What is contemplation?

[HatGuy]

Interested in hearing people's opinions on this - what is Christian contemplation, what is the theology, is it a necessary / imperative to growth, Is it a Biblical practice, is it realistic or idealistic, and are there any alternatives to help a restless soul?

Or anything else that comes up .

I'm posting this in theology because I'd dig to hear the wide angle of opinions, not just the opinions of those already involved in the practice.

Thanks!
Some guy in a hat

 

[Jonaitis]

I'm not sure what Christian contemplation is unless you mean meditation? If so, I understand it to be a private means of grace that nourishes our faith.

“Meditation is like the watering of the seed, it makes the fruits of grace to flourish." - Thomas Watson

“Our bodies are not supported by merely taking food into the mouth, but the process which really supplies the muscle, and the nerve, and the sinew, and the bone, is the process of digestion. It is by digestion that the outward food becomes assimilated with the inner life. And so it is with our souls; they are not nourished merely by what we hear going hither and thither, and listening awhile to this and then to that, and then to the other. Hearing, reading, marking, and learning, all require inwardly digesting; and the inward digesting of the truth lies in the meditating upon it.” - Charles Spurgeon

I believe it is a biblical practice, and a neglected one at that in our age.

“I will meditate on your precepts, and contemplate your ways. I will delight myself in your statutes; I will not forget your word.” - Psalm 119:15, 16

 

[zippy2006]

Interested in hearing people's opinions on this - what is Christian contemplation, what is the theology, is it a necessary / imperative to growth, Is it a Biblical practice, is it realistic or idealistic, and are there any alternatives to help a restless soul?

Or anything else that comes up .

I'm posting this in theology because I'd dig to hear the wide angle of opinions, not just the opinions of those already involved in the practice.

Thanks!
Some guy in a hat

I recently read the Wikipedia article on Christian Contemplation. It is fairly informative, and, as far as I can tell, accurate.

Christian contemplation refers to several Christian practices which aim at "looking at", "gazing at", "being aware of" God or the Divine.​

I wouldn't say that it is necessary for growth but it is a well-trod path in the tradition of the Church that was traveled by many of the great saints. Something which could be seen as an alternative, supplement, or preparation would be lectio divina.

 

[JohnTh]

Contemplation it is a complex of actions(!), involving even the behavior of body which have as aim to make the evil inoperative - because evil is existential distortion - hence is a force which attracts us away from God.

Of course, the most important action in contemplation is pure prayer and the control of the aspects of the soul that is "guarding the heart" - heart which is meant here as the eye of the soul (the core of our existence) that is the nous (νούς) which is usually translated as mind or intellect. This is just one of the two rational aspects from the total of four aspects of the soul.

Mind (nous) is different from logic - which cannot solve our equation - and above it.

Perhaps here we should mention that there are some types of pleasures which cannot be fought - only avoided. That's why this very active state of vigilance appears externally as "doing nothing" and it is named stillness.

Through it, we can see God with the analogous results so, only in this way, one can really know God and thus became God-like.

The knowledge of contemplation is not only "better" - it is totally different of our "knowledge" because our "knowledge" is the result of eating the tree of knowing good and evil.

 

[Bob Crowley]

I've often wondered the same thing myself, and in particular the difference between (Christian) meditation and contemplation. To really understand them, I think we'd need to try to carry them out ourselves.

In a nutshell, meditation appears to be active; contemplation is "inactive", involving emptying the mind so that God can fill it. Or at least that's the way I see it. But then I'm an outsider looking in - the best person to answer this question would be a spiritual director, which is a rather specialised field.

I've put a link here which is Catholic based, since the Catholic religious orders have a long tradition of both meditation and contemplation.

Catholic Meditation and Contemplative Prayer: What's the Difference?

The following summary featured in the above article -

To summarize:

• Meditation is a quest; contemplation involves rest.
• Meditation is mental, cognitive, discursive; contemplation is silent, heart-centered, beholding
• Meditaiton is important, contemplation even more so.

There's another (Catholic) link here -

https://spiritualdirection.com/2011/05/30/contemplation-and-meditation-distinctions-and-interactions

 

[JohnTh]

The biggest difference is that through meditation, our created mind can only think about God while through contemplation - because it is a gift from God - we know God because we become united with Him.