IT’S a practice done usually by IT practitioners. They like to tweak
on their gadgets, since many of these items, given the rapidity of the
innovations taking place now, plus the delicateness into which many of
them get, need to be given little adjustments here and there.
But it’s a practice that should also be done on our most important
aspect of life. And that is our spiritual life, our life of relation
with God and others, which we should try to fill with love and all the
goodness that we can put into it.
We should never consider our spiritual life as too private or too
personal as to keep it always away from some public discussion meant
for the good of all. There certainly confidential matters involved,
but there also are many elements that need public ventilation. And one
of them is the art of tweaking.
More than the gadgets, our spiritual life, whose seat is our mind and
heart, is subject to constant multiple factors. It was St. Augustine
who once said that the thoughts and motions that pass through our mind
and heart in an instant can exceed the number of our hair. When I read
that line, I immediately agreed.
Not only do we have to contend with our own ideas, intentions and
plans that just come and go, we also have to cope with the many
challenges, pressures, goals, not to mention, temptations and other
crazy things that can come to mind. We cannot help but really take
care of our spiritual life if only to keep our sanity.
Our usual problem in this department is that many of us seek comfort
and relief through some inadequate if not dangerous means. Some just
ignore the conditions of their mind and heart.
Others resort to artificial means—a tonic drink, a massage,
psychological conditioning, Still others do worse as they indulge in
drugs, sex and other forms of deadly escapism.
Spiritual tweaking can take the form of a daily examination of
conscience, done usually just before going to bed. It’s an effort to
review how our day went, to see if love or something else was the main
motive of our thoughts, words and deeds.
Truth is there will always be some adjustments to be made, usually
small but from time to time big. We need to fine tune the purity of
our intentions, for example, or we need to polish a particular virtue
that did not work quite well that day.
Or we need to be more guarded against certain weaknesses and bad
tendencies we have, like rash judgment, gossiping, cheating,
sensuality, pride, greed, laziness, etc.
Given our spiritual nature, there is always room for improvement in
our virtues and need for struggle, since our heart will always be an
arena between the forces of good and evil. This will be our lifelong
condition.
But all this tweaking is done in the presence of God, confident of his
fatherly care and love for us. And so it is moment that can give us
great peace and reassurance. God always forgives and understands. It
is his delight to do so. We should strengthen this conviction in
ourselves, because this is crucial in our spiritual life.
We should never feel alienated from our father God, no matter how bad
or sinful we may be. It would be good to keep in mind the parable of
the prodigal son whenever we have problems in this area. Whenever we
decide to say sorry, there will be no problem, and besides, we can
cause immense joy in heaven if we return to God, as the gospel tells
us.
So, this kind of spiritual tweaking is not an exercise in obsession.
It is done in the context of love between God and us, between father
and child. If done in this way, we will avoid the pitfalls of
irritation, nervousness, shame, fear and the like. We will also avoid
being too fussy with things and fastidious with people.
On the contrary, we will exude an aura of goodness around. We will
manage to maintain confidence and dominion over our faculties and
powers. We will have good relations with others, as we would become
more simple and humble, more transparent, and therefore, more
approachable and friendly.
We have to cultivate this practice of spiritual tweaking, and work to
make it a living part of our culture. We can be certain that it will
only produce good results in our lives, helping us to be more
charitable with each other, and more important, to be truly holy.
on their gadgets, since many of these items, given the rapidity of the
innovations taking place now, plus the delicateness into which many of
them get, need to be given little adjustments here and there.
But it’s a practice that should also be done on our most important
aspect of life. And that is our spiritual life, our life of relation
with God and others, which we should try to fill with love and all the
goodness that we can put into it.
We should never consider our spiritual life as too private or too
personal as to keep it always away from some public discussion meant
for the good of all. There certainly confidential matters involved,
but there also are many elements that need public ventilation. And one
of them is the art of tweaking.
More than the gadgets, our spiritual life, whose seat is our mind and
heart, is subject to constant multiple factors. It was St. Augustine
who once said that the thoughts and motions that pass through our mind
and heart in an instant can exceed the number of our hair. When I read
that line, I immediately agreed.
Not only do we have to contend with our own ideas, intentions and
plans that just come and go, we also have to cope with the many
challenges, pressures, goals, not to mention, temptations and other
crazy things that can come to mind. We cannot help but really take
care of our spiritual life if only to keep our sanity.
Our usual problem in this department is that many of us seek comfort
and relief through some inadequate if not dangerous means. Some just
ignore the conditions of their mind and heart.
Others resort to artificial means—a tonic drink, a massage,
psychological conditioning, Still others do worse as they indulge in
drugs, sex and other forms of deadly escapism.
Spiritual tweaking can take the form of a daily examination of
conscience, done usually just before going to bed. It’s an effort to
review how our day went, to see if love or something else was the main
motive of our thoughts, words and deeds.
Truth is there will always be some adjustments to be made, usually
small but from time to time big. We need to fine tune the purity of
our intentions, for example, or we need to polish a particular virtue
that did not work quite well that day.
Or we need to be more guarded against certain weaknesses and bad
tendencies we have, like rash judgment, gossiping, cheating,
sensuality, pride, greed, laziness, etc.
Given our spiritual nature, there is always room for improvement in
our virtues and need for struggle, since our heart will always be an
arena between the forces of good and evil. This will be our lifelong
condition.
But all this tweaking is done in the presence of God, confident of his
fatherly care and love for us. And so it is moment that can give us
great peace and reassurance. God always forgives and understands. It
is his delight to do so. We should strengthen this conviction in
ourselves, because this is crucial in our spiritual life.
We should never feel alienated from our father God, no matter how bad
or sinful we may be. It would be good to keep in mind the parable of
the prodigal son whenever we have problems in this area. Whenever we
decide to say sorry, there will be no problem, and besides, we can
cause immense joy in heaven if we return to God, as the gospel tells
us.
So, this kind of spiritual tweaking is not an exercise in obsession.
It is done in the context of love between God and us, between father
and child. If done in this way, we will avoid the pitfalls of
irritation, nervousness, shame, fear and the like. We will also avoid
being too fussy with things and fastidious with people.
On the contrary, we will exude an aura of goodness around. We will
manage to maintain confidence and dominion over our faculties and
powers. We will have good relations with others, as we would become
more simple and humble, more transparent, and therefore, more
approachable and friendly.
We have to cultivate this practice of spiritual tweaking, and work to
make it a living part of our culture. We can be certain that it will
only produce good results in our lives, helping us to be more
charitable with each other, and more important, to be truly holy.
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