What is contemplation?
If you spend much time on this website, you’ll probably read a lot about contemplation, contemplative prayer, and contemplatives. So, I thought I might start out by writing about what I mean by contemplation. (You’ll also find out that I absolutely love definitions, but I digress.)
Most of the time, when you run into the word contemplation, it means something along the lines of thinking deeply, as if it were a synonym for the word concentration. It is perfectly fine to use the word in that sense, but that is not what I mean by it here.
I am pulling from Christian tradition in which contemplation was seen as something very different. In Christian history, if you wanted to think very deeply about God, a scripture passage, the universe, or other related subjects, then you would be talking about meditation. In fact, you can still find many books by holy men and women filled with statements and observations intended to provoke thought which are entitled “Meditations.”
Contemplation, on the other hand, is a little bit harder to put into words. The term contemplative prayer was coined to denote all of the disciplines, techniques, and practices in prayer that focus upon listening to God rather than talking at him (although I will typically refer to many practices under the term meditation as well). Contemplation proper is the moment — completely out of the control of the individual person — when God reveals himself in some way to you. It could be through a voice, dream, or vision — but, perhaps more often, it could be as simple as through an insight or memory.
So, the term contemplation on this site is more connected to the term enlightenment or illumination. Still, it can be some insight or discovery that is much less fantastic than those words tend to connote.
Have you ever had such a moment?
Did you know that you should have been looking for one?
Something to think about…