From “The Soulwork of Justice: Four Movements for Contemplative Action” by Wesley Granberg-Michaelson
What will have prepared you for those critical moments, when self-surrender or self-protection hang in the balance, is that holding space. It will depend on whether you’ve developed this spiritual infrastructure, using the tools and practices available, to navigate the turbulent waters that now seem to engulf you.
Without a holding space to process these painful threats, you will be tempted to head back to home base in denial, digging yourself ever deeper into the false, separate self. But if you can find a way to be vulnerable and safe while the illusions of your life are exposed, you can take a leap of surrender in the face of these threats. Of course that will seem daunting, and nearly impossible, like facing into death. But if you can hold on and journey through this tunnel of annihilation, you’ll discover your true self beginning to emerge, more real than anything you’ve known. You are embracing the image of God, residing at the core of your being.
Now you can let these self-made building blocks tumble before the grace-filled building blocks of the authentic self. The threats you face that seem impossible chasms can become a transformational bridge from the dross that’s covered your life with ambition to something authentic, pure gold:
- out of the deepest emptiness and hiding, you begin to experience the thirst for community, learning to live as those whose lives are held in common by the love of God. This is the movement from self-sufficiency to belonging;
- out of the deconstruction of rational systems of security, you emerge. Here you nurture presence to the embedded spirituality of your life in God. Here you encounter in creation, art, and worship, the movement from certainty to connection;
- out of despair over your deceit, you find the courage to start with who you actually are (not who you want to be, pretend to be, present yourself to be). Here you experience liberation from grandiosity, discover who God has created and called you to be in the movement from grandiosity to authenticity; and
- out of your false belief that you can “handle this,” you surrender to uncontrollable grace. Here you meet a generative hope in God’s preferred and promised future not just for our personal agendas or pathways, but for the world, in the movement from control to trust.