*CONTEMPLATE/*CONTEMPLATIVE - also see PRAYER, MEDITATION, YOGA, ENLIGHTENMENT, cosmic or Christ CONSCIOUSNESS, BEATIFIC vision, Ultimate REALITY, Father, Kingdom of God, Eternal Life, Heaven, Zen, Absolute
Contemplation has been described as clear awareness without words. Contemplation is a "seeing clearly." We lay aside thoughts, not to lead to a vacuum or drowsiness, but to inner plenitude. We deny to affirm. Wordless contemplation is not an absence, but a presence, a God-awareness. The aim is to bring us into a direct meeting with a personal God, on God's terms. (St. Vladimir, Jesus Prayer)
The beatific vision is the eternal and direct perception of God enjoyed by those who are in Heaven, imparting supreme happiness or blessedness. While humans' understanding of God while alive is indirect (mediated), the beatific vision is direct (immediate). (Wikipedia)
The Christian of the future is either a contemplative or not a Christian at all. (Karl Rahner), In contemplation we strive for the consciousness that Christ had. (p6) Contemplation leads us from Jesus to the Christ. Contemplation is about a process of transformation, rather than of imitation. The path of contemplation is the path through suffering and dying into the experience of oneness with God - to allow the Divine into us, to give it room. Dying in the sense of contemplation is really gaining. (p131-133) (Meaning)
The more wisdom we seek, the more sorrow we can expect; the more knowledge we have, the greater our grief will be (Eccl 1:18). By means of the dark night of contemplation, which is a source of profound lamentation, God supernaturally instills divine wisdom in a person whose spirit is empty and unhindered (where obstacles have been cleared away). (Dark Night, p129)
Contemplative prayer is a process of interior transformation, a conversation initiated by God and leading, if we consent, to divine union. One's way of seeing reality changes in this process. A restructuring of consciousness takes place which empowers one to perceive, relate and respond with increasing sensitivity to the divine presence in, through, and beyond everything that exists. (Open Mind, p4)
The Greeks used the word "gnosis" to translate the hebrew "da'ath" - a much stronger term that implies an intimate kind of knowledge involving the whole person, not just the mind. The word "contemplation" comes from "theoria" which was translated into latin "contemplatio". Gregory the Great at end of 6th century described contemplation as the knowledge of God that is impregnated with love. For Gregory contemplation is the fruit of reflection on the word of God in scripture and at the same time a gift of God. It is a resting in God. In this resting or stillness the mind and heart are not actively seeking Him but are beginning to experience, to taste, what they have been seeking. This places them in a state of tranquility and profound interior peace. (Open Mind, p19-20)
Contemplative prayer is no so much the absence of thoughts as detachment from them. To be consoled is not the object. (Open Mind, p14, 89)
The word "contemplation" does not always have the same meaning in Christian literature. At times it means the same as meditation or reflection; esp. on an object. In the pages that follow, "contemplation" always refers to a form of Christian prayer that is NOT focused on an object. It does not mean meditation on a content. Contemplation comes from the Latin verb contemplari which means to "gaze." The goal of contemplation is to gaze into one's own self, to gaze upon the divine in ourselves and in creation by means of an awareness or experience that transcends our intellectual capabilities. (Contemplation, p3)
Contemplation is the inflow of God into the human person, a gift of God's love that we cannot achieve by our human actions alone. We can use various ascetical techniques and spiritual practices to dispose ourselves for contemplation, but the increase of divine life in us is always grace, God's gift. (Purif, p17)