Reflections on Contemplative Spirituality
Contains music from Borough by Blue Dot Sessions
Contemplative spirituality is the practice of quieting ourselves to connect with the ultimate; a practical expression of the ineffability of faith and religion. Paradox pervades contemplative spirituality. Practice can take many forms, and all of them deal with deepening the practitioner's experience of their own body and mind, attuning to its ebbs and flows that are more often drowned out by the noisy business of living. This can help one to discern what noise is truly external and what is internal. It also can teach what is possible to control and what must be released from control.
Contemplation is probably most often associated with silent, still meditation, but it can take many forms, including those that involve purposive movement and noise. Tai chi and qigong spring to mind, but so might other martial arts, or exercise like running and weight lifting. Chanting and repetitive prayers spring to mind, but so might other vocal arts, like singing. It can take many forms, a few others to consider might include: walks; scripture transcription; tea ceremonies and other forms of ritualized eating and drinking; journaling; observing a public place like a coffee shop or park; sitting with a pet; or dancing. There are so many things that can be utilized as a contemplative spiritual practice because it is really a method of noticing experience, regardless of the circumstance.
While there are practically endless possible practices, there are a few core aspects of the practice that one should keep in mind at all times:
- Challenge yourself. Mild and moderate discomfort can often be valuable teachers. This includes physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual discomfort.
- Take care of yourself and others. Do not do anything that is dangerous to you or anyone else. It should always be life- and health-affirming. Do not maintain pain.
- Start small and embrace the challenge of developing steadfastness before moving on to longer or larger challenges.
Additionally, for a general approach to occupying the mind, Roshi Joan Halifax, of the Soto Zen Peacemaker lineage, has a simple method useful for just about all practices, called the GRACE method. The steps are:
- Gather your attention.
Remove whatever distractions are possible. Gather and place any physical manifestations of practice. Notice where your mind is drawn. Whatever the object of attention, let it go, and come back to your practice. - Recall your intention.
Remember why you practice and allow that motivation to further generate perseverance. - Attune to your body or context.
Take note of your internal physical and mental state. Take note of your external environment. Take note of anyone else with you. - Consider and continue.
Consider whether you need to accommodate any of those cues from attuning. If so, do so. If not, continue on to your practice. As those cues come back into your field attention, do the same. - End and (enact).
Set your intention to enact your practice as you reengage with the world. End the formal period of period completely until you return to it. Clean up and put away neatly any physical manifestations of practice.
Lastly, a few words on purposes. Another paradox of contemplative practice is that it is entirely individual yet expands personal identity to include connection to the ultimate and to every other person, possibly every other being, possibly all of existence. Contemplative spirituality is an expression of one person's particular religious experience—including all the contexts and complications that have led them there—yet it is also a universal experience of faith applicable to all authentic understandings of religion. My faith is currently Buddhist and Unitarian Universalist. And my experience with Christianity includes some early negative experiences although more recently I have come to make peace with those and to appreciate everything it taught me and even recognize that under slightly different conditions, I might be a Christian today.
In particular, Martin Laird's In a Silent Land has been one of my favorite works on contemplative practices. Despite his squarely Christian perspective, and the explicit declaration that he was not drawing from any other traditions, this book presents a view of meditation fully compatible with my current faith and practice. There were maybe a handful of changes to a word or two that might be necessary, but even most of that works with an expansive view of the language that is used. Laird took care of that from the beginning, quoting a definition of God that is inclusive and completely compatible with my faith and faith communities, "God is that reality whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere" (p. 12).