Sculpting Project 16: Time Stopping: Week 1

To learn to pray we must” establish ourselves in the present” and to do that we must first learn “that the present exists.” Archbishop Anthony Bloom

I am attending God’s early morning art and music concert from my porch. He puts on this amazing show every day. Always novel, always beautiful. Today spring birds sing. One singer is especially loud and skillful. His music echos in the canyon. No clouds today, pure blue and warm sun. Shadows stretch across the hill from the junipers and sage. Bunnies chase each other, a bird is zealously building a nest in the eves. I am noticing all this because I am doing my “time stopping” exercise.

Anthony Bloom believed that one of the greatest challenges of prayer was simply learning to be present in the present moment. He taught that the present moment is where we meet God. But Bloom found this is challenging for us because we are often not in the present moment. He felt that we, in fact, barely know that the present moment exists. So Bloom developed an exercise called “time stopping” to begin to learn how to be in this present moment, where we can meet God.

Sculpting project 16: Time Stopping

This is a review of Sculpting Project Two: from Here and Now for 2-10.

• For 2-5 minutes sit down and do nothing.
• Say to yourself “Here I am, in the presence of God, in my own presence and in the presence of all that is around me, just still, moving nowhere.”

Bloom suggests you begin by doing this exercise when you are not busy and feeling pressed for time.

Then when you are ready for the challenge, do the time stopping exercise when you are busy. Bloom, who was a very busy man with religious and medical duties, discovered that the “world did not falter” when he took a 2-5 minute break and that he was able to do his work more effectively after the break.

Let us know how this project works for you.

Quotes and thoughts from Beginning to Pray, chapter ‘Managing Time’ by Anthony Bloom printed by Paulist Press copyright 1970.

Time Stopping on a walk with our dog I sat and watched the ants at work. It was a surprisingly pleasant time,  fostering curiosity and fresh perspective..

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. Then secondly, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Mark 12:30-31

Using our strength to sculpt our heart, soul, and mind to love God and our neighbor.