“The love of God creates in us such a oneing that when it is truly seen, no person can separate themselves from another person.”
As some of you know, I am a long time practitioner of Centering/Contemplative Prayer and a daily reader of Richard Rohr’s Meditation email. Rohr has been using the term Oneing since 2013 when he began his publication by that name. While he writes and speaks about God as “One,” and also refers to oneness and oneing, I have yet to see him offer any practices that give people direct access to the space of ONEing.
To remedy that, I enjoy translating his writings, and that of others from the Contemplative Christian perspective, into our language of ONEing. Here is one such piece. If Christian language doesn’t work for you, feel free to translate this into language that does work for you. The practice itself is non-ecumenical.
In contemplative Christianity, lectio divina (literally meaning “divine reading”) is a way of reading and praying with scripture that goes beyond trying to rationally understand a static text. As Richard Rohr says, “....this practice helps us be present to the Living Word of God and allow it to change us.” Generally lectio divina is practiced with the Bible, or other sacred texts, while some people practice it with nature and poetry.
I’m curious about what happens when we practice lectio divina with and for another person. What is possible if we “read” one another in a way that invites our divinity to ignite and flow? What happens when are present to the living God in one another and allow that to change us?! Here is a practice, based on the traditional form of lectio divina, where you can conduct an experiment in your own life to find out.
As with other forms of lectio divina, this practice is divided into four steps. First, find a person who is willing to do this practice with you and set yourselves up in two chairs facing one another. Be sure you are with a person, and in a quiet space, where you feel safe and can be together for 20 or more minutes.
Lectio/Read
Close your eyes and be in silence together. Be attentive to the space within yourself that is closest to God, that part of you that is uniquely you but that has never been touched by the vicissitudes of life; that place within you where you are One with God, where you are ONEIng. Abide there in silence for 3 minutes.
Partnered Meditatio/Partnered Meditation
Open your eyes. From the place of ONEing, look into your partner’s eyes, holding your shared-gaze softly (choose one eye or the other so you don’t have to go back and forth between eyes). See directly into the energetic core of your partner - into that space in them where they are directly connected to God. Allow your gaze to ignite that spark more fully in them. Give your full presence to them, as they give theirs to you.
Partnered Oratio/Partnered Prayer (Poetry)
Oratio is an opportunity for each of you to give words to what you are sensing and knowing in one another as you “see” into one another’s deepest core. One of you can begin, and for 5 minutes, give words to what you are becoming aware of inside your partners divine center, the purity of who they are.
Switch roles for 5 minutes.
Partnered Contemplatio/Partnered Contemplation
Together now, abide in the Shared-Presence, this place of ONEing, and loop back and forth with the inquiry “What are we inside of as we sense into our Shared-Presence, our We?”
When you complete, close your eyes and simply be together inside the space you’ve created through your practice together.
In my experience, practicing regularly with another person begins to open us in ways that are beyond what happens when we do our contemplative practices alone. To paraphrase Rohr’s words from above, this way of practicing together supports us to be present to, and changed by, the Living Word of God in each other, thereby becoming the Living Prayer of God for a transformed world.
Please bring this into your life, by doing the practice with your friends and family. I’m curious to hear what your experience is!
Let’s do the practice together. Please join us on Saturday, December 14th for our 75-minute call beginning at 10:30 am PT/1:30 pm ET/7:30 pm CET. To register for free, click here.
“In the sight of God all humans are oned, and one person is all people and all people are in one person.”