Spiritual Regimen for ‘Immortal Diamond’ By Richard Rohr

The Faith-ing Project’s regimens are designed to deepen the reading experience by pairing a spiritual exercise with each chapter of select books.  Unless otherwise noted, these exercises work equally well as an introduction or follow up to the chapter.  They can be employed by individuals or groups.

Regimens for the first half of the book are available to anyone who is interested, free of charge.  If you would like to access the second half of the regimen, there are 2 different ways to access this.

The first way is to support the ongoing work of the faithing project by becoming a  Patron.   The second way is to access it on a pay-what-it-is-worth model.  You decide if it is worth 50 cents or 10 dollars… or somewhere between.  Make a one-time paypal payment to Otherjeffcampbell7@gmail.com  Once payment is recieved, the other half of the regimen will be emailed to you.

Here is the regimen for the first half of Richard Rohr’s Immortal Diamond:

Immortal Diamond

Invitation

 

• Close your eyes.  Release your obligations from this day.

• See a tremendous rock.  It was rolled there by several strong men.  You can not move it yourself. Reach out and touch the rock.  Feel it scratch the soft skin of your hands.

• Know that within this tomb is your true self.  Ressurection.

• Spend several breaths seeing this place.  Hear it. Feel it. Fill yourself with the awareness that it is your true self within.

• When you are ready, with each exhale, Think, “Who is going to move the stone?”

• Know that your true self is in the tomb.

• Know that the tomb is empty.  

• Remember, with your exhale:  “Who is going to move the stone?”

 

 

Preface

 

• Place your feet flat on the ground.

• Release your expectations and obligations for the time you will devote to your practice today.

• Take 3 deep inhales and exhales.

• There are many things within you that need to die.  Perhaps you are ready and able to name them. Maybe you will think of them more generically.  Whichever it is, exhale that which needs to die.

• With your inhalation, bring into your body that which needs to be (and can be) trusted.  Again, you might be able to name these things. Or you might simply think of these things as “That which I can trust.”

• Continue to exhale that which needs to die.  Inhale that which you can trust.

• When you are ready, release the thoughts with your breath.  Simply inhabit your inhales and exhales.

 

 

Chapter 1

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.

The Exercise

 

• Sit up as straight as you comfortably can.  Release your worries and obligations for the duration of your spiritual exercises today.

• As you inhale, ask the question, “Who are you God?”

• With your next inhale, ask the question, “Who am I God?”

• Continue this pattern.  When other thoughts or concerns arise, release them by returning to these questions and your breath.

• When your time is nearing completion, dismiss the questions.  Enjoy a time of wordless communion.

• 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.

 

 

Chapter 2:

Background: It seems that there is some immutable center to us.  This has been called the True Self. It can be the work of a lifetime to get past the things that seem like such an important part of who we are.  Roles, titles, jobs, even callings… These are often good things. But they are not the most basic measure of who we are.

Today’s Exercise

1. Relax.  Find your breath.
2. Imagine a riverside scene.  Perhaps it is a place you have been.
3. Begin by seeing it in your mind’s eye.  Then locate yourself there.
4. Furnish additional sensory information.  What sounds are you hearing? What smells are you smelling?  What is the temperature like? Are you sitting? What does your seat feel like?
5. Behold the river.  See how the gentle current moves the water out of your vision.
6. Calm your mind.  As thoughts enter into your awareness, place them on the river.  Allow the river to carry them out of your perceptions.
7. Continue to breathe deeply and slowly.  As anything: feelings, memories, perception rise up to distract you from your breath, give them, gently to the river.  Place them as you might put a leaf on the water, so gently to be sure it is floating in the cool water.
8. When you are ready, consider a trivial portion of your identity.  Perhaps you are a football fan, or a lover of science fiction. Whatever that trivial aspect of your identity is, give it up to the river.  Place it on the water and let the current carry it out of sight.
9. With your next breath, consider what it is like to be freed of this aspect of your identity.
10. Now, consider another aspect of your identity.  Perhaps it is a certain distant familial relationship like uncle or cousin.  Maybe it is a hobby you are very passionate about. Give this part of yourself to the river, now.
11. Experience life with out this fact about yourself.  Consider the ways you are changed. As distracting thoughts and feelings arise, remember to give these to the river, too.
12. Now, find something very important to you.  Perhaps it is a job, a title, or a degree. Maybe it is your role within the family you live in (mother/father/ sister/daughter, etc…)  Give this role to the river as well.
13. Spend a breath experiencing yourself without this important role.
14. Consider that there is something within you.  Explore who or what this is.
15. If it feels right, give additional aspects of your identity to the river.
16. You might even give your name itself to the river.  
17. When you have given all the parts of yourself that you wish to, explore who you are, now.  Consider your relationship with the divine. Think about what is left of you.
18. When you are ready, see yourself getting up from the riverside.
19. Walk downriver.  Continue to not only see, but also hear and feel this world in your imagination.  Perhaps fifty feet down the river, you will find that a number of rocks and branches lie across the river, obstructing the flow.  
20. As you walk among these, you will find that many of the parts of yourself that you gave to the river sit here, prevented from going to far away.  Consider each aspect of yourself. The ones you wish for, you can have back. Take them within you again. As for the ones you don’t want? Untether them from the rocks and branches.  Let them be washed free.

 

Chapter 3

 The 5 remembrances

Background: It is amazing how much time and energy we give to running away.

Our business, our obsession with smart phones, with constantly filling the air with talking and music.  These seem to be an attempt to free ourselves from the realities of life.

The funny thing is that the realities of life are not so bad.  They just are. There is not an alternative to them. If we could actually deny them, it might almost be worth it.  But we never truly escape the things we know. We just pretend we have escaped knowing them.

The Five Buddhist Remembrances are great reminders for people from any orientation.  The version used in today’s exercise comes via Thich Nhat Hanh.

Exercise

1. Place your feet flat on the floor.  As best you can, relax.
2. Think the first remembrance, with your next inhale: I am of the nature to grow old.  There is no way to escape growing old.
3. For the exhale, and the whole next breath, embrace this reality.
4. With your next inhale, think the second remembrance:   I am of the nature to have ill health. There is no way to escape ill health.
5. For the exhale and the whole next breath, embrace this reality.
6. With your next inhale, think the third remembrance: I am of the nature to die.  There is no way to escape death.
7. For the exhale and the whole next breath, recognize this true.
8. With your next inhale, embrace the fourth remembrance:  All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.
9. Exhale, and breathe your next breathe.  And accept this reality.
10. With your next inhale, acknowledge this, the final Buddhist Remembrance:  My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.
11. Release these words, and sit in the truth that you are facing.  Hopefully you feel freed by this.

 

Chapter 4 

god breathing into us.  

Background:  It is written that God breathed into the earth and made the first human.  This, perhaps, was how the image of God got into man in the first place: through that breath.

If we believe that God continues to be active in the world today, we might come to view that original act of creation as an ongoing event, not a one-time thing.  More to the point: perhaps God breathes into us still.

The Exercise

1.  Create a safe and quiet space for yourself.  Sit up as straight as you comfortably can. Place your feet flat on the floor.
2.  Release your worries and responsibilities for the duration of your practice.  Don’t worry, they will still be there, waiting for you, when you are done.
3.  With your next inhale, experience this as God’s breath.  Your inhale is God breathing in to you.
4.  With your next exhale, experience this as a breathing in to God.  Your exhale is God’s inhale.
5.  Continue your practice in this manner.  Breathe with God.
6.  As your time nears its end, release this imagery of your breathing.  Enjoy a time of silent communion.

As you go about your day, pay attention to your breath.  Recognize that God breathes with you.

 

Chapter 5:

Background: Mystic Meister Eckhart said, “The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God’s eye are one eye, one seeing, one love.”  This sentence is, to me, nearly as amazing as it is confusing. This exercise is an attempt to grapple with this strange, wonderful idea.

The Exercise

1. Breathe deeply.
2. Turn your inner eye to God.  See God watching you.
3. Think about who God is, see God as best you can through your mind’s eye.
4. When you are ready, consider the idea that God is watching all things.  God is watching you watch God.
5. As best you can, consider the idea that God sees you fully.  God sees you with infared and ultraviolet vision; God sees all the things you have ever done.  God sees you down to the smallest subatomic particle. God sees all the things you have ever been.  God sees your body, mind, and soul. God sees the original divine spark which made human kind.
6. Know that As God sees you, in every possible way, God sees your potential.  God knows the depths of your passion and love. God sees and pronounces you as so good.
7. Sit with God’s loving view on you for a bit.  
8. Take three deep breaths.
9. Combine the views, as best you can.  God looking down on you is you looking up at God.  Your eyes are God’s eyes. God’s eyes are yours. You are God.  God is you.

 

Spiritual Regimen for Inspired by Rachel Held Evans

To get an understanding of the intent of these spiritual regimen, click here.

Please note the information below is for the first half of the book.  The second half is available on a ‘pay what it’s worth’ model.  After payment in any amount is received via paypal at otherjeffcampebll7@gmail.com  the spiritual exercises for the second half of the book will be emailed.  (There is one for each chapter and it is formatted similarly to the first half.)

 

Introduction

Background

Near the end of the introduction, Evans writes “Here the writer has created a new word— theopneustus, a combination of the Greek word ‘theo’ meaning God and ‘pneo’  meaning “to breathe out” or “to blow.” Inspiration both in the English language and in its ancestral languages, is rooted in the imagery of divine breath, the eternal rhythm of inhale and exhale, gather and release.”    Though that particular word is new, The Bible is filled with descriptions of God breathing.

Today’s exercise is one that alludes most directly to the earliest description of God’s breath.  In Genesis 2, God scoops up a handfull of Earth and breathes into it, creating the first human.  And so, spend some time in the give-and-take of your breath. See it, if you will, as a metaphor for understanding the bible… and  experience as it continues today, God continuing to breathe into you now.

 

 

The Exercise

1.  Create a safe and quiet space for yourself.  Sit up as straight as you comfortably can. Place your feet flat on the floor.
2.  Release your worries and responsibilities for the duration of your practice.  Don’t worry, they will still be there, waiting for you, when you are done.
3.  With your next inhale, experience this as God’s breath.  Your inhale is God breathing in to you.
4.  With your next exhale, experience this as a breathing in to God.  Your exhale is God’s inhale.
5.  Continue your practice in this manner.  Breathe with God.
6.  As your time nears its end, release this imagery of your breathing.  Enjoy a time of silent communion.

As you go about your day, pay attention to your breath.  Recognize that God breathes with yo

 

The Temple

Background

There are a group of practices called Lectio Divina.  The over-arching idea with Lectio is to invite God into our understanding of sacred texts.  It can be thought of as a combination of prayer and reading.

There are many different ways to approach Lectio Divina.  We will try several different approaches in this guide, with the intent to help you find some that work best for you.  Today’s exercise is the first.

 

The Exercise

1. Open a bible or go to a website with the bible on it.   Set everything up to read Genesis, chapter 1.
2. Take a few deep breaths.  Release any stresses or expectations for this time you have.
3. Read Genesis, Chapter 1.
4. As you read, be aware of the words and phrase that stand out.
5. Read a second time.  When you are through, reflect on the things that impact you.  Consider expressing these reflections out loud or in writing.
6. Read it a third time.  This time say a prayer when you are through.  Focus this prayer on what this experience was like for you, and what it is challenging you to do in your life.
7. Read it a fourth time.
8. Sit in silence.

 

Origin Stories

Exercise #1.

The Midrash tradition, as Evans says, invites us to play with the text.  It invites us to imagine and believe background to bible stories which are not stated in the words themselves.

There is a tradition closely connected to Lectio Divina.  It is sometimes called Holy Imagining.  It invites us, as we read, to place ourselves in the story, usually from the perspective of someone within the story itself.  It is critical, in holy imagining, to use all the senses. To imagine what something felt like, or smelled like, or tasted like.

There are many of the bible’s origin stories described in this chapter.  Most are from the book of Genesis. My suggestion is that you use the story of Jacob/ Israel wrestling with God for the exercise below.  (Genesis, chapter 32.) But if you prefer to use one of the other ones, this description works for them as well.

 

The Exercise

1)  Read through 1-2 pages of narrative.  (Perhaps Genesis, chapter 32)

2)  Read again.  This time searching for a passage between 1/4- 3/4 of a page that speaks to you.  (Perhaps Genesis 32, verses 22-31)

3)  Read the passage identifying the characters that are either explicitly mentioned or implied.  Explore who you might be in this scene. (Jacob/ Israel or God)

4) Imagine (perhaps by rereading) the scene from this characters perspective.

5)  Consider all of the senses: How did it sound there?  How does it look? How does it smell? What is the temperature?  Can you reach out and touch anything there?

6)  Can you imagine any additions to the scene not expressed by the text; perhaps what happens immediately before or after?

7) Re-read the whole selection.

8)  Spend some time with God, exploring why this perspective came to you and what God taught you through the experience.

 

Exercise #2

Background

Consider your origin story.

In my experience, when we are asked about our childhood, for most of us, our first answer is “I had a pretty normal beginning.  I come from a normal family. Nothing special or traumatic really ever happened.” When asked about family traditions or stories, we similarly answer “We have no family traditions.  There aren’t any family stories. We are just normal people.”

But it usually doesn’t take too much to get beneath these initial answers.  There are lots of reasons we don’t want to embrace the idea that there is something exceptional about where we come from.  

One of the first steps is being willing to face up to the good and the bad of where we come from.  It might be that you are not in a good space to do this today. Please choose wisely and carefully for you self.  We don’t need to go specifically into anything traumatic. But if your entire childhood is a minefield, it might be wiser for you to skip this one today and engage the other exercise.

The Exercise:

 

• Take a few cleansing breaths.  Relax and release your obligations and expectations.

• In your mind, turn back the clock.  Go back to your childhood. Begin by choosing the 3 most important people from that time.  Bring each to mind. Hold them in your memory. Recall how their voices sounded. Place them in the clothes they would have worn.  If you got close enough, think about how they smelled. Spend a moment doing something you might have done with each.

• Take 3 deep, cleansing breaths.

• Consider holiday and seasonal things that you did as a child.  Beaches in the summer? Thanksgiving dinner? Vacations spent reading comic books for endless hours?  Try to feel in your body how it felt to be you at these times.

• Take 3 deep, cleansing breaths.

• Try to gather in your mind what made these people in events.  In your imagination, assemble what made these traditions and people become who they were.  Let your imagination furnish the details you are unsure about.

• Let your mind and imagination wander where it wishes to, as you consider your origin story.

 

 

 

The well

Let’s try a different approach to Lectio.

Exercise:

1. Be ready with your reading: have a bible or website open to Genesis 21.
2. Spend a few minutes breathing and releasing your worries.
3. As best you can, with your exhalations, let go of your preconceptions and assumptions of what you are about to read.  With each out breath, let go of more of the things you think you know about the reading. Do your best to see these assumptions dissipating into the air.
4. When you feel that you have reached a state of beginner’s mind, read Genesis 21 all the way through.  On this first reading, just try and get a sense about the big picture.
5. When you finish reading through, give yourself some time to breathe.
6. Reread the passage.  Pay attention to the passages which bring about a reaction in you.  Where do you feel stirred?
7. Read the passage at least one more time.  This time, try and find a specific phrase.  Ideally, it should not be more than 5 words long.  At most, it should not be more than 10 words long. If you get to the end of the passage and have not found anything, that is ok.  Read the passage– or at least a portion of the passage– one last time to select your sacred words.
8. Say your words out loud.  You might wish to assign one half of the phrase to your inhale, and one half of the phrase to your exhale.
9. Spend a good portion of the time repeating your sacred phrase.  Leave yourself access to the source material, so you can remind yourself of the wording if you get off track.
10. When you are ready, release your sacred words.  Sit in wordless union.

_____________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Deliverance stories:

In the Passover feast, Jews celebrate that they were delivered by God out of slavery.  

 

The Exercise

1. 1. Begin your spiritual practice time by bringing to mind a way that you have been enslaved, or a time you have felt trapped.  This should be something that you have some degree of relief or freedom from.

 

• Try to put yourself back into that space and time in your mind.  Remember the things you thought. But more importantly, remember your emotions.  And how it felt in your body.

• Now, experience your deliverance out of that slavery.  Allow yourself to re-live those victories. Try to see it in your minds eye.  And hear it in your mind’s ear. Even remember the smells, the temperature on your skin.  Celebrate the improvements that you have lived through.

• Sit in thankfullness that time has past.

• Use this time to plan for some concrete celebration of this time.  (You might wish to incorporate some of the elements of the traditional Passover Seder, which you can find information out about here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passover#Passover_seder)   some possibilities for concrete celebration:

 

 

 

• You might want to reach out and thank people who helped you through that time; maybe you can send them a text or an email right now.  

• Maybe you want to make arrangements to treat yourself to a cup of coffee, or a celebratory meal.

• Stand with the Jews across all the centuries who have celebrated passover by reading the story.  The whole story is in the book Exodus, but the Passover portion is in chapter 12.

• Or maybe you can use this time to reach out to someone who was in that same spot you were.  Maybe you can celebrate your freedom by reaching out and liberating someone else.

 

Today, when things are difficult, it might be helpful to bring your deliverance to mind.  Sometimes, a little perspective on the idea that things do get better can be helpful.

 

Walls.

Background

It is said that non-dualistic thinking arises from contemplation: we develop the ability to hold multiple perspectives without having to choose between them.  Sometimes, this is a very valuable skill to have.

 

The Exercise

 

• Take a few deep, cleansing breaths.  If you can, in through the nose and out through the mouth.

• Bring to mind some “stories” which have more than one perspective.  It might be a personal disagreement. Perhaps it is political in nature.  Maybe you are deeply invested in the matter. Maybe you have no idea what to think.  

• Choose one of these to focus on for the rest of this exercise.  It should be something that you are willing and able to hold both sides of.  As you choose this story, continue to ensure that you are breathing deeply. Try to feel your abdomen move as you inhale and exhale.  

• With your next breath, as you exhale, breathe out your personal agenda and investment in this story.  Breathe in the possibility of others’ perspectives. Repeat this 2 more times.

• If you are not ready, continue to exhale your agenda out of your body.  Continue to inhale others’ perspectives.

• Now, try and hold one understanding on this story.  Hold it in your mind, heart, and body. Try to experience the world through the perspective of someone who holds this position.  Try and see the world fully from their world view. As best as you can, become this person… but do your best not to judge this position as right or wrong.  As judgements arise, simply breathe them out of your body. Just try and hold this perspective without judgement.

• When you are ready, release this perspective.  Exhale it with your breath. Inhale openess and emptiness.

• Now, hold an alternative perspective.  As before, hold it in your mind, heart, and body.  Try to experience the world through the perspective of someone who holds this position.  Do your best not to judge this. As judgements arise, simply breathe them out of your body.  Just try and hold this perspective without judgement.

• When you are ready, release this perspective through the breath.

• If there are other perspectives on this same story, give each one it’s due.  

• Sit in a worldlessness.  Do your best to not hold a judgement on this issue.

• Though the purpose of this exercise is not to come to a new resolution or understanding, it is worth checking in to see if your over all considerations on an issue have changed.

 

 

 

 War Stories

Background

Evans says,  “On the cross, Christ not only bore the brunt of human cruelty and bloodlust and fear, he remained faithful to the nonviolence he taught and modeled throughout his ministry.”  

 

The Exercise

 

• Sit up straight.  Place your feet flat on the floor.  Breathe in through your nose if you can.  Breathe out through your mouth.

• Consider carefully the following quote from the author.  Chew on these words for as long as you wish: “On the cross, Christ not only bore the brunt of human cruelty and bloodlust and fear, he remained faithful to the nonviolence he taught and modeled throughout his ministry.”

• When you are ready, with your next in-breath, say or think, “Jesus was born.”

• As you exhale, say or think, “Jesus died.”

• With your next inhale, say or think, “Jesus will come again.”

• Continue this pattern with each inhale or exhale: “Jesus was born/ Jesus died/ Jesus will come again.”  Devote much of the time you have set aside for your practice to this.

• As you consider this pattern, return to the quote from Evans: On the cross, Christ not only bore the brunt of human cruelty and bloodlust and fear, he remained faithful to the nonviolence he taught and modeled throughout his ministry.”

• Spend a time in wordless union.

 

 

 

The Debate

The Exercise

 

• Prepare your bible or open a website page (such as biblegateway.com) to be open to Job, chapter 1.

• Sit with your back straight, and relax.  Breathe.

• When you are ready pick up your selection.  Read Job, chapters 1 and 2. be aware of the feelings the different portion of the reading stirs within you.  Be aware of whether chapter 1 or chapter 2 of the reading connects most intimately with you.

• When you have chosen a single chapter to re-read, take a few cleansing breaths.  Then re-read this chapter. Again, be on the lookout for a section of this chapter that speaks most directly to you.  The selection you choose now might be somewhere between 1 page and 1/2 page.

• Now, choose the most powerful paragraph.

• Breathe, again.

• Now, find a sentence in that paragraph.

• If the sentence is too long to hold easily in your mind, consider shortening it.

• Transition away from your reading material, now.  Say the sacred phrase with each breath. Consider assigning a portion to the exhale and a portion to the inhale.

• Continue this meditation on the single phrase for a while.

• When you are ready, release the phrase.  Enjoy a time of wordless communion.

• If you like, enjoy a conversation with God about your new understanding.

 

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