Listen to this post NOW on Beyond Everything Radio!

If we ask five people to define contemplation, we’ll get at least six definitions. This is because contemplation has morphed over the centuries as it mutates through different communities and traditions. For some people of faith, the word “mystic” is problematic because it conjures up notions of an untethered spirituality, or a practice that is steeped in emotions or sentiment, that lacks the grounding principles of logic, and reason within ones mind. For these and other reasons, I want to offer a way to understand contemplation which I believe is true to the practice, that is inclusive of all traditions, yet retains the necessary elements which differentiate it from many meditative practices.

I’ll start first addressing those for whom the whole idea of contemplation seems too mystical or has been conflated with Eastern meditation. If we came to understand contemplation from a leader or system which did not differentiate it from meditation, then this assumption makes sense. A practice which frees us from our “over-thinking mind” is not the same as abandoning reason. The seat of capital T “Truth” is within the intellect, it is not in the body, nor in the emotions, lest our feelings dictate what is true and real. There are practices which have a goal of hyper-sentimentality, breath work which essentially hyperventilates people or makes them hypoxic, or which use imagery, music, and host of things to elucidate an emotional experience…these are not contemplation. Ironically, this is more like a contemporary worship service which is geared to evoke emotional responses.

What contemplation shares with meditation is that both are a practice of breathing, stillness, and a disciplined way of observing our thoughts. The big discovery is that when we observe our thoughts, we realize we are not the “thinker” of those thoughts. And while both practices can get us to “thoughtless” existence, the purpose and goal of this practice differs. Many meditative practices are nothing more than stress reduction techniques for breathing and being. In the modern age, there is an increasing number of people seeking a “life hack” to reduce stress or feel spiritual but who not seek nor believe in deeper reality, or God. This Atheistic meditation is a billion miles from contemplation and has no more depth than one’s body, and liberates the practitioner no more than a good run.

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Contemplation is first and foremost a Christian practice. And that too needs to be understood. This does not mean that contemplation is only done by one who subscribes to the Christian religion. That would be an extremely truncated Christology. As James Finely would say, contemplation is a practice whereby we assume an inner posture whereby we have the greatest likelihood of being taken over by that which is beyond our ability to describe. In short, this is an encounter or experience with Christ. As the verse above says, contemplation is a practice through which we learn how to “pray without ceasing“…”in Christ Jesus“…”for us.” In short, contemplation is mutated when our Christology is mutated. Contemplation is cosmic and personal when our Christology is cosmic and personal.

We can know it was contemplation if the practice leads us toward love of God, love of others, and compassionate work out of love for our world. We can know it was meditation if we merely lowered our heart rate and tried to plunder a spiritual practice for our own gain. This means that many people who describe their practice as mediation are actually practicing contemplation. But don’t take my word for it, test it for yourself. If you believe you experience divine union in your meditation, then the next time you are manifesting presence, ask that presence: “Is that you? The Christ?”

When we read Thomas Merton, or The Cloud of Unknowing, or St. John of the Cross, or Meister Eckart, or any true contemplative, we will never find that contemplation is unhitched from Christ centeredness.

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”” (John 14:6)

This is one of the most butchered passages is scripture, but it is vital to understanding contemplation. Jesus is not saying: “Only people in the Christian religion get to go to heaven when they die.” Instead, Jesus is making making a huge cosmic scale statement about himself serving as the Christ, the anointed one, of God. He’s saying: “If anyone at any time in any place ever has an experience with God, it is because I am the conduit through which that connection is made.” Now we can understand the “Will of God in Christ Jesus”. This means that all contemplation may include all meditations, but all meditations are not necessarily contemplation…but some most definitely are…and they are prior to the participants discovery that they are.

From a cosmic lens then, Contemplation is the means by which Christ connects us to God. Scripture reveals that Christ predates Jesus as the Logos (The Word) (John 1:1) and as the Sophia (The Wisdom) (Proverbs 3:19-20), and thus is present in other peoples outside of the Christian religion. This remains true. The discovery that Christ is our loving guide, and that He is the Logos and Sophia who brings us into the presence of God, means that Contemplation is a graced experience through which we know God, discover ourselves, and see Christ in and as our very life.

I’ve discovered that in the same way the fundamentalist doesn’t trust contemplation because its too close to a loosey-goosey, nebulous spirituality, so there exists a portion of our world that doesn’t trust contemplation because it’s Christology is too much like a religion and they are not so down with the idea of prayer. It is Christ that brings both extremes into this divine experience, the former by expansion of their Christology, and the latter by narrowing their Christology.

Once this is truly understood, contemplation can be learned by a profoundly wide definition.

Contemplation is how we learn to pray without ceasing. It’s a practice that allows us to “see” to become conscious of our malware scripts, our emotional baggage, our unhealed pain, our toxic assumptions, our unhelpful motivations, our ego, our need to control, our need to win, our manipulations, etc.., etc…, etc… because it is the loving mercy of Christ Jesus who is revealing all of this to us in time as we are able to receive it.

Contemplation is how we free ourselves from a binary mind, an over-identified mind, an over-thinking, over-analytical, mind that holds all the rest of our creative impulse captive. Contemplation frees us from the need to control outcomes as we surrender them in their proper time and space. Contemplation is a practice that allows us to truly see ultimate reality, and not just life in our horizontal plane. This gift of seeing is the greatest part for me, its the Sophia, the Logos, that calls to us from timelessness back into timelessness, who give us a big enough perspective to see that everything is beautiful in its time. We become free from judging everything and begin to observe it, see it, be taught by it.

Contemplation can be silence, stillness, breathing, and emptying. But it is also communication, focus, and filling. It can be done in the most sacred of earthly temples or in line at the DMV. Eyes closed or eyes open. Sitting or walking in nature or flowing on a singletrack. It is found on a run, skiing, flying, eating, or love making. There is no corner of life that contemplation cannot reach, and there is no activity that cannot be renewed by the means of contemplation. Divine Flow is just that…and it is found in every human endeavor. Thus, contemplation is the practice in the microcosm whereby we train ourselves to go out and bring the Christological center into the macrocosm, thus redeeming every corner of the world.

“For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”  (Romans 8:20-21)

Contemplation from this perspective is not just navel gazing. It’s not just a practice to be relished by the cloistered. Contemplation is the means, by which we go into the world and transform everything we touch to the Glory of God and not to our own glory and ego. Contemplation is how we learn to stay, dwell, remain, live…in Christ. It is the means by which our faith is grown. It’s a foundational practice of posture, that ensures all our other practices in life are executed with the best motivation.

Contemplation is messy. It’s a practice of accepting imperfection by replacing it with the loving acceptance of God and his design for perfect imperfection. Contemplation can be a one minute exercise, it can be an hour, it can be a series of activities throughout the day. The goal of divine union is not to obtain it and then walk away, it is to live in and through and from this union. Since each of us is different. We each have different temperaments, personalities, preferences, and triggers. We each have different work to do, different growth to occur, there cannot be any single practice that defines “praying with out ceasing.” This means the only wrong way to contemplate is to do so from the wrong posture. If there is no “internal bow” there is no contemplation. If all things are a surrender, then all things are contemplation.

I hope this helps put some framework around contemplation for you. Next, I want to invite you into my own practice in a sort of guided tour. This won’t be a “how to” but if the flow helps you, then feel free to try it out. Put on your floaties…I’m taking you to the deep end of the pool.