It seems to me that real living requires at least three strong ongoing relationships – a relationship with God, a relationship with self, and relationships with others.  Sadly the two that are most often overlooked and/or ignored appear to be the first two – God and self – and I believe that it is not really possible to have a strong ongoing relationship with others unless a person first has a strong ongoing relationship with both God (or Higher Power) and self.

Early on in my time as a musician I was taught that it takes at least three people to have music – a creator (the composer) – a re-creator** (performer) – and a receiver (listener).  I have often experienced all three of those roles during my life as a musician – in fact, on numerous occasions I was indeed all of the three people.  The process, however, is much more satisfying when others are involved because that process involves the process of living in community, and living in community is the way The Creator intends for us to live.

Many of our problems – and most certainly those that lead toward the addictive process – become present in our lives during times of personal isolation.  And those times of isolation are often the experiences that cause us to ignore our relationship with God and with self.

Earlier today I was reading more pages from Divine Therapy and Addiction* by Father Thomas Keating and Tom S.  It was a section where Father Keating is explaining the power of Lectio Divina, and he writes: “To get the full benefit of a sacred text, you need to be in the situation where somebody else is reading the text and you are just listening.” (186)

It seems to me that is also true of day to day ordinary living.  We are not created for isolation but for living in relationship.  Thanks be to God!

*Divine Therapy and Addiction based on interviews with Father Thomas Keating, OCSO, conducted by Tom S.  New York: Lantern Books, 2009.

**It is meaningful to me that re-creation and rec-reation are in essence the same word and it causes me to ponder if recreation leads to re-creation – more on that topic in a later post.