CONTEMPLATION is the highest expression of man’s intellectual and spiritual life. It is that life itself, fully awake, fully active, fully aware that it is alive. It is spiritual wonder. It is spontaneous awe at the sacredness of life, of being. It is gratitude for life, for awareness and for being. It is a vivid realization of the fact that life and being in us proceed from an invisible, transcendent and infinitely abundant Source. Contemplation is, above all, awareness of the reality of that Source. It knows the Source, obscurely, inexplicably, but with a certitude that goes both beyond reason and beyond simple faith. . . . It is a more profound depth of faith, a knowledge too deep to be grasped in images, in words or even in clear concepts. It can be suggested by words, by symbols, but in the very moment of trying to indicate what it knows the contemplative mind takes back what it has said, and denies what it has affirmed. For in contemplation we know by “unknowing.” Or, better, we know beyond all knowing or “unknowing.”
"The Seeds of Contemplation," by Thomas Merton
What are Contemplative practices?
Contemplative living needs all the support it can receive. Spiritual practices and disciplines such as Centering prayer, meditation, silence and solitude, and journaling, support us by reminding us of who we really are and what we really desire. Different forms of spiritual community, from spiritual direction to ongoing contemplative prayer groups encourage us and assist us in discernment. Support comes in many other ways as well, including spiritual readings, retreats and times of solitude, attention to body and movement, and so on.
At Conversations events, we often engage in some form of contemplative practice and/or sharing. We invite you to join us as we seek to live more authentic and transformed lives through practices such as . . . Silence and Solitude, Practicing Presence, Centering Prayer, Meditation, Yoga, Journaling, Mindfulness, Lectio Divina, Nature Walks, Enneagram Work, Contemplative Retreats, Sacred Sharing and Listening.
Find your spiritual path and walk it.
Find your spiritual practice and practice it.
Find your spiritual teaching and follow it.
Find your community and join it.”
– James Finley
