Learning to See<\/strong><\/a>\nWednesday, January 10, 2017<\/strong>\n<\/iframe><br \/>\n<em>If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to [us] as it is, infinite.<\/em> \u2014William Blake [1]<\/p>\n<p>Contemplation is about seeing, but a kind of seeing that is much more than mere looking because it also includes <em>recognizing<\/em> and thus <em>appreciating. <\/em>The contemplative mind does not tell us <em>what <\/em>to see, but teaches us <em>how<\/em> to see what we behold.<\/p>\n<p>Contemplation allows us to see the truth of things in their wholeness. It is a mental discipline and gift that detaches us\u2014neurologically and spiritually\u2014from our addiction to our habitual way of thinking, usually in our left brain which likes to be in control. Through contemplative practice we stop identifying solely with our small binary, dualistic mind which strips things down to two choices and then usually identifies with only one of them. Gradually we begin to recognize the inadequacy and superficiality of that limited way of knowing reality. Only the contemplative, or the deeply intuitive, can start venturing out into much more open-ended horizons. The rational, dualistic mind does not have the capacity to hold the big questions of life like love, death, suffering, sexuality, God, or anything infinite.<\/p>\n<p>We need a contemplative, non-dual mind to accept or even have an elementary understanding of what is meant by Jesus being <em>fully human and fully divine<\/em>\u2014at the same time. Western Christianity has tended to overemphasize his divinity, and we thus lost sight of how Jesus holds these two together. When we couldn\u2019t put together this paradox in Jesus, we couldn\u2019t recognize the same truth about ourselves and others. We too are a paradox, a seeming contradiction that is not actually a contradiction at all. Yet we ended up being \u201conly\u201d human and Jesus ended up being \u201conly\u201d God. We missed the major point!<\/p>\n<p>This is why we end the Daily Meditations with \u201cGateway to Presence,\u201d an invitation to contemplative knowing. Only a non-dual mind can discover that to be human is to also be divine.<\/p>\n<p>How do we learn contemplative consciousness\u2014this deep, mysterious, and life-giving way of seeing, of being with, reality? Why does it not come naturally to us? Many people experience this knowing in small glimpses, in brief moments of intimacy, awe, or grief. But such wide-eyed seeing normally does not last. We return quickly to dualistic analysis and use our judgments to retake control. Contemplation is simply a way of maintaining the fruits of great love and great suffering over the long haul. And that takes a lot of practice. In fact, our whole life becomes one continual practice or a \u201cschool of union.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>_________________________________________________<\/p>\n<div class=\"row title-row\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"utmost-devo-title col col-sm-12 col-xs-12\">\n<h2 class=\"entry-title\">The Opened Sight<\/h2>\n<h4>By <a href=\"https:\/\/utmost.org\/oswald-chambers-bio\">Oswald Chambers<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"clearfix\">\u00a0<strong>I now send you, to open their eyes\u2026that they may receive forgiveness of sins\u2026 \u2014<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?version=31&search=Acts+26%3A17-18\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Acts 26:17-18<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n<div class=\"row entry-meta\">\n<div class=\"col-sm-4\">\n<div class=\"top-sharing\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"top-rule\">This verse is the greatest example of the true essence of the message of a disciple of Jesus Christ in all of the New Testament.<\/div>\n<section class=\"entry-content\">\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<p>God\u2019s first sovereign work of grace is summed up in the words, \u201c\u2026that they may receive forgiveness of sins\u2026.\u201d When a person fails in his personal Christian life, it is usually because he has never <em>received<\/em> anything. The only sign that a person is saved is that he has received something from Jesus Christ. Our job as workers for God is to open people\u2019s eyes so that they may turn themselves from darkness to light. But that is not salvation; it is conversion\u2014 only the effort of an awakened human being. I do not think it is too broad a statement to say that the majority of so-called Christians are like this. Their eyes are open, but they have received nothing. Conversion is not regeneration. This is a neglected fact in our preaching today. When a person is born again, he knows that it is because he has received something as a gift from Almighty God and not because of his own decision. People may make vows and promises, and may be determined to follow through, but none of this is salvation. Salvation means that we are brought to the place where we are able to receive something from God on the authority of Jesus Christ, namely, forgiveness of sins.<\/p>\n<p>This is followed by God\u2019s second mighty work of grace: \u201c\u2026an inheritance among those who are sanctified\u2026.\u201d In sanctification, the one who has been born again deliberately gives up his right to himself to Jesus Christ, and identifies himself entirely with God\u2019s ministry to others.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contemplative Consciousness Learning to See Wednesday, January 10, 2017 If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to [us] as it is, infinite. \u2014William Blake [1] Contemplation is about seeing, but a kind of seeing that is much more than mere looking because it also includes recognizing and thus appreciating. The contemplative […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16349"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16349"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16352,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16349\/revisions\/16352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}