And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22: 19-20)

The Structure of a Logopraxis Life Group Meeting

A Logopraxis meeting is minimalist in its form, offering a basic structure that consists of three rounds that are marked by some form of contemplative exercise. This structure serves as a framework for the practise of spiritual literacy skills. A brief description of each of the rounds follows.

• In Round One participants are invited to bring a summary of their experience of the work with the Text for the session. This is called a Logopraxis submission.
• In Round Two there is an opportunity for participants to share their reflections on what they heard in the first round.
• In Round Three participants can bring to the group anything else they are carrying related to the reading for the session or the Logopraxis process more generally.

Meetings begin with a short time of contemplation, and whatever the group decides to do in this space, it is done with the intention of providing an environment where we can centre ourselves, steady the inner activity of our minds, and lift our awareness out of external life concerns so as to be present to what’s asked of us as a member of a Logopraxis Life Group. It is a reminder that in coming together as a group to share our experience of the Word, we are approaching the Lord. In this effort we are seeking to hold a space within which holiness resides so that a sphere of worship is created. Transitions between rounds are also marked by some form of contemplative exercise, which could be a reading, a song, a prayer, or something else. The object of the exercise is to remind practitioners to maintain a contemplative, worshipful focus.

Methods of Spiritual Literacy

Logopraxis Life Groups are practise groups, and consequently there are specific tools that contribute to our participation in the Life Group, and they include:

• Removing Person
• Remaining Neutral
• Staying Present
• Loving the Neighbour
• Practising Charity

Logopraxis Life Groups are an opportunity to practise spiritual literacy as we speak and listen when we meet.  They are a hermetically sealed container within which the material gathered from each individual’s practice can serve as the basis for creating a unique environment. It is where we may learn to be with others in a new way, and where the practise of the Word is what is central. To that end, participants are asked to be consciously present to what arises as they take part in group life through the practise of what are termed spiritual literacy ‘skills’. Each of the skills is designed to assist us in engaging in group life consciously, and be present so as to bear witness to what’s arising within our minds as we speak and listen. It is the call to a different way of being with ourselves, with others, and with the Word as the Lord.

So, in order to hear the Lord, which really is about hearing the spiritual principles that are being illustrated in each other’s experience, we need to be able to divide our attention between what’s going on externally in the group, and what is arising inwardly so far as our responses are concerned. It’s not so much about listening to the words that a person is speaking, but listening to what arises within us in response to what’s being shared. So, it’s a state of divided attention, where we are working to be conscious of the fact that we are seeing our own states reflected back to us in what is being presented through our interactions with the Word and with others.

Removing Person

Within our Life Group we work to remove the idea of person from our thinking as we listen to what’s shared in the rounds, and also in what we reflect back and share when it is our turn to speak. For example:

• Individual’s names: avoid referring to individual names as the source of what’s heard in group sharing, and instead simply state what we’ve heard.
• Personal details: Minimise and remove personal details related to specific people in the submissions.
• People in the Text: Remind ourselves that people’s names in the Text relate to spiritual qualities.

Remaining Neutral

When we meet, we try to adopt and maintain a state of neutrality in relation to others, by keeping facial and verbal responses to a minimum. This is not a social gathering, and everyday social and conversational cues tend to elicit habitual patterns of interacting with others that blunt our ability to remain consciously present to the inner spiritual content arising in the contact. And this is as true for a speaker as it is for a listener. Through practising the skill of inner and outer neutrality we seek to offer a space of respect for each other, that supports speakers and listeners in maintaining an awareness of the content of their inner states within the outer world of the group setting.

Normally when we are speaking, we look to have what we are saying affirmed through verbal and facial cues offered by those listening. Through the ‘silence’ of neutrality the speaker can experience the act of speaking in a different way to how they would in their normal everyday interactions. This encourages a greater capacity for attention and reflection on the spiritual quality behind one’s words, and whether what’s being said aligns with the principles of Logopraxis group life. In this way, the practice of neutrality creates a non-directive sphere that encourages us to actively attend to what is more interior and so become more conscious of what is being said, as well as what’s produced in us as they share.

As we work to stay neutral outwardly, we are also working to notice, but not act on, any tendencies in us to correct, criticise, affirm or praise arising from within. Whilst this applies to not judging what we are hearing others saying, it also applies to maintaining a state of neutrality toward the thoughts and feelings that are caused in our own awareness as we listen. The aim in this case is not to identify with what’s arising as something coming from us, but simply to observe this as something flowing in and passing through our mental landscape. So, as we listen to hear spiritual principles as truths being illustrated about the nature of self and the nature of the Lord, part of that illustration will be from our struggle to stay non-identified with what we what we are observing and hearing.

Examples in practise

• Remove cross-talking in Round One: Only one person speaks at a time when invited to by the facilitator.
• Body and face: Work to maintain a state of neutrality concerning our facial expressions, body language, verbal cues and prompts.
• Not owning our thoughts: Working to stay present to the group through not identifying with the internal chatter that inevitably arises. When this happens, we simply need to redirect our attention back to being present.

Responsibility To Stay Present to the Group

Every time we meet, we’re given a new opportunity to work to lift the quality of the contact through practising the spiritual literacy skills that are necessary if a deeper sense of spiritual community is to be entered into. It’s not for us to judge whether others are working or not, but we can each individually work to be conscious and present, and in this way attend to our part in what’s being asked for.  So, whether we are speaking or listening we can hold questions in mind:

• How does what is being shared (by me or others) illustrate spiritual principles or processes?
• Is what I’m sharing or commenting on directly related to my own experience or is it more of an intellectual speculation?
• How does what I’m hearing or saying benefit others in the group?
• How does what I’m sharing and hearing support the group as a whole?
• How can what’s been shared be illustrated and applied back into my personal practise?

Loving the Neighbour & Practising Charity

To be in the effort to hear the Lord in another person is one aspect of what it means to love the neighbour, or what is of the Lord in another. To listen consciously is not about judging whether their state is of the Lord or not. It is about attending to the thoughts and affections within our own state, in response to what is being shared. We’re watching for the thoughts and affections that want to judge, condemn, criticise, praise, analyse and solve rather than simply listening for spiritual principles or truths found in what’s being shared.

When these self-crediting qualities and condemning tendencies are observed and acknowledged then it affirms that what the Word teaches us about the nature of the self is true. That the self, when left to its own loves and inclinations, will always own what flows into its awareness without the Word reminding it that it is instead a conduit of life. That it does not have agency but is instead a mere agent, a vessel. However, knowing this about the self intellectually and then seeing it as something active in our direct experience, are two very different things.

When an illustration of the nature of self is illuminated before us in the application of life events and circumstances then it also affirms the Word’s presence in our mind as the manifestation of the Divine Human. For it is experienced as a living truth bought down into our conscious awareness to be amongst those states of life that constitute our earthly existence. It is a living truth then because it communicates the perpetual striving of the Lord’s love to expose what is opposed to the life of heaven, so that what is of heaven might become the basis for our life. So that it might become the basis from which we feel, think and act.

In that moment that we truly recognise that what the Word has pointed to and called out is the hellish self, it is effectively shunned. This self is the self that exists separated from the Lord and it believes that it is the source and owner of the life that flows into it. It believes that it is God. The act of shunning the loves of this self as sins, that is, as that which misses the mark of what the Lord’s love is and strives towards, is the true meaning of charity. For then in that act of our recognition of this self and in seeing how what the Word teaches is saving us from it, the Word is actively acknowledged to be the Lord. It may not always be a conscious acknowledgement, but it is a lived acknowledgment.

Summary

• The meeting begins with a short contemplation to settle the mind, and lift it to a higher state, where we seek the presence of the Lord.
• There is a three-round structure:

1. Each personal submission is brought to the group, one by one
2. Reflections are shared of what has been heard in (1)
3. Questions or further unresolved reflections can be discussed.

• The meeting beings with a short contemplation to settle the mind, and lift it to a higher state, where we seek the presence of the Lord.
• The Group is a safe space to support conscious speaking & listening
• Strive to remain Work-focussed, not socially engaged.
• This is a different way of being; being present
• We seek to hear the spiritual principle illustrated in each other’s experience
• Divided attention – of listening to the sharing while watching our own inner responses.
• Aim to remove the idea of person from thinking and speaking, eg

Individual’s names: avoid referring to individual names as the source of what’s heard in group sharing, and instead simply state what we’ve heard.

Personal details: Minimise and remove personal details related to specific people in the submissions.

People in the Text: Remind ourselves that people’s names in the Text relate to spiritual qualities.

• Logopraxis Life Groups are an opportunity to practice spiritual literacy as we speak and listen when we meet.
• Reduce facial and verbal responses while listening, and practise inner & outer neutrality.
• Through all 3 rounds aim to practice conscious attention and conscious listening.