When God talks back | Tanya Luhrmann | TEDxStanford

What I want to talk about this morning
is remarkable phenomenon

that people not only talk to God

but they learn to experience
God is talking back

Many many Americans are involved,
and many other people

are involved, as you may call,
in a renewalist spirituality -

a kind of spirituality
which they want to experience God

intimately, personally and interactively;

they want to reach out,
touch the Divine here on earth

I want to find out how they did that.

I am anthropologist,

my job is to immerse myself in
the world I come to study,

and to keep observing

so that at some degree,
I got a sense of what it take to

become a Native in that world.

Unlike Margret Mead &
Rev. Gregory Bateson

were pictured here in Papua New Guinea.

I did this work in America.

I spent two years
in the renewalist church in Chicago,

another two years
in one of the Bay area.

I went to Sunday Morning services.

I was a member of House Group.
I was in the prayer's circle.

I hang out with people.

I prayed with people.

I really want to know how
their God became real to them.

So let me begin by asking,

who is the God in the church like this?

God is God, God is big,
God is mighty, and holy and beyond,

but God is also a person among people,

The Pastor in this kind of church
want you to experience God

the way the earliest cycle of experience Jesus,

They walked with Jesus.

They ate with Jesus.

They talked with Jesus,

He was their friend,

And these pastors will tell you that

You should put out
a cup of coffee for God,

You should have a beer with God

Go for a walk with God, hang out.

Do the kind of thing with God

that you get do with anyone who
you want to know as a person.

He cares about all the stuff
in your life.

the little stuff, where you want to go
in your summer vacation;

what shirt you want to wear
tomorrow morning;

you can talk to him about that.

So I wanted to know how people
learn to interact with God

and how they felt God
speaking back.

I knew they have learnt because
the newcomers came to this church,

and they would say things like:

"God does talk to me."

and then six or eight months later
they would say :

"I recognize God's voice the way I
recognize my mum's voice on the phone . "

But I thought the church teach

what you should think about your mind

is not a fortress full of your own
self-generated

thoughts, feelings and images;

you should think your mind is the place
where you will be going to meet the God.

and then some of thoughts
you might think that was yours,

They were really God's thoughts being given to you

and your job is to figure out
who is God.

And in fact, people did talk in the way
suggested they would have

as they had experiences
that weren't their own.

A woman said to me as
I start to pray in this church:

"I feels like my mind is a screen that images were projected on.

Somebody else is controlling
that clicker."

And of course, not all the thoughts
would be good candidate

for the kind of things God would say.

People would look for thoughts
that stood out,

that was more spontaneous
than another thoughts;

thoughts were louder and
captured your attention.

One women was explaining to me how
she learnt to discern God's speaking:

so the people were praying
over her one day,

and the phrase "go to Kansas"
flashed into her mind.

So her parents was living in Kansas,

she was kind of idly thinking
about visiting them.

but when this thought
captured her attention,

it made her say, you know,
made her want to say,

where that come from.

So you could imagine there will be risks
for this style of discerning God's voice.

I didn't really think people were
reasonably thoughtful about the process.

I also thought the good church took
care to minimize these risks.

One morning,
the pastor said in the church:

"you know, if you think God are telling
you to relax, calm down,

it's totally fine.
Take this from God.

If you think God are telling you to

quit your job, pack your bag
and move to Los Angeles,

I want you to pray with
every member of the house group;

I want you to pray with
your prayer circle;

I want you to pray with me.

So together, this community
could help you to discern

whether that's actually God,

or it's just some own stuff that's
getting in the way of your relationship.