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being edited, return soon
Kennebec River, Bath, ME
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Vigor, from Latin vigere, "to be lively, florish, thrive."
In my childhood and youth, our congregation often sang a hymn called "Revive Us Again." We would sing, "Revive us again, fill each heart with thy love, may each soul be rekindled with fire from above... ." One of the Bible verses, Psalm 85.6, from the King James Version, which I memorized and was a favorite of mine, was, "Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee."
We were aware that we could lose our spiritual vitality to the point of needing to be revived: reinvigorated. We would hold two yearly revival meetings for this purpose. These gatherings were week-long, and the centerpiece was a visiting preacher, often an evangelist, who provided a sermon. And after beginning to preach at age 15, I often served as the speaker at these meetings in varied congregations.
A tale learned later is about a man who would often go to the altar and kneel for a revival. Another man prayed, "O Lord, that man's bucket leaks." We all, in his words, have a bucket that leaks. And that is natural.
Loss of liveliness often stems from being inconsistent in our spiritual practices. And these times of negligence are most likely to come when we feel all is going well. Yet, even as we need certain habits for physical and mental well-being, so do we for spiritual well-being. And little about most of us serve to remind us of this need, for in secularism we are reduced to material objects.
If all we are is a thinking-and-feeling bodies, then, of course, there is no need for spiritual practice. But if we are more, such spiritual practice is as reasonable as eating and sleeping enough, and not doing so, has, likewise, consequences. We live among spiritually impoverished people, and we see the consequences. The spiritual impoverishment in churches in my country is part of the reason for the rise of Christian nationalism; yet, liberal religion has done little to offset this.
Even in taking care of ourselves spiritually, loss of vitality will fluctuate: part of what it means to be embodied. And this can be influenced by many factors, for the spiritual is influenced by lower order factors. Hence, we need to know how to address the need for revitalizing ourselves spiritually.
When I was a youth, I was introduced to what many in the churches were calling a Quiet Time. This was to be had daily. I got in the habit of a daily Quiet Time first-thing in the morning, for connecting with Spirit. This time included Bible readings and prayers. Later, it took on other forms, like meditation and study of the mystics in and classics of varied religions.
I have continued a daily time set aside since my youth, and what this includes has changed as I have changed. One change, before I saw myself as worshiping a tribal-mythic god - of the Jewish and Christian traditions. Hence, the practice was purely devotional. Now, being mainly influenced by Buddhist nontheism (not atheism), how I view the time and what is part of it aligns more with that worldview - even though I do not officially identify as Buddhist.
Nonetheless, this does not mean there are not devotional elements in my spiritual practice. And certainly, what I view as "God" is much different from when I was an evangelical Christian. Still, the need for ongoing renewal remains the same. I have times of depletion and times of being refilled, so to speak.
Atheism is the denial of God's existence. My use of nontheism is not the denial of God's existence but relating to "God" as a reference to a mystery, the Mystery, which we are all part of, and which manifests to us in varied ways, often based on cultural and personal expectations. Yet, this Sacredness is not separate from us, like in most, if not all, theism. I do not see God anymore as when younger: a personal being somewhere. But this does not mean God is impersonal, rather God is not contained in the duality of personal-impersonal. God is the Totally Other, meaning outside all conceptualization. In many ways, we point to That. Possibly, the purest pointer is silence. My experience is as one grows deeply into this awareness, they do not have much interest in talking about God - It is the Intimacy in which they live. God becomes, to them, too close for them to speak aptly about; they can talk about God, sensing the ineptness of the talk. They prefer silence, when it comes to God-talk. Now, even writing this I feel like I am throwing shadows into the wind: so, ... enough.
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Hung Ying-ming (1600s, China) -
When all the world’s sounds are silent and at peace,
And you suddenly hear the playful voice of a single bird,
Numerous aspects of the Mysterious are evoked.
After all the world’s grasses have withered and died,
And you suddenly see a single branch eclipse the others and bloom,
The limitlessness of life’s forces is clearly felt.
Thus we understand,
The Original Nature does not dry up forever;
The vigor of the spirit, you should touch and unfold.
*Master of the Three Ways: Reflections of a Chinese Sage on Living a Satisfying Life. Hung Ying-ming, also Hong Zichen, integrated Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism.
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CAPPING VERSE
The life of living in-spirited is
a life of renewal.
Absence of sounds, birdsong arises.
Barrenness of winter, spring sprouts newborn.
Body, in time, fleeting and depleting;
Original Nature, timeless, loses no vitality.
So,
what does it mean to
"touch and unfold the vigor"?
II Corinthians 4.16, Christian Scripture -
"though the body is wasting away,
our inner being is being renewed daily."
Transient flesh, not the source of regeneration -
Where can you go?
What can you do? -
to be fully alive,
not only breathe and have a pulse
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(C) brian wilcox, 2026
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