{"id":18130,"date":"2019-06-25T09:50:49","date_gmt":"2019-06-25T13:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=18130"},"modified":"2019-06-25T09:50:49","modified_gmt":"2019-06-25T13:50:49","slug":"many-paths-to-contemplation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=18130","title":{"rendered":"Many Paths to Contemplation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Conscious Parenting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cac.org\/many-paths-to-contemplation-2019-06-25\/\"><strong>Many Paths to Contemplation<\/strong><\/a><br>\n<strong>Tuesday, June 25, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7zW1z37XGtE\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p>After recently visiting Mexico and some of the refugee centers along the Texas border and seeing so many children and babies with their parents, I was reminded that contemplative Christianity\u2019s rather monastic, solitary, silent approach just can\u2019t be adequate to describe contemplation for most people. It can\u2019t be, or many of God\u2019s children could never know God. Contemplation is simply openness to God\u2019s loving presence in \u201cwhat is\u201d right in front of you\u2014which is what I saw these parents do. This presence to Presence can be cultivated in many ways that don\u2019t require sitting on a mat for twenty minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Experiences of great love and great suffering can and will lead anyone to union. Every time you let your kids pull love out of you or when you let a relationship pull suffering out of you, you are present and surrendering to the flow. I think Catholics have also over-emphasized the celibate path which is a \u201cluxury,\u201d it seems to me. I know I enjoy that luxury\u2014the Franciscans provide for all my needs, but most people I know have a mortgage or rent to pay and food to put on the table. So, I think it is really important that we broaden the definition of contemplation to a Trinitarian understanding of God\u2014God as flow\u2014and learning how to allow and participate in the flow. It\u2019s not really about detachment but healthy and unitive attachment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we expect the same disciplined practice of twenty minutes of silence twice a day of everyone\u2014for example, busy parents of young children\u2014I think we\u2019re setting ourselves up for delusion. <em>When you keep allowing love to flow toward you and toward others, that is a contemplative life.<\/em> It is not as easy as it seems. Many laypeople are far more mature in the spiritual life than those of us who have all the accoutrements of celibacy, quiet, and protected solitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those who have a long-term object of love, like a spouse or children, grow through their commitment. I don\u2019t have an object of love like that. Now, I had Venus, my black Labrador, for fifteen years, and then she passed. I do have a wonderful staff who I think love me. I surely love them, but, I don\u2019t<em> have<\/em> to love them. I can go home and shut the door. But if you are a parent or a partner, you can\u2019t go home and shut the door to your loved ones. For all of us\u2014whether we live alone or with others\u2014the invitation is to open ourselves to the needs and suffering around us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hidden away in the middle of Parker Palmer\u2019s recent book, <em>On the Brink of Everything<\/em>, is a wonderful, simple definition of contemplation: <em>\u201cContemplation is any way one has of penetrating illusion and touching reality.\u201d <\/em>[1] I think that\u2019s brilliant. There are things that force you toward a contemplative mind (for example, your mother\u2019s death), because they force you to face reality, and that can free you from lot of illusions. I\u2019m still grateful to the monastic and Buddhist teachers. But sitting in silence isn\u2019t the whole enchilada. Life is the whole enchilada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Conscious Parenting Many Paths to Contemplation Tuesday, June 25, 2019 After recently visiting Mexico and some of the refugee centers along the Texas border and seeing so many children and babies with their parents, I was reminded that contemplative Christianity\u2019s rather monastic, solitary, silent approach just can\u2019t be adequate to describe contemplation for most people. [&hellip;]<\/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":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18130"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18130"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18131,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18130\/revisions\/18131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}