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Editor's
note: Today's column continues a series on the Third Alternative
of "Synergicity." Over the next few weeks, this column
will continue to outline and explain the third alternative of
"SYNERGICITY," and how the concept can replace the loneliness
and isolation of "Independence."
Richard (and
Meridian Publishers) are now in the process of deciding to publish
The Three Deceivers as a book. We would appreciate your input
on this (and your comments and thoughts on the column so far).
Simply click Richard@Meridianmagazine.com
and let us hear from you right now.
The W + P = S Formula
I love equations. They are little
laws that have to work! If you add 5 and 7 and then take away
3, you will always get 9. Equations are predictable and dependable.
Today, I want to give you a equation
for Synergicity. It will seem like a simple formula at first,
but simple ones are the best! And as I explain it, I hope you
will want it!
And then I hope you will get it!
And then I hope you will do it!
The equation is: W + P = S
Synergicity, of course,
is the S. What do you think the W and the P
are?
Many would guess work and
plan. After all, that seems to be the formula for most
everything in this world. Work for it. Work
hard; work smart. Strive and strive, and work and
work until you get it. And plan, of course — strategize
and figure out how to make your dreams come true.
The problem is that the equation
of work and plan does not work for Synergicity, no matter
how well you plan or how hard you work. One reason the equation
doesn't add up is that Synergicity as we have defined it, (click
on the recent articles in the archives, to the right, if you need
a review of the definition of Synergicity) is a gift of attitude
and of Spirit, not something we earn or deserve.
Watch and Pray Equals Synergicity
The true formula or equation is the
one Christ himself gave is this — "watch and
pray."
It is by learning to truly watch
— to see things as they really are, to notice the spiritual
as well as the physical and mental, to become ever more aware,
and to notice with ever greater perspective — that we begin
to see God's timing (and His will). We start to appreciate the
connections between all things, and to see coincidences not as
matters of chance but as manifestations of God's hand and opportunities
for fulfilling mortalities purposes.
And it is by truly praying
— really communicating with God — that we can interpret
all we see according to His vision, and draw down the powers of
heaven that enable us to fit into the puzzle in the way He has
foreordained..
Let's think for a minute about what
a marvelous equation this is, and what a different way of operating
from the normal way of the world. Then we will go deeper into
some fascinating examples of watching and some remarkable illustrations
of prayer.
If we contrast the accepted way of
doing things in the world (work and plan) with the more
spiritual formula of the Spirit (watch and pray), there
are so many profound differences. Work and plan (not
saying there is anything wrong with either, by the way) is the
equation of the world, and what it leads to (if not coupled with
the Spirit) is not the Alternative of Synergicity, but
the Deceiver of Independence. Working and
planning are depending on yourself and using your own power
of mind and personality to make things happen. It is a good thing,
but it is a very limited thing. Watching and praying
(which can often lead us to re-channeled working and
planning) is a spiritual equation that uses synergy with
others and synchronicity with God to bring ourselves and others
to where God wants us to be.
The W + P = S formula can be elaborated
in an interesting entomological way. W and P can also (consistent
with the true meaning of the equation) mean:
It is all about awareness and
perspective — through our senses, but more importantly
through our Spirit. Nudges and impressions and guidance and inspiration
become as important as eyes and ears, and the needs of others
become as important as our own. God's will becomes the goal, and
His "everythingness" and our "nothingness"
guide our thinking at every unexpected turn. We plan and try to
think ahead, but we are willing and watchful, at every juncture,
to change course and to do well whatever He puts before us.
Watch
I have an aunt, May Swenson, who
was one of America's greatest and most honored 20th century poets.
As a boy, I remember "watching" experiences with her.
"Look at that tree" she would say to me, "and tell
me what you see." I would see bark and limbs and leaves.
She would say "Look harder,
look closer and tell me what you see." Then she would tell
me of the patterns she saw in the bark, the shapes and forms in
the canopy, the way the wind had shaped the growth, how the leaves
spun clockwise, why the moss was on the north side of the trunk,
where squirrels might have put nuts, which ways the branches seemed
to be reaching, and dozens of other things that I had not seen
because I was not watching close enough.
There is so much to see, especially
when we watch with spiritual eyes as well, and even more especially
when we find the empathy and charity to see what other people
see, and appreciate their perspective.
The more we notice, the more we become
like God, who sees all.
We can train our physical eyes to
see more (as my aunt tried to train me), and can develop each
of the five senses to take in more, to notice more, and to thus
make us more aware and give ourselves more perspective.
Taking a solitary walk one day through
a neighborhood Southampton, in Southern England, while serving
there as mission president, I came upon a blind man with his dog.
He was selling baskets on a street corner. I struck up a conversation
and found him to be both delightful and insightful (and funny!
When I asked him if he made all the baskets himself, he said,
"Well, except for the dog baskets — my dog make those.")
As we talked, he must have perceived
some hint of pity in my voice, because he said, suddenly, "Hey,
don't feel so bad for me. You have one sense that is better than
mine, but I have four senses that are better than yours. I can
hear more, smell more, taste more, and feel more than you can!"
He then began to demonstrate by telling me things he could hear
right then that I could not hear, and things he could smell right
then that I could not smell. "I've developed my other senses
to make up for the eyesight I've lost," he said, "and
the best sense of all is what you feel."
I invited him to come to church sometime,
and then headed back for meetings I had in London.
I didn't have another trip to Southampton
again for a couple of months, and as I was preparing to go, my
zone leader from down there called and asked me to bring along
my "whites." (Occasionally missionaries asked me to
baptize someone as I traveled around the mission, and there was
a baptism for several souls that was scheduled before our zone
conference).
When I got to the chapel and went
into the dressing room to change for the baptism, there was George.
He recognized my step before I looked up and saw him, and said,
"Hi, President Eyre, will you do me the honor of baptizing
me?" Overwhelmed, I asked him to tell me his story of the
past two months. It was a simple story. He took me up on the invitation
to visit church, and he said that, when he walked in, he felt
the Spirit immediately and knew this must be God's Church.
"Remember," he said, "I
told you that four of my senses were better than yours, and that
the most important one is feeling."
So, "watching" does not
just mean with your eyes. Learn to watch (and be aware) with all
of your senses, and remember what George learned — that
it is not with our physical senses that we do our most important
watching. It is with our spiritual eyes and ears, our spiritual
senses, through which we can hear the will of God, and feel his
promptings and nudges and inspiration.
On a personal note (and this may
sound a little strange), I have become so enamored with becoming
a better "watcher" — a better "see-er"
— that I have decided that maybe my own name is a reminder
of what I want to be. You see, Eyre is pronounced "eye-er".
Pray
As a missionary in New York City
in the mid 60's, I was a guide at the Church’s pavilion
at the World's Fair, and was supervised by Elder Bernard Brockbank
of the Seventy who lived in the same building. One evening, about
bedtime, there came a knock at our door, and there was Elder Brockbank,
who said, "My wife is away, and I wondered if I could join
you Elders for evening prayer."
He asked me to pray, so I did, trying
to be extra thorough and to cover everything that a missionary
should in his prayer. After a few minutes, as I was earnestly
praying with my head bowed and eyes clamped shut, I began to hear
the unmistakable sound of a pencil writing rapidly on paper.
At first I thought it must be my
greenie companion, tired of my long prayer, starting his nightly
letter to his girlfriend. But when I finished and opened my eyes,
I was chagrined to see that it was Elder Brockbank, and that he
had covered a whole page of a yellow legal pad with writing. I
didn't dare ask him what he had written, of course, but in my
immature mind, I imagined that he was evaluating my prayer —
a B on content perhaps, and a C on articulation.
Elder Brockbank got up, went to the
door to leave, and then turned back with a twinkle in his eye.
He said "You are probably wondering what I was writing, Elders.
I'm getting a little older you know, and my memory is not perfect,
so I find that I have to take notes on what the Lord says to me."
Prayer to him was real — as
real as any conversation — and, as anyone would do in conversation
with a very important and very wise being, he was taking notes.
When we pray, do we ask for insight,
for perspective, for awareness, for the Lord's will? Do we express
our thoughts and plans and ask for feedback, for guidance, for
clarity? And do we listen and wait for answers, for promptings,
for perception? Do we take notes on it so that we can remember
it, implement it, learn from it, do it?
It has been said that, "More
things in this world are wrought by prayer than we can imagine."
Prayer is both a way to gain insight and direction and a way to
actually bring things to pass. Alma brought his son Alma back
not by his own effort, or even by doing what the Lord inspired
him to do. He brought him back by bringing to bear the power of
prayer that changed Alma Jr.'s soul. Orson Hyde, when assigned
by the Prophet to be in charge of and the liaison for the Holy
Land, did not even visit Israel for years. Other brethren inquired
of him as to what he was doing to fulfill his assignment, and
he said, simply, “I am praying.”
Prayer brings things to pass, and
it opens the channels whereby we see what God wants us to see,
and whereby we learn to watch with spiritual eyes, and whereby
we discover, all around us, the Synergicity that allows us to
maximize our lives and the lives of others.
Putting Watching and Praying
Together
The beauty of the W + P = S formula
is that not only do watching and praying lead
to Synergicity, but they also help and enhance each other. In
other words, as they move us closer and deeper into Synergicity,
W also leads to better P, and P leads to better W.
Those who become truly watchful begin
to notice all kinds of things to focus their prayers on. They
see needs, they see opportunities, they see situations accurately
and know what help is needed and thus what to pray for. And of
course, the more we see, the more we have to be thankful for and
to honor God for.
The prayers of a true "watcher"
are expansive, and filled with insight and empathy. They tend
to search for and focus on and often to match God's will,
and they become seeking mechanisms for being able to see and notice
more of what He wants us to perceive.
By the same token, those who pray
hard — who exercise prayer, and who wrestle with the Lord
in prayer (those who, as Joseph Smith advocated, "work by
the power of mental effort — or by faith") —
become much better watchers. This is because their spiritual eyes
are opened and they begin to see more, to feel more, to be aware
of more, and thus to be more useful to the Lord and more capable
of finding and fulfilling their own foreordinations.
Moreover, the equation works. The
enhanced watching, and the enhanced praying do lead to ever greater
Synergicity — a state of mind and spirit that acknowledges
(indeed, celebrates) one's complete dependency on God and complete
interdependency with others and develops synergy on all levels.
An attitude and approach that seeks God’s will and looks
for His hand in all things, particularly in the timing and interconnectedness
and synchronicity of events.
Next Week
Throughout this column (over the
nearly a year that it has run each Friday), we have criticized,
denigrated, and pointed up the flaws of life-attitudes that revolve
around Control, Ownership and Independence ("COI").
We have insisted that the pursuit of (and often obsession with)
these "Three Deceivers" is what sucks the quality and
joy and faith out of our lives. And we have argued for their replacement
with the Three Alternatives of Serendipity, Stewardship, and Synergicity.
Well, it may be a shock to some regular
readers, but next week, we are going to suggest that COI actually
have a positive use in life. We will explain that the economic
and physical notions of Control, Ownership and Independence can
be a useful phase that children and adolescents go through
that trains them for the higher and much more adult spiritual
paradigms of Serendipity, Stewardship, and Synergicity.
See you here next weekend. Thanks
for reading. And thanks for any comments you might like to send
to me at Richard@meridianmagazine.com.
