The freeing is in the seeing

Preparation and process, rather than achievement and outcome, is what much of our effort in Logopraxis is about. The work of self-examination and repentance is something that continues throughout our lives, and it’s a given that there will be times of difficulty, interspersed with times of harmony. Despite how things appear externally, inwardly the Lord’s mercy is such that all things work toward the best possible outcome. The experiences of struggle offer us opportunities to build our understanding of inner processes in the light of what the Word teaches us, providing us with valuable material for the journey; and the practise of a task holds our focus through this struggle.

During our fortnightly cycle we read attentively for what reaches out to us from the Text, which we use to create a task to work with over the two-week session. Then, we may attend to the task several times during each day and make notes on what we observe; we may practise it in varied situations to test its validity, and notice any results.  This enables us to gather material which is important for our spiritual process and regeneration. However, just as importantly, when this material is shared with our Life Group there is attention to support the spiritual lives of others in the group, as well as the group as a whole. We can see then that our work is not just for ourselves, but is also for others, and the more we are aware of this, the more we will find ourselves affirmed in the stream of the Lord’s Providence.

There are some important things to remember while practicing the task:

• Attaching to Outcomes
• Resistance to Change
• It Requires Work
• The Opportunity in Failure

Attaching to Outcomes

Attaching to an outcome in this work can lead to frustration, guilt, despair, and other negative states because we are working from a sense that we know what the outcome should be. This is another form of living in our imagination as far as the future is concerned, yet our goal is to live in the moment, because we don’t and can’t know what the future holds. Our work is in what is presenting in the now. The Lord sets the outcome not us: we set tasks to create opportunities to observe the behaviour of the proprium and our identification with it.  We are not working to change it or make it better; we are working to affirm what the Writings teach concerning it as a matter of life, and it’s our acceptance of what the Word teaches concerning it that breaks its power.

Spiritual life is not about outcomes or expectation, but is a practice founded on the acknowledgement that the Lord is continuously revealing Himself to us; that we are in a process of the continued unfolding of our understanding. So, this is a constantly changing and fluid situation. In Logopraxis we’re learning to trust the Lord to know what’s best for us; and how we trust Him is to work with what reaches out to us from the Text, and not be tempted to apply a task that seems more aligned with what we think needs sorting out in our life. 

Resistance to Change

Everything in the natural mind resists change, particularly changes related to genuine spiritual work, and we have all experienced times when we struggle to engage with the Text. However, simply engaging with the Text is a task in itself. We may not realise in that moment that the states we move through in the struggle contain valuable material for our work; a struggle that often manifests as a lack of motivation to engage with the task, or as negative self-talk, and condemnation. And this is the action of the hellish proprium working to undermine the transformative presence of higher spiritual influences that are flowing in from the Lord.

It Requires Work

The reason we call self-examination and repentance ‘work’, is because it takes real effort to compel ourselves to use truths from the Word to reflect on the quality of our states of mind. The natural mind seeks to move away from, and oppose, everything genuinely spiritual, and so the struggle to remain engaged becomes our work. Remember that the Lord’s Divine Providence directs everything in the work of regeneration, and this experience becomes transformed into a ripe opportunity to observe.

The Opportunity in Failure

Whenever natural proprial loves are active within us, it may take considerable effort to remain in touch with higher principles from the Word; it feels as if we’re failing, and unable to work with the ongoing processes of self-examination and repentance. But remember that this type of ‘failure’ is ‘success’ in Logopraxis because it’s through this that we begin to see the nature of the hellish proprium. And once it’s seen, we can step back from identifying with it and recognise that its origin lies not with us, but the hells. In this way, everything we experience over a two-week Logopraxis cycle is transformed into useful material for inner work.

Here’s a simple example to illustrate this, and it’s a common task that many of us have used.

For this session I’m going to be more loving/charitable to those around me (or maybe even towards a particular person).

Now, anyone who’s attempted to practice a task like this will know that it’s impossible to achieve. What happens is that we end up seeing just how far short we fall from whatever ideal we hold, regarding what it means for us to be ‘more loving’ towards others. Why? Because we can’t make ourselves more loving, no matter how hard we try. And it was never actually about being more loving, although that is a wonderful goal, but about acknowledging what comes up for us around the so-called ‘failure’; about how the hellish proprium acts within us; and how the Word is always working to free us from our identification with that hell. Therefore, in Logopraxis work, success can be said to be measured in failure.

Summary

• Preparation & process is the core of Logopraxis work.
• The focus of the task relies on self-examination and repentance.
• Once the task is clarified it’s brought into line by frequently holding it in mind, acting from it, and observing our responses to it.
• Task setting is not concerned with achieving the task but is about setting up conditions that remind us to observe a truth or spiritual principles at work in our life.
• Our work is not just for ourselves but is also for others.
• Attaching to outcomes can lead to frustration, guilt and despair, because spiritual life is not about expectation, it’s about surrender.
• It takes real effort to compel ourselves to use truths from the Word to reflect on the quality of our states of mind, and accept what is shown.
• Our work is in what presents in the now.