on accompaniment, attentiveness, and contribution
Tithing has typically meant donating money.
What would it mean to tithe a more precious resource, our time?
To offer a choice piece of our time each day to prayer and contemplation?
And then to meaningfully connect with another about the world we long for?
St. Ignatius wrote in annotation 22 of the Spiritual Exercises that “every good Christian ought to be more eager to put a good interpretation on a neighbor’s statement than to condemn it.”
What is on offer here is to habituate the MGI – the most generous interpretation – which holds the door open for curiosity, learning.
This is difficult. Our brains are wired to scan the world for threats in order to keep ourselves safe. It is possible, though, that true safety may be arrived at only when a big group of us are able to default to the MGI.
When we find polarization in our world (and we all do all of the time), do we engage it such that we might solve the underlying problem? Or do we engage in order to feel morally superior?
This outstanding video frames the question brilliantly.
Attachments to the things that do not satisfy are like this.
Every day is a new opportunity to ask for the grace to let go of the bars and simply walk away.
Paul's Blog