PER SON AL DEVELOPMENT
The contemplative life
I used to think that a contemplative lifestyle belonged to monks, nuns, and those living in silent orders in remote places far away from the 'real' world. I know better now.
by Michael Lewin
“Contemplation is life itself, fully awake, fully active, fully aware that it is alive. It is spiritual wonder. It is spontaneous awe at the sacredness of life, of being. It is gratitude for life, for awareness and for being.” [Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation] There was once a time when I
would have struggled with the idea of ‘contemplation'. For me, it had too many religious connotations that seemed strange and bewildering – touching on esoteric. I very much saw it as relating to contemplative lifestyles that belonged to monks, nuns, and others who were pursuing a life of the renunciant, often in silent orders in remote places far away from the ‘real’
32 MAY 2017
world. To me this was a denial of life; a wasted opportunity to fully engage with its dynamic. Life was there for me to live fully self-directionally, to achieve all the goals I had set myself, and that was the package I bought into. I neither knew nor wanted to know anything else. While I pursued what I thought would empower me in the materialistic world, my life seemed to have clarity and certainty. I know better now…
I DISCOVER CONTEMPLATION My life was coursing in the direction I set and all was right with the world until one day, adversity paid me a visit. I didn’t see it coming and was devastated by its impact. I hadn’t expected a big change
of direction at this juncture in my life, and yet here I was, powerless to stop it. In time I gradually came around to accepting the challenge of fundamental change. This took me deeper into understanding and reconciliation. At this vulnerable time I started
reading the works of the Trappist monk Thomas Merton and become inspired by his journey and what he had to say, especially about contemplation. Merton wrote about his experience living in New York City as a post-graduate student enjoying all the fruits that this life could offer but growing increasingly disillusioned with this materialistic existence – what he would later describe as a hedonist lifestyle. On feeling a deep
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