Alien Drums

A college professor got my attention more than 30 years ago in an Introduction to Political Science course. He used the word, “contemplative.”

I had, of course, heard the word before, but he spoke in a way that arrested my attention. Rather than putting the accent on the “-pla-” syllable, he put it on “-tem-”. Now that seems a rather minor distinction, one supported by my dictionary, but that simple change woke me from my classroom slumber and made me listen.

The professor said the contemplative life was the best life, according to the ancient Greeks. I forgot most of what I heard in college, but I never forgot that and it has proved true in my own life. Life is best when contemplation is central part of it.

Now, it seems, there is a lot of talk about contemplation. That may seem to be the case because I’ve been reading Richard Rohr a good bit. Then comes this e-note from Richard’s Center for Action and Contemplation this morning:

“The contemplative mind is really just the mind that emerges when you pray instead of think first. Praying opens the field and moves beyond fear and judgment and agenda and analysis, and just lets the moment be what it is—as it is.”

I think I’m not alone when I confess that praying before thinking is very counterintuitive. Thinking is what I tend to do most. My wife has even accused me of over-thinking; and I grudgingly concur. So how can I pray first. I don’t know.

Richard says this:

“We really have to be taught that mind. We now are pretty sure that it was systematically taught—mostly in the monasteries—as late as the 13th and even into the 14th century. But once we got into the oppositional mind of the Reformation and the rational mind of the Enlightenment, the contemplative mind pretty much fell by the wayside. The wonderful thing is that it is now being rediscovered across denominations, and there is no select group that holds it or that teaches it. Catholics still use the word ‘contemplation,’ but usually have not been taught the practice, even monks and nuns and priests.”

Adapted from the CAC webcast, Nov. 8, 2008:
“What is The Emerging Church?”

So, there’s some food for thought, for contemplation.