[Exploring Life] We have a deep desire to seek a greater purpose in life, yet often feel confined by the requirements of our existing lifestyle. A quick glance at the “Self Help” section in a bookstore reveals an ever-expanding array of publications designed to help people embrace a deeper sense of happiness, joy, and contentment in life. The self-help industry is also a marketing engine for solutions to problem which it has created. Without a problem, there is no market to sell solutions to and buying a “solution” feels good, at least temporarily. However, this is not to say that there is no value to be found in these materials. It is to say that the sheer quantity of material published on a relatively small number of themes serves to create a sense of confusion and bewilderment. Who or what are we to believe? The solution to this is to focus on identifying the critical attributes the essential themes, and paying less attention to the superficial variations. The idea of contemplation is one of those essential themes.
Toward An Understanding Contemplation
The first task is to create a working definition of contemplation that serves to provide a focal point for the exploration of the powers of the mind. I have chosen the word contemplation since it broad enough to incorporate ideas such as meditation and mindfulness while including more common capacities such as concentration and attention. Contemplation also lends itself to spiritual or religious dimensions, since the aim of contemplation is often directed at a universal divine essence common to all life.
In a dictionary there are generally two components that collaborate to create a definition of contemplation. The first is a quality of mind often described as focused attention, awareness, or concentration. The second component is duration, that is, contemplation is something that occurs over an extended period of time. What the mind is to focus on and for what purpose is not usually described. This places the idea of contemplation into close proximity with concentration. Concentration is a skill that is valued in education as a means to remain focused on comprehending what is being taught. The object of concentration here is to master the requisite information and demonstrate the level of mastery through techniques of evaluation. However, contemplation has a much more extensive landscape of meaning.
Mindfulness, for example, is a form of contemplation that is focused on developing greater powers of attention and awareness in order to create a greater sense of stillness in thought. An important aspect of quieting the mind is to escape habitual patterns of thought that may be the source of self-imposed forms of stress and anxiety. Contemplation in this sense is a healing art that aims to cultivate the health of body and mind. Psychologists now use contemplative techniques to help patients overcome mental and emotional suffering. Athletes make regular use of contemplation techniques, or what is often referred to as visualization or mental rehearsal, to cultivate a high level of performance. Neuroscientists are linking the activities of the mind to the creation and degeneration of neural pathways in the brain that are the physiological basis for thought and emotion.
Contemplation may have a divine quest as the primary aim. The ancient contemplative traditions are practices designed to evolve the mind in order to attain unity with a divine essence. Meditation is closely associated with the practice of Buddhism. The object of meditation is often the embrace of a specific quality such as acceptance, reverence, compassion, beauty, or gratitude. The Yoga Sutras outline a wide range of contemplative techniques that are designed to lead an individual to equanimity in life. Contemplation is a creative art in which we seek to cultivate qualities of mind that lead to a transformation in our presence. In this sense it is a deeply personal practice in which we focus our awareness on a desired quality over an extended period of time in order to seek unity with a universal life-force.
The ancient contemplative traditions embrace the assumption that the brain and mind can access what may be described as a universal consciousness that permeates and imbues all life with energy. Various names have been used to describe this including life-force, the Source, the Tao, the Zero Point field, Nirvana, and God. When the object of contemplation is often focused on the divine, the practice is considered to be a spiritual or religious practice. A common thread across all spiritual contemplative traditions is to pursue experience beyond the confines of everyday life by disciplining the mind to receive this universal life-giving consciousness. When unity is attained, the presumption is that our being is transformed and fundamental insight into the nature of life itself is achieved.
The essential qualities associated with contemplation would include:
- A Focused Mind: Improving the operation of the mind through the disciplined development of focus, attention, awareness, mindfulness, meditation, or concentration;
- Resilience: Maintaining a focused and disciplined over extended periods of time and throughout various situations and circumstances;
- A Divine Quest: Embracing qualities of life associated with a universal life-force as expressed in universal qualities such as reverence, compassion, beauty, or gratitude;
- Equanimity: Preserving a deeply rooted sense of balance in our heart and mind that remains constant throughout the inevitable vagaries and vicissitudes of life.
From this we can propose a working definition of contemplation: “Contemplation is the disciplined development of body and mind amidst the confluence of everyday living in order to embrace a divine essence resulting in a deeply rooted presence of equanimity in life.” The idea of a contemplative practice is not limited to specific times we set aside to work on specific techniques. A contemplative practice is something we bring into our everyday lives as a constant and trusted companion.
The Nature of a Contemplative Practice
We sometimes associate the idea of a practice with a specific period of time we set aside to master specific kinds of techniques and methods. The importance of this is self-evident. If we a learning to play an instrument, setting aside time to practice is an obvious requirement for success. In learning to play an instrument, we also benefit from well defined methods that serve to focus how we practice over time. In a contemplative practice, however, these kinds of methods are less prominent. The reason for this is that in a contemplative practice the most essential method or technique is our own individual experimentation with our mind. While there are techniques and processes we can experiment with, ultimately the learning involved in a contemplative practice is unavoidably self-directed and the content of that learning can only be our own mind with all its mercurial wanderings and expressions. In this sense, the student is inexorably the teacher as well as the curriculum and instructional designer. There can be no other way; there is no one approach that fits all.
The aims of a contemplative practice include:
- the alleviation of suffering;
- the cultivation of superior physical or athletic skills;
- finding a deeper sense of purpose in life;
- healing mental, emotional, and physiological memories;
- acquiring the ability to maintain equanimity throughout the confluence of life;
- the development of perceptual clarity; or
- a quest for unity the Divine.
A contemplative practice reverses the processes associated with education. In education we are immersed in a predetermined scheme of knowledge and skills that we are to acquire well enough in order to graduate. What that knowledge or skill may be is predominantly imposed on the student and originates in the assumption that experts are the best source for determining what and how students should learn.
In a contemplative practice, the “system” of knowledge and skills we are dealing with are already there and our task is to gain enough awareness and understanding of them so that we may cultivate growth. We may experiment with recommended methods and techniques for contemplation, however, it is our own individual perception of how those techniques support or distract us that matters most. In this sense, the “curriculum” and “instructional” design of a contemplative practice is always emergent and requires a deep sense of presence in each moment in order to become aware of what is actually happening in our thoughts, moods, and other expressions of mental energy.
