Lead Me to Practice Discomfort

Marjorie Otto, Beloved Community Communications Team

​I think it’s safe to make the generalization that for many of us who find ourselves in a liberal theological community, one of the most difficult tasks asked of us is to develop a spiritual practice. And don’t even get me started on my (and probably others’) struggle with developing a prayer practice; that’s for another newsletter. Thankfully, we find ourselves here at Unity Church with a plethora of circles, sources, events, and publications to support that task. But even with all those resources, the learning never stops, so I joined the late-February follow-up to the fall 2023 series Spiritual Practice: Discovery and Transformation, with Rev. KP Hong to continue my dive into spiritual practice.

​If you are contemplating these questions, you are not alone: 

What’s the point of a spiritual practice?
How should it look? 
How do I use my practice to support my social justice and antiracism work?

It can be overwhelming to know what a practice can look like that fulfills within, among, and beyond needs. 

During the February event, KP reminded us of the core definition of spiritual practice: it’s how we connect to the whole, the holy, that which is greater than the self and greater than the ego. He also reminded us of the unbreakable bond between spiritual practice and antiracist practice. We cannot think to dismantle racism without the transformation a spiritual practice provides to us to connect to that which is greater. This intertwining is seen in the Double Helix Model in which spirituality and antiracist work at the within, among, and beyond levels to break down white supremacy.
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We were asked to consider these questions as we shared what our practice looks like: 

Is there a root spiritual practice for you?
Why is it important/ formational/meaningful?
How does this practice connect to the whole, the holy, that which is greater?

Of all my spiritual uncertainties, I’ve always known that nature has been, and always will be, my connection to that which is greater because it is the realm in which I’ve experienced the most awe: the pulsating of an aurora borealis, waves lapping against rocks, and a Cooper’s Hawk raising its young in our backyard silver maple. A spiritual practice for me is anything that brings me outside.

We were then asked to name our antiracism practice and to look at how it and our spiritual practice come together to support each other. And if it was hard to name how the two support each other, are there adjustments to be made to increase that support?

That’s where I find myself: ruminating on the adjustments. I feel a connection between my roots in nature and an antiracist practice of acknowledging how environmental destruction is a white dominate act. However, I don’t yet know how to clearly define that thread to someone else. 

This idea of spiritual and antiracism practices supporting one another follows a theme. The disconnections we often experience in our capitalist society that does not value spirituality, rest, community, art, face-to-face communication, or humanity as a part of nature, lead to other-ing and barriers. We put up barriers thinking that we need protection between the “other” and the “self.” 

Within the “self,” even more barriers go up to create separations of the body, the mind, the persona, and the ego. When all these barriers become impermeable, it easy is for us to see ourselves as separate from the “other.” That’s how we find ourselves in these problems: racism, environmental destruction, individualism, and burnout. If we are unable to move through these boundaries to see ourselves as connected to the “other,” the disconnection leads us to see a race different and as less-than. It leads us to see humans as having dominium over nature rather than as a part of it. Disconnection ends in destruction. 

But spiritual practice is the key to rebuilding those connections.

Maybe you’re thinking that seems a bit overblown: “My spiritual practice can’t really hold that much weight; all I’m doing is going for a walk or sitting on a meditation cushion.”

That’s where the February event culminated: not only should your spiritual practice be about the space to transform the self, the within, it should serve to transform the other, the beyond. The final question hints at that: Does your spiritual practice bring you comfort, or does it bring you to connections you’re uncomfortable with?

The call to action is the answer you and I are trying to find: If your spiritual practice pushes you to connect with something you’d rather avoid, to discomfort, that is your spiritual practice.