for spiritual formation, are limited only by our imagination.
Tilden Edwards, in his book Living in the Presence, suggests yet another application of this method in relation to using holy icons as subjects of meditation or contemplative prayer: “Close your eyes, trying to retain a sense of the icon in your mind. Then let it fade to a formless presence. Finally, try to sense the eyes of the icon re-appearing as your eyes, God seeing the world through you. Thus you may find yourself becoming the icon, realizing yourself to be an image of God, through whom the world is loved into the fullness of being.”
And still, the end is not yet in sight. If the mind of Jesus is living water, you can follow the stream back to its source, a clear spring welling up from below, and delve deeper and ever deeper to where the unfathomable mystery of God deepens beyond measure.
Note: Dr. Bruteau is the founder, along with her husband, Dr. James Somerville, of Schola Contemplationis, a center for the study and practice of the contemplative life.
HyC