A lectio divina theme: contemplation pt.1 of 3
From the beginning, the Christian life was shaped by the rhythm Jesus himself modeled—a life of action flowing from deep stillness. He withdrew to pray alone. He took his friends up the mountain to witness transfiguration. He sought the silence of the wilderness. Clearly, something transformative happened when Jesus stepped away, and those around him recognized that his outward life was rooted in his inward union with God.
In the early centuries of Christianity, this pattern took on clearer shape in the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. The desert mothers and fathers retreated from the cities to resist the empire’s distortions of the gospel. After Constantine’s conversion and the Church’s increasing entanglement with imperial power, many felt that something essential was being lost. So, they left—not to flee reality, but to seek it more deeply. Into caves, huts, and small communities, they went to remember, to pray, to live simply, and to wrestle with God….
What began with Jesus and took clearer shape in the desert then moved West—and began to flourish in new forms. Viewed from a Western monastic perspective, the stream of contemplation flowed through the deserts of the East and eventually exploded into a variety of expressions in Europe. Of course, there are many contemplative traditions—one might say as many as there are people and communities seeking to live in awareness of God’s presence. While we are held by a shared tradition and a common rhythm of prayer, the way this life unfolds can take many forms. The goal has never been to crack some contemplative code or become fluent in the mechanics of prayer. It has always been to become the kind of person who lives awake to God’s presence—Contemplation, then, is not a separate path or a unique calling. It is Christianity itself, lived with depth and honesty. It is the heart of the Christian tradition, stretching from Jesus to the desert to today… In the end, contemplation is not about escaping life but entering it more fully. It is how we listen for God in the silence. –Adam Bucko
Lectio Divina is a contemplative way to read short passages of sacred text and discover meanings running deeper than the literal layer. There are many variations of sacred reading; all are an invitation to take a ‘long, loving look’ at some aspect of life, with scripture, poetry, music, or nature.” –Rohr
Lectio practice: Analogy: stars on our ‘dark skies’ deck in Southern Colorado, as ambient light slowly fades upon nightfall, the pre-existing stars – which are always present– become more and more clear if we are patient, still, and watch. --PRH
What is the subtle spark or electrical charge that happened for you today? A type of attentiveness to love or the kingdom of heaven around you that isn’t your mind rehearsing facts or anxieties? This is contemplation —-PRH
A practice of contemplation can rewire our brains for love. It seems to me that meditation makes it almost inevitable that your politics are going to change, the way you spend your time is going to be called into question, obsessions & compulsiveness & perfectionism can be finally noticed and your snug socioeconomic perspective will be slowly taken away from you. When we meditate consistently, the things that we think of as necessary ego boundaries--giving us a sense of our independence, autonomy, and private self-importance--fall away, little by little, as unnecessary and even unhelpful. This imperial "I," the self that the West thinks is the only self, is not substantial or lasting at all. It is largely a creation of our own minds. Through contemplation, protecting this relative identity, a persona ("mask"), eventually becomes a trivial concern. "Why would I bother with that?"--Richard Rohr
The ego self is like a very large man standing in front of me at a sporting event or concert. I can’t see or hear . – unknown
Contemplative practice when imbued with [God] spirituality with stillness meditation/ prayer practice increases well being, and healing; when we sit with the sacred we unlock the authentic awe that opens us up. ––researcher Daniel Gutierrez PHD, Virginia Commonwealth University
Be still and know that I am God; Psalm 46:10; empty yourself and know that I am God is the contemplative mind at work, not the ego mind; awaken from the illusion of separatenesss. Our default system = empire; resume; emails; production; but when we contemplate we hear love.
Pico Ayer author of books and TED talks on ‘Stillness’:
5 things we can do when we say: “I don’t have time for contemplation in my daily life”:
1. Go on long walk on sundays; be in a long open meadow
2. Put ‘gone away’ note on emails on weekends, turning away from our devices.
3. Spend 20 minutes every morning , 3%, of waking day without device; 3% can transform the other 97%.
4. Restore time: don’t fritter time with turning to screen time when waiting for someone, or something; turn off lights and listen to music while waiting for someone to be ready or to go, or anytime you are waiting.
5. Never spend more that 5 minutes a day on news; ideally 2 mins; rest of it for people. Gives us hope and possibility of helping neighbors, etc.; everyday we have a choice: will I spend time with what wakes me up, than with what cuts me up?
Learning how to be still, to really be still, and let life happen – that stillness becomes a radiance . –Morgan Freeman
Contemplation is very far from being just one kind of thing that Christians do: it is the key to prayer, liturgy, art and ethics, the key to the essence of a renewed humanity that is capable of seeing the world and other subjects in the world with freedom—freedom from self-oriented, acquisitive habits and the distorted understanding that comes from them. To put it boldly, contemplation is the only ultimate answer to the unreal and insane world that our financial systems and our advertising culture and our chaotic and unexamined emotions encourage us to inhabit. To learn contemplative practice is to learn what we need so as to live truthfully and honestly and lovingly. It is a deeply revolutionary matter. —–Archbishop Rowan Williams, former leader of the Anglican Church, to the Synod of Catholic Bishops, Rome
The combination of observation along with love--not with resistance, judgment, analysis, or labeling--just observation with love and reverence, is probably the best definition of contemplation. —-Richard Rohr
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