Exercise 18: Who am I? Who are you?

Background: It is said that St. Francis past an entire night asking 2 simple questions: “Who am I, God?”  and “Who are you, God?”  It is not known what his method was; the correlation of the two questions to the two parts of breath is purely speculation on my part.

This is a great oppurtunity to experiment with breath prayer.  Will you assign each question to a different part of the breath?  Do both with the inhalation?  Both with the exhalation?  Give a try to leaving some space.  Perhaps by asking each question with the inhale.  If you are leaving that empty space, try to explore being present with the breath and without thought during the emptiness, then try to allow yourself to contend with the questions in that space.

The Exercise

1. Sit up as straight as you comfortably can.  Release your worries and obligations for the duration of your spiritual exercises today.
2. As you inhale, ask the question, “Who are you God?”
3. With your next inhale, ask the question, “Who am I God?”
4. Continue this pattern.  When other thoughts or concerns arise, release them by returning to these questions and your breath.
5. When your time is nearing completion, dismiss the questions.  Enjoy a time of wordless communion.
6. When you are ready, explore your feelings about the questions and consider whether or not you have anything that looks like answers to these two important questions.

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Bare with the video; the audio gets much better around 1:17, which is before the practice begins.

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