So far, we have looked deeply into descriptions of the word spirituality and models of the spiritual life. Part four of this series seeks to describe what contemplation is. After the excerpt, I will reflect briefly and offer a few more guiding questions for your own reflection.
Contemplative Spirituality: A Shalem Senior Staff Monograph
Written by Carole Crumley, Bill Dietrich, Ann Kline, and Gerald May
March 2004
“Although the spiritual life may take many forms, it is always and foremost about love. Perhaps the most profound and pure experience of this love occurs in what the traditions refer to as contemplation. In popular usage, to contemplate something is to think about it, considering it from a variety of angles. This is not at all the understanding of the classical authors of spirituality. Classically, contemplation is a particular kind of experience, usually occurring in the context of prayer. It is a sheer experience of loving presence, and it comes as pure gift, given when and as God chooses.
The Latin roots of the word, cum (“with”) and templum (“temple”) connote the sacredness of the experience. In its original meaning, contemplation is always a gift, and cannot be achieved by any method or practice. It is thus held in contrast to meditation, which includes all the practices and disciplines we may intentionally undertake in the course of our spiritual lives. Put simply, we can do meditation, but we cannot do contemplation because it only happens as a gift.
A simple definition of contemplation is “loving presence to what is.” In a Christian context, because we “live and move and have our being” in God (Acts 17:28), being present to things as they are involves encountering the Christ who “fills the whole creation” (Eph. 1:23). In other words, Christian contemplation means finding God in all things and all things in God. Brother Lawrence, the 17th century Carmelite friar, called it “the loving gaze that finds God everywhere.”
Because people us “contemplation” to describe especially profound qualities of prayer, we often associate it with silence and stillness – perhaps even withdrawal from the world. Classically, however, it means immediate open presence in the world, directly perceiving and lovingly responding to things as they really are. Thus contemplation is not necessarily quiet and still. It may just as well be very active and noisy.”
I find Brother Lawrence’s definition of contemplation as “a loving gaze that finds God everywhere” both inspiring and practical. Brother Lawrence was a cook at the monastery, and, even though he did not like the work, he was able to find God in the pots and pans.
While contemplative prayer may seem otherworldly and mystical it is a practical way to approach life. Just take a moment and reflect on how practicing a loving gaze that finds God everywhere would change the way you live and respond to situations and people.
Brother Lawrence wrote about this in a book called Practice of the Presence. It is a short book and worth taking time read.
What do you think of contemplation being quiet and noisy?
Have you ever experienced the gift of a sheer experience of loving presence?
Where do you find God? Where haven’t you looked yet?
Peace,
Pastor Karsten
