Spiritual Depth

In the study of physical motion, human beings can only perceive acceleration and are able to quickly accommodate to fixed velocity. An example of this is the constant motion of the earth which we never perceive because earth never slows down or speeds up. Another example, the motion of an elevator, can be likened to our spiritual lives. 

If an elevator had no numbers to light up and tell you what floor you are on you would only appreciate motion when the car is accelerating or decelerating, and you would only know that the elevator is moving by keeping track in your mind of the sequence of acceleration and deceleration events. If you put Dori from Finding Nemo on a long enough elevator ride with no numbers (because remember she can read) she would eventually think that the elevator is perfectly still even though it is still moving. In our spiritual lives we notice the acceleration events that stand out in our minds as "something that brought me closer to God." We also identify sins as deceleration events that either slow down our progress or if after enough deceleration events our direction changes to moving further away from God. This may be why in Revelation 3:16 we are warned about being lukewarm, a state where we are stagnant and not moving towards God (hot) but we do not have the wakeup call of a deceleration event that tells us we were actually moving away from God (cold). You know when you are trying to go up and accidentally get into a down elevator? Sometimes it's not until the elevator slows down at the bottom of the descent that you realize you are going to the basement.

Another challenge of our spiritual elevator is that it is infinite and does not have a "top floor" that we will arrive at in our physical bodies. Anthony Bloom explains this at the start of the Knocking on the Door chapter of Beginning to Pray: "we should think ... in terms of a progression from depth to depth, from height to height, whichever formula you prefer, so that at every step we already possess something which is rich, which is deep, and yet always longing for and moving towards something richer and deeper." There is also, unfortunately, no bottom floor. We say "hitting rock bottom" as an analogy but this is only a perception of deceleration at an otherwise arbitrary point in time. We didn't have to wait to stoop so low and we certainly could have come up with new and even more creative ways to sin - we stop not because it's truly the bottom but because God's Grace has shown us a glimpse of our true selves.

In our quest to be a relationship with God I commonly fall into two traps: 1) wondering why I am not growing spiritually and 2) comparing my spiritual growth to others. If we realize how little insight we have into our spiritual state (this infinite elevator with no numbers) we will avoid doing both of these things because if we cannot discern if our elevator is going up, down, or standing still then how can we even begin to comment on someone else's elevator? The only thing we can really do is pay close attention and not miss the awareness that comes with an acceleration or deceleration event, the former to encourage us and the latter to chasten us ... but this is not the best news.

St. Paul experienced the same struggle and contemplated in Romans  8:26 - "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." The Holy Spirit is with us on the elevator. Even when we are going down. Even when we are jumping up and down to make the elevator go down faster. Even when we are curled up in the corner of the elevator hiding and pretending there is no elevator ride. He intercedes for us when we do not know how to do it ourselves. How much more will He help us when we are participating in the journey.