Although it has been around for some years, “The New Age Movement” still has a very strong following. To those in this movement, God is nothing more than the human “subconscious mind” attempting to “enlighten” the “conscious mind.” They lack understanding of God as a real intelligent Being who is trying to communicate his presence, love, and will for our lives. They instead deny his existence and pretend they have some sort of magical creative force in them that is all-powerful, and that when released does the creating. Trying to tap into this utmost deepest part of themselves by retreating from the world, is what New Agers call “becoming one with the God within us.”
I used to mock this and just brush it off as being totally absurd. But over time I have begun to realize it may hold a kernel of truth. There is indeed a God in us. But it is not some magical creative force; it is the third person of the Holy Trinity that is residing in us. The Bible tells us this in John 14: 16-17:
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
This subconscious mind that they refer to is the voice of God the Holy Spirit speaking to us. But we can only hear Him when we spend quiet time with Him, deliberately separating ourselves from the world for awhile. For it is only when we slow ourselves down and listen intently that we can hear Him speaking to us, by way of thoughts and impressions. This is not the “subconscious mind” — it is God’s voice speaking to us. After all he created us, and he created what is called the subconscious mind so that he could communicate with us at this level. When we enter into quiet reflection of life, when we slow ourselves down in the silence, then we can hear Him most clearly. This is how we open the door to our lives for Him. This is how we let Him into our very hearts and souls.
You see, this is a form of prayer. We often think of prayer as us speaking to God. But prayer is more than that. It is us speaking to God and then listening to God speak to us; it is a two way conversation. It is spending time with Him, just like when a friend comes to spend time with us when we are sick or grieving. Often, not a lot of words are exchanged in such moments, but the mere presence of that friend is felt and is a more precious communication. So it is with prayer. The best prayer of all can be silence, if we listen to Him in the silence.
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God” (St. John Damascene, De fide orth. 3, 24: PG 94, 1089C) — CCC 2590.
Once committed to conversion, the heart learns to pray in faith. Faith is a filial adherence to God beyond what we feel and understand. It is possible because the beloved Son gives us access to the Father. He can ask us to “seek” and to “knock,” since he himself is the door and the way — CCC 2609.
When we enter the presence of our Lord in the silence, when we escape the noise, the hurried pace of everyday life, something begins to happen to us. We begin to change on the inside and it begins to transform our daily lives. We begin to be happier, freer, and more alive than we have ever been. We have a sense of fulfillment. We are no longer depending on ourselves and the resources of our own minds, but we are continually being filled with the very God who made us.
