Thinking and Re-thinking

Some thoughts that have stuck in my head while reading and “daydreaming” these past few months:

I have tended to think of “praying” as a word-filled activity. Richard Rohr has a description of “praying” as “…being present when prayer occurs.” He sees prayer as a non-verbal resonance with creation and the creator, prayer as a tuning fork touching a deep, universal sounding board. Mystics have often described deep prayer as intimate: “You are so quiet you can hear God listening.” I think less people would be put off by the idea of praying if they adopted the definition of “being present when prayer occurred.”

I have tended to think of “eternity” and “infinity” and “heaven” as removed from the here and now, as what will happen and where I’ll be after this time and space; it is as if this is a separate chunk of the cosmos. I’m beginning to think of it all as seamless. Now is a part of eternity and it might be a good time to practice “living in the kingdom.”
I am trying to get away from thinking of God and heaven as “out there” or “up there.” As several writers have described it, “We are swimming in an ocean of God.” After all, “The kingdom of God is within you.”

I am always amazed when I come across new insights and interpretations of scripture, particularly the “Jesus Stories.” How many different levels of meaning it encourages. That is why I find the Fundamentalists for whom what is written is beyond interpretation (despite the long oral history behind scripture) frustrating.
For example, I was reading a commentary on the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes which suggested that after Jesus blessed the tiny portion of food they had, gave thanks for it, and began to share it with the people around him, those of the multitude who were perhaps hiding and hoarding food for themselves began to share also. Thus thousands were fed.
What I find particularly rich in this suggestion is that it does not negate the scriptural miracle, but expands it to an even greater miracle: the multiplication of generosity in the hearts of people who had after all just listened to the beatitudes.