This is my struggle: is there really “someone out there” who hears my prayers, or am I talking to an imaginary friend? My brain is telling me the latter, but my heart seems to want to find some external “being” to communicate with.
Recently, Tanya Luhrmann, a psychological anthropologist and a professor in the Department of Anthropology at Stanford University, did a 2 year field study of the Vineyard Movement, which shares a lot in common with other Evangelical Christians trying to “hear from God”. Her results are in When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God (2012).
Luhrmann’s website states:
“How does God become and remain real for modern evangelicals? How are rational, sensible people of faith able to experience the presence of a powerful yet invisible being and sustain that belief in an environment of overwhelming skepticism? T. M. Luhrmann, an anthropologist trained in psychology and the acclaimed author of Of Two Minds, explores the extraordinary process that leads some believers to a place where God is profoundly real and his voice can be heard amid the clutter of everyday thoughts.” (http://luhrmann.net/).
This is a similar background to where I’m coming from, and it’s hard to break the “practicing the presence of God” (à la Brother Lawrence) that I got accustomed to.
Lots to adjust to . . .
Cheers,
Brandr
turtleislandjourney 