Lesson 2 – Addition: Chair
Chair – symbol of the desire to have a simple place to seek God’s presence
The cover of this course contains a picture of a chair. It is good to give some explanation about this chair. I found this picture online, and it’s just an ordinary, simple chair. To me it is a symbol for a simple and sober place where you sit down, and where you try to keep all distractions away from yourself, to become tranquil, and present and full of attention. So no longer distracted by anything and everything, but just simply a chair on which you sit. This chair is the place where you focus on the presence of God.
The chair can be any chair: a comfortable big armchair, an ordinary kitchen chair, a bench in nature, or maybe a nice garden chair. It doesn’t matter. The point is to have a place to sit, and do the exercises you find in this course. It would be nice if this is a permanent place. This is not necessary, but it might help if you can say: this is the chair where I seek the presence of God in prayer and contemplation.
Of course not everybody calms sitting on a chair. It is possible that you find silence while walking in nature, that is alright too. But my intention with the chair is to let it be a symbol of the desire to have a place to seek the presence of God.