The Art of Worship

3/24/10

Hello my fellow friends!

For us, practicing Tai-Chi and using it to live out the Biblical principles as best as we can according to our understanding is a joy in our life.  For us Tai-Chi is our art of worship.  Some people use art, some people use music, we have learned Tai-Chi is a wonderful way to come closer to God. 

This blog is intended to share our experiences with anybody who likes to see how we apply our understanding in our lives, and is in no way intended as a means to convince anyone.  Rather, we would like to spur ideas as to how you could utilize your understanding of your own spiritual journey of whatever your back ground you come from in tangible ways. 

   

I have been having a real exciting spiritual journey recently.   I woke up this morning tired and groggy.  I could feel my whole body is off, and I could feel my meridians are not flowing and my energy was stuck.  Not getting enough sleep recently doesn’t help.  I am grateful at these times that I can identify some of what’s off with my body.  Otherwise, I would just think that I am tired and would feel there is not much I can do about my condition besides resting. 

I started the morning by moving as if I was doing the form, and my joints started feeling better.  I started relaxing my brain and I relaxed them further by relaxing my facial muscles.  I softened my eyes, and I slowed my breath so that I felt pleasure in my breath.

On days like this, it seems I take more delight in God’s creation.  I started taking things at pace.  I relaxed my body, and I found my center.  I stopped all rushing.  I found myself in a meditative state.  I started feeling the energy starting to flow in my body, my body resting.  I felt that I started moving slower than my body was expending the energy.  Now I feel my body receiving the energy and I am resting in God’s embrace that is available everywhere.  It is on these days I feel most thankful and most restful.  It is amazing even when I have no energy how everything gets done.  It seems like the body when stressed starts rushing to get things done sooner, but by stopping this process, there is infinite energy available.  I think the hardest part is to remember that the energy is always available, and it is already there.  We can just receive it. 

While I am waiting for the computer to turn on, I read a few passages.  I figured I might as well put this time to good use.  I am reading proverbs, and chapter 8 is Wisdom itself talking to us.  In Chapter 8, verse 22 - 23, It says,

The LORD made me as the beginning of His way, the first of His works of old.
I was made in the very beginning, at the first, before the world began.

Wisdom is his way.  I felt that we are learning to live by wisdom, not just thinking it.  By reading all of chapter 8, I got the distinct understanding that Wisdom is having the knowledge and understanding of how God’s law works, including the laws of nature.  The following lines gives an even better idea (Proverbs 8:28 – 31).

When he placed the clouds in the sky, when he opened the springs of the ocean
and ordered the waters of the sea to rise no further than he said. I was there when he laid the earth's foundations.
I was beside him like an architect, I was his daily source of joy, always happy in his presence---
happy with the world and pleased with the human race.

I realized that I feel this joy that Wisdom feels because she resides in me when I align myself with the laws of God that He wrote in this world.  When my body is obeying and following the law, it receives Wisdom. 


When I came across the following lines in Proverbs 8:53:

Those who find me find life, and the LORD will be pleased with them.
Those who do not find me hurt themselves; anyone who hates me loves death."

I was reminded of the principle that ‘We are always training whether we are aware of it or not’.  Which leads us to a sister principle ‘We are either growing or dying’.  If we do things right for our body we go towards live, and if we do things misaligned we go towards death.  For instance, a lot of us using the computer have stiff upper backs and have slight hunch.  Most people don’t think in these terms but we are training to have a hunch.  Over time, we get stiffer and stiffer in this position so we can perform our jobs better and more efficiently.  We get what we practice.  We are practicing to get a hunch back.  Now while we are practicing to get a hunch back, other muscles are atrophying.  This is because we typically sit 8 hours in front of a computer yet, most of us don’t do anything outside of sitting in front of the computer.  So, all the other muscles are becoming weaker while our hunchback is becoming stronger.  We all know that a stiff upper back is not a way to go.  Our life is becoming more and more limited, less and less movement.  In Taoist thinking, not moving is death.  Anything that has life has movement.  I think this is a very simple yet powerful principle that is demonstrated in all aspects of life.   

I find it a fascinating journey to read the scriptures and be able to see it not only in all aspects of my life, but that it also helps specifically with my Tai-Chi, and practicing Tai-Chi allows appreciate the bible even more in a tangible sense.  It is a wonderful practice to be able to intellectually ponder the word of God but at the same time feel you can appreciate them in a concrete and tangible manner.