Outside the city 

There is an interesting theological relationship between The City and Outside of the City in many forms of spirituality.  Certainly, in the Judeo-Christian tradition in the Old Testament the distinction is inside the city is the place of structure, order and in this biblical case, the Pharisee (the Lawyers and Scribes). Perhaps historically the Pharisee’s have received a bad press, but the people in general wanting to stick within the biblical law (of Mosses) and needed some form of interpreted meaning of those laws into something that could be a lived practicality. In the case of the arrival of the prophet Jesus the challenge was what was the imperative for this interpretation?

 For Him it was that Love trumped all. 

Outside the City was the place of the Prophets and the Charismatics. It’s the wild place that Mosses finds the burning bush, the Israelites freed from Egypt enslavement spend 40 years with God, Jesus is driven out into to be tempted and years later groups of people have sought solitude and spirituality in.  Known as The Desert Fathers and Mothers these solitary hermits lived a life of austerity in caves fasting and praying so as to find an experience of God. In the same way through history there have been other spiritualities that have sough solitude to negate the ordinary pulls and pushes of life. To be freed to seek some form of divine. Hermits, gurus, vision quests shamanic journeys, sometimes using psychotropic herbs to induce out of world experience. These were to domain of those who chose to live outside the social norm. 

One of the people historically who I admire greatly would be St Francis of Assisi who whilst finding God in all things (something not hard to do when you live in Umbria in what is now modern-day Italy). Francis rejects much of the structure if not the authority of the church, not only seeing the difficulties of the Church structures / hierarchy but sees that these exclude the ordinary folk who are in fact living closely to God. 

There is a strong Buddhist tradition that honors everyday work as needing to be found as sacred, if not a practice as to the way of enlightenment. (“Wax on. Wax off”)

You may not know that the modern-day nativity play was first put on by Frances as a way of explaining the importance of the incarnation (the birth of Christ) to people who largely did not read. The Celtic church was also a place where there was a close association between the everyday and the spiritual that was outside of the church. There is a story about a Celtic woman who every morning washing her face three times, blowing on the embers three time in remembrance of the trinity. I think that I might have mentioned the book I Frances before on the blog but it is such a lovely book that describes something of the histories of Frances.

 If we then take this idea of the formal, controlled structured inner using the metaphor of the city, and the unstructured, freer, loose outside of the city then I wonder where you might locate yourself?

There is another spiritual concept, that of the retreat. The deliberate move out of the work life whatever that is, to spend some time away literally retreating from the world for a time. The time spent doing this can vary with the ability to give the time (this is often not seen in the light of self-care but to give yourself time to recover away from the world at large is such a caring thing to do.) For some it’s a time spent being cared for in a holy house or ministry. Here at a retreat is a place that you can be cared for with the necessities of life provided. Whist many people will think of this in light of Christian monasteries there are many other retreat houses from other traditions and secular. If time is a difficulty, then perhaps a quiet day again organized or one you arrange for yourself. Spending a day out on the moor, b the sea, in a friend’s garden, anywhere that you can find solitude and put down your regular routine. Since COVID there have sprung up some rooms to rent, whilst many are set up as office space for remote working some are craft or creative focused. If none of this is possible home may be practical but needs the discipline of turning off the electronic devices, perhaps gathering art martials or a particular book, listening to that wellbeing podcast you have meant to listen to. It’s good to try to get outside for a time. There are online retreats and apps that can be utilized for this. If I am staying at home, I like to buy in some special tea or something for lunch.

If you have read this blog for any time, you will also know that I love to get by the water. This year I have done far more sitting by the river than getting in it with my waders on. I think quiet deliberately I have picked up my camara rather than my fly-fishing rod.

Being outside of the city is probably an attitude of mind as much as a physical reality.

If you would like to stay in one night and watch a film, could I suggest one or both:

Outside the City https://www.amazon.co.uk/Outside-City-DVD-Nick-Hamer/dp/B086PLXYLM

The Unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B8MR2S7S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_d_asin_title_318_o02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Chris Rowberry