It was during a session on the practice of clowning and prayer at the Spiritual Center of Hautmont in Mouvaux (North). Entering the scene in front of the other retreatants, “in a suit that looks like nothing”Marie-Laure suddenly feels embarrassed, “a beginning of shame”. “Instead of telling myself internally that I had to overcome this embarrassment, I chose to play with it, to express it with grimaces, to simply offer it. And she gradually changed., she says. Marie-Laure then understands that, before God, she does not have to be embarrassed, to be ashamed of what she is, or of what she is not. He welcomes her as she is. Thus, emotions can lead to a change of outlook on oneself and on God, but it also happens that they overwhelm the person, blaze in the heart like a fire in the pan, then leaving an impression of emptiness. How can we find our bearings in everything that affects us?
Emotions and motions: realities to take into account
Certainly, it is not a question of cutting oneself off from one’s emotions. “Affectivity is what connects us with others and with Creation… A bit like a membrane, it puts us in contact with the world and allows us to be who we are, and therefore to differentiate ourselves” , emphasizes Patrick Goujon, Jesuit, professor of spiritual and dogmatic theology at the Center Sèvres.“A spiritual life which would not take into account the movements of the affectivity, therefore the emotions, would be built in a mental and imaginary way, independently of what one really lives. It would be the door open to all possible abuses,” he warns. But “Conversely, a life ruled only by emotions would be chaos because we react to almost everything without realizing it”.
To distinguish superficial emotions from what happens in depth, spirituality speaks of “spiritual motions”. “In the theological and philosophical tradition of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, from which the spiritual vocabulary is heir, the term “motion” designates an interior movement which moves and transforms the person. In everyday language, we thus speak of the energy that mobilizes us.explains Patrick Goujon. “Motions are those movements that occur in us during events, memories, projects, encounters, and in contact with the word of God, adds Sylvie Robert, professor of spiritual and dogmatic theology at the Center Sèvres, spiritual guide at the Manrèse center (Hauts-de-Seine). They modify our interior climate and always affect the spiritual dynamism and the life received from God. » According to this auxiliary nun, these motions can have an emotional part, ” sensitive “. But even in this case, they should be distinguished from emotions so as not to confuse spirituality and psychology.
A movement, but towards what?
How then can we recognize a spiritual motion from a simple emotion? While one can enjoy or run away from an emotion for its own sake, “In the motion, I am interested in the orientation of the movement, in what it leads me towards. The spiritual attitude is to welcome the emotion by making me attentive to what it produces in me., comments Father Patrick Goujon. The story of the Emmaus pilgrims reported by the Evangelist Luke offers a good example. After the death of Jesus, two disciples are on their way to the village of Emmaus. “All sad”they are discussing among themselves the events that have happened in Jerusalem when the risen Jesus approaches them, but their eyes are “prevented from recognizing it”. It is only after this meeting that they will become aware of what has happened. They express it with an emotion – “Were not our hearts burning within us as he spoke to us on the road and opened the scriptures to us? » (Luke 24, 32) – but they don’t stop at this feeling. ” A this moment “they get up and return to find the apostles in Jerusalem. “Their burning hearts lead them to faith in the resurrection, which translates into coming out of their isolation and the will to announce this resurrection. They live from the deep motion that emotion has signaled to them but which is not the essential.underlines Sister Sylvie Robert.
Guides for Discernment
In the XVIe century, Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, thus oriented his life by experiencing an alternation of movements of consolation and desolation. He drew from it rules of discernment which he formulated in the spiritual exercises. For Ignatius, “if a motion leads me to peace and joy for a long time, it is a sign that it comes from Godemphasizes Father Patrick Goujon. The motion is therefore what, in us, allows us to orient ourselves towards life and to turn away from what harms us”. For this, it is not a question of making our decisions by following only positive emotions. “Sadness is also a school of life. You have to be vigilant, pay attention to your inner life which passes through the emotions. The interpretation and the art of making a decision from all of this is subtle”, notes the Jesuit again. We can indeed experience emotions of pleasure which, in reality, lead to nothing, even destroy.
Even religious euphoria may not be constructive. It is not enough for a young person to return from a gathering enthusiastic. The important thing is that this highlight changed something in his way of situating himself in existence. “Did he turn him more to God or is he just leaving him with the memory of a wonderful moment? asks Sister Sylvie Robert. Emotions pass while motions build little by little. » That is why, “Ignatius will even disconnect the motion from the emotion”, says Father Patrick Goujon. It happens indeed that we experience a movement without feeling an emotion. We all have in mind examples of people who, in a difficult situation, suddenly find more courage and hope, without experiencing joy.
The fruits of our spiritual motions
The criterion for finding one’s bearings in the motions is not the intensity of the emotion experienced, but the effect produced, the fruit of the decision I made to follow this movement. “A movement that occurs in us is an invitation to stop, to note that something is happening, then to discern: what is it producing, where is it leading? », advises Sister Sylvie Robert. “If this leads to turning in on oneself, to a loss of faith, hope and love, it is a movement to be fought, she points out. If it leads to a growth in faith, hope and love, to an increase in theological energy – turned towards God and neighbor – it is a movement to be welcomed and followed.
→ Interview with Br. Luc: “To help my brothers, I must be attentive to my emotions”
→ Can God be moved?