contemplation Archives - Page 4 of 5

How high is deep?

How high is deep? Remember the post entitled Coming to a Place of Purity? Check it out if you don’t remember. In that post I talked about my retreat experience and my conversation with Fr. George. I simplified the message in that post and I’d like to elaborate a bit more now. I actually drafted this post the day after the one about purity. That was almost 4 months ago. I didn’t post it back then and I have no idea why. The Lord works in mysterious ways so I won’t question his motives, I just know today is the day to post it.

My conversation with Fr. George a few months ago had to do with integrating Zen contemplation with my “practice” of Catholicism. I wanted him to help me understand why he supported and even encouraged it. I feel a deep connection with God and a tremendous sense of peace and oneness when attending his retreats and practicing contemplation, so I wanted assurance from him that I wasn’t doing anything against my religion. He explained to me that my religion wasn’t being changed by my integrating Zen contemplation into my spiritual practice.

I’m paraphrasing but what I got from his explanation was that there is nothing wrong with integrating the techniques of other faiths into our own if they’re going to help us recognize our oneness with all of creation.

Elaborating on his “purity” comment (see my previous post), he explained that the ultimate goal of our spiritual journey is to get to a place deep within ourselves where duality no longer exists. Our goal is to get to a place where we go outside on a cold winter day and we no longer say “It’s cold” but just “cold.” My response to that thought was: “Wow, THAT’S deep, or should I say deep?” To which he quickly replied “how high is deep?” My goodness, every sentence out of his mouth challenged me. So, guess what? I chewed on that for most of my weekend too and this is what I came up with:

My first thought was, deep is relative. It has no set definition or height. Deep for me may be different from what deep is to you. But the more I thought about the “cold” comparison I realized it was about recognizing oneness. When we begin to recognize our oneness with God and all of creation we stop referring to things as separate from ourselves. No longer is it US and THEM, THIS or THAT, IT and ME. So my understanding of Fr. George’s comment is there is no height to deep. Deep is TRUTH.

I understand now that my “religion” is my guidepost to God. It’s pointing me in the right direction. It’s up to me to nurture my relationship with God, no one and nothing else can do that for me. For me, routine is not enough! I know there’s more out there, I know my relationship with God can still go deeper and that’s where I want to go. Integrating Zen contemplation into my spiritual practice is good for me and I know all good things come from God!

I realize all these “challenges”, or more precisely koans, have no right answers. They simply serve to get one thinking and boy did it work for me. You may come to a different conclusion. Give it a shot. How high is deep? I would love to hear your thoughts. God bless you!

Gratitude!

My last two posts have been about contemplation and its effect on our lives. In true majestic fashion, the Spirit continues to guide me and provide food for thought. First my own thoughts, then a meditation from Richard Rohr and then came this – an email with Joan Chittister’s weekly e-newsletter Vision and Viewpoint. The topic? You guessed it – contemplation!

Life’s essential goodness

We so often think that those who refuse under any conditions to deny the essential goodness of life are mad. Look at the suffering. Look at the evil. Be real, we say. We are so often inclined to think that those who continue to see life where life seems to be empty and futile are, at best, foolish. Be sensible, we say. But we may be the ones who are mad. The truth is that contemplation, the ability to see behind the obvious to the soul of life, is the ultimate sanity. The contemplative sees life as it really is under all the struggle and pain: imbued with God, glowing with eternity, full of energy, and so overflowing with good that evil never totally triumphs.

Contemplation keeps the inner eye focused on Goodness. The desert monastics put it this way: As he was dying, Abba Benjamin taught his disciples his last lesson. “Do this,” he said, “and you will be saved: Rejoice always, pray constantly, and in all circumstance give thanks.”

In the end, joy, praise and gratitude live in the hearts of those who live in God. It is not the joy of fools. The contemplative knows evil when it rears its head. It is not the praise of the ingratiating. The contemplative knows struggle when difficulties come. It is not the gratitude of the obtuse. The contemplative recognizes the difference between chaff and grain. The contemplative knows that grain is for bread, but the contemplative also knows that chaff is for heat. The contemplative realizes that everything in life has for its purpose the kindling of the God-life within us. And so the contemplative goes on with joy and resounds with praise and lives in gratitude. Always.

—from Illuminated Life by Joan Chittister (Orbis)