writing in the dust

Prayer seeks change, prayer expresses the conviction that pain or disablement is not in accord with God’s purpose, yet a spirituality of healing that encourages us to say, ‘This is not me, this is not real,’ about our situation is deeply dangerous. As anyone who has had any involvement in this should be well aware, the recognition and acceptance of the material reality of injury, disability or trauma is the beginning of a restoration of that inner image of oneself as an integral system without which no serious healing can occur; and what follows from this in terms of organic change is a good deal less important. A spirituality of denial or a spirituality that insists on the transformative power of the will and imagination over the suffering body is liable simply to increase anger and guilt.