Our Warkworth Christian Meditation Group is not meeting at present, of course, because of the Lockdown. The weekly talks are being sent to members by email, as well as being posted on this site one day ahead.
Anxiety comes from a Latin word meaning to choke. And indeed there seem to be various morbid forms of anxiety characterised by unpleasant physical and other effects. For most of us anxiety is an old friend – anyone who has ever sat exams knows it quite well… or sat with a sick child. It worries us that we may not be able to cope. And when anxiety is triggered, as it usually is, by something new, unexpected, menacing… like this virus… it is scarcely helped by the constant warning not to panic. May I add that neither is it helped by people with a Christian label claiming that God is bringing this upon us and we deserve it. I don’t know that God.
Anxiety is different from fear. Fear is more specific and focussed. The Greek phobos (φοβος) – which gives us phobia for instance, originally meant flight from someone or something… avoidance of what may frighten us… spiders, contradiction, failure, uncertainty, facing the future… Emmet’s fear of Hyacinth Bucket. I think the distinctive feature of fear is that it is so debilitating. It can dominate, even paralyse life. People default then to self-protection, making walls and divisions, categorising and indulging in paranoia, suspicion or hatred. The opposite of fear is love – Love casts out fear, writes John[1]. Why are you afraid, Jesus constantly asks[2].
If you consult the web on these topics of anxiety and fear – which, I can assure you, is something you should try only if you are self-isolating for six months – you will find multiple theories and remedies, and all manner of experts. Now, contemplative people generally don’t like risking the impression that we are better, or have magic solutions. We are not and we don’t. However, it is unmistakeable, I think, that people with a discipline of stillness, who practise meditation, seem to be laying aside fear. We can still be anxious, of course, and we are at present. In terms of Christian Meditation, we are at least in the process of keeping the ego -- which is always frightened for itself -- where it belongs, which is not usurping the place of God. We are coming to terms with mortality, our mortality. We are growing up in faith, and we do not imagine that we live in some charmed circle of believers who are safe. I was impressed by the quote from the Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh, which someone posted on the web: You can’t calm the storm, so stop trying. What you can do is calm yourself. The storm will pass.
We calm ourselves in stillness and silence, leaving our issues to one side for now, and being fully present to God who is fully present to us, in the Risen Christ, and in the wind of the Spirit of Christ. It changes us. Jesus calmed the storm on the lake, in the meaningful gospel story, and then mischievously asked the disciples, Why were you frightened? He is the bringer of peace, shalom, to our hearts, and from there to our surroundings.
