Fr George Guiver speaks on Believing with the Body at Our Lady Saint Mary South Creake
Fr George Guiver is a member of the Community of the Resurrection in Mirfield, Yorkshire, and a former superior of that community. He recently wrote a book, All Christians are Monks: The monastery, the parish and the renewal of the Church, that explores how the practices of monks and nuns may provide insights into the renewal of the Church of England. As part of the annual South Creake Lecture Series, he gave a talk, “Believing with the Body”. Before the talk, he gave an interview.
What do you mean when you say “Believing with the Body?”
When discussing Christianity or what it means to become a Christian, people will ask, “Well, what do you believe?” I think, though, that it’s not really possible to talk about belief in a faith until you’ve actually lived it. And that means living a faith in and through the body. Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s concept of embodied cognition applies here – he argues that our bodies are who we are, not something that our minds live in. In today’s culture, and often when talking about our relationship with God, we think the other way around. The idea of a personal relationship with God through the mind becomes so enthroned that we can feel that if this does not exist in some kind of profound way, that we cannot have the faith that it takes to be a Christian.
How can Christians – beginners and beyond – engage with the body and faith?
We can’t relate to God without our bodies. A good place to start is to think about our daily life, and where we find meaning – trust and faith within things and in relationships. For example, helping someone with a task, spending time with a loved one, cherishing an object that has memories. Embodiment requires relationship.
Are physical practices an important part of Christianity?
Christianity is a community-based faith, and so joining others at a service, or in a prayer group is one embodied way of exploring faith. There can be specific physical actions too – crossing oneself, kneeling, standing, sitting, greeting someone in the peace, singing a hymn, for example. These are personal physical actions, and they are also actions that the whole community performs at the same time.
But isn’t prayer a thing we do with our heads, not with our bodies?
No – prayer is very much embodied. We pray from our bodies – our bodies are who we are. And of course there are a wide range of physical prayer practices. Our culture doesn’t put as much emphasis on bodily ways of praying, but thinking about prayer in an embodied way can really help – for example, finding a special place to sit and pray, or lighting a candle, burning incense, using a rosary, or reading something out loud to then contemplate.
What would you say to someone who was thinking about exploring faith?
Come along to a service, meet with a prayer group, or start to pray at home. Pick something and commit to doing it. And then see the difference it begins to make in your life.
