As we learn to cultivate being in the spiritual zone, our relationships with others open up to a whole new horizon. Discovering the sweet spot in prayer opens us to the explosive potential of more profound conversation and this leads us to greater friendships. Thus the interpersonal dynamism of prayer both builds on and complements our sharing with our neighbors. In this way, we can learn to cultivate synergy in our conversations by allowing our prayer time to be the bedrock of communication.

Sin, selfishness, and the disorders of the heart choke our ability to the allow synergy to take place. Instead of gazing upon the other and responding to them with the love of Christ, we become entrapped in our limited egos. Thus, we fail to take the risk of beauty, and prefer to remain in the superficial. For spiritual transformation to be authentic, it cannot simply be a self-centered enterprise of human development, but it must become a communal encounter that moves us out of our limited selves.

Synergy in conversation builds bonds of trust and the opportunity for the gentle healing that can only take place when we learn to be vulnerable. Synergy opens the heart and it helps build a new vitality which is the fruit of communion. Communion is not simply an abandoning of our individual will for the sake of the whole, but rather a convergence whereby our will harmonizes with others in a new life that is shared collectively. This new life shared in Christ becomes a powerful force that is not owned exclusively by any one individual, but rather shared through a mutual surrender that can only be called love.

Love allows synergy because by nature it includes a preference for the other. Love reaches out to others, and when it is perfected by God’s grace, it participates in the perfect self-forgetting of Jesus Christ before the Father. Thus, our synergy is a very participation in God’s relationship with God. In this way, our conversations participate in the riches of heaven when we open them to Christ, allowing ourselves to become other Christs. Self-forgetting is the pattern of synergy because we are able to turn our gaze away from our limited selves and out towards our friends in hopeful expectation.

Today, let us cultivate true spiritual friendships in which the fruit of synergy is possible. Let us talk about things that matter in ways that break down the barriers of our selfishness and egocentricity.