Contemplation is seeing the world through God’s eyes with spiritual awareness. It is the eternal dimension of life. Jesus portrayed it as living life in the fullness of the Kingdom of God. God is the one who is behind the mystery of all that is seen and unseen. The resurrected Christ encourages us to focus on the presence of God in everything we do. It is the gift of seeing with spiritual eyes the eternal perspective of the world and partaking of God’s nature in it.
We have the hope of no longer living as mere mortals alone and separated from God. This awakening is more than a heightened Gnostic belief of intellectual perception. It lets our old way of life pass away and views life from a heavenly realm and perspective. The apostle Paul describes one moment as being caught up in the third heaven, where he says no eye has seen, and no ear has heard what God has prepared for those who believe. Like Paul, we can also be “God Conscious.” Paradise is all around us, and we miss it chasing the trappings of the world.
It is a state of our inner being and self where we are aware of the spiritual presence of Christ living in us. Moment by moment, God’s divine nature of love is transforming our lives. By the grace of God, there is no alienation from God. He desires fellowship with us, and all we can do is respond to His love. It is the response of God to the longing cry of our hearts for intimacy and a relationship with the Triune God. The contemplative person seeks communion with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in silence. Paradise lost in the garden restored. The contemplative life aims to reconnect us in our spirit to the uncreated Spirit of God, the source of energy and desires a relationship with us.
The struggle of humanity is we believe there is no possibility of being brought into union with God. We perceive this union, if ever wholly restored, will be after death. The radical nature of the gospel is that God takes the divine initiative through Christ to pursue us and heal our relationship. Therefore, we need a mindful awareness of the Kingdom of God.
Jesus prayed in John chapter seventeen and verse twenty-one that all of them might be one, Father, just as you are in me, and I am in you. His prayer was we would be one with Him and the Father. Contemplation is a description of how this union with God takes place in our lives today. The only part you and I bring to the table is the willingness to be open and responsive to the movement of God. It is the openness of letting Christ live his life in our inner being as we surrender our lives over to His will. We experience being made whole and complete in Christ and with all creation in those moments. (The Goal of Contemplative Prayer)
Image via Pixabay
