PER SON AL DEVELOPMENT


Although contemplation can reap a rich harvest, in many ways it can be considered a gift, not something we can enforce despite all our best efforts and attempts. In my experience when it appears it creeps up slowly, unannounced and unexpected and as soon as we acknowledge its presence, it’s gone, leaving only a trace.


THE BENEFITS OF CONTEMPLATION What then are the benefits of pursuing this elusive thing that we label ‘contemplation’? In my experience, in the initial


6


MEDITATION PRACTICE Many years ago I became involved


with a number of Buddhist groups and started meditating with them in set sessions. Being part of a group (a ‘sangha’) was of great benefit to me. I had previously meditated on my own but what I found was that in a group setting I came to deepen my practice. I became much more relaxed, more able to lengthen the process, and much more able to reach some inner peace and calm with the emergence of fresh insight.


7


ACTIVE CONTEMPLATION Often, in the pursuits of some


activities, certain moments arise when we forget all about our normal, everyday preoccupations and enter a different ‘time zone’, a different ‘space’ where we enter a phase of self-forgetfulness. Art and craft activities and physical pursuits like walking and gardening can all induce this. The American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has written extensively about this process of flow. His work highlights the degree to which we can become completely immersed and absorbed, in an energised and focused way, when undertaking certain activities. This, he argues, increases feelings of well-being and happiness.


34 MAY 2017


stages there is the benefit of securing relaxation, inner calm, and peace that can mysteriously start to clear away our everyday preoccupations to leave a fresh opening for us to explore. It is here that I have found a physiological change taking place. My body is inhabited in a different, more pleasant way. A certain slowness of actions starts to emerge and I become more focused on what I’m doing in the moment to the exclusion of all else. Any one task feels like an all-consuming affair that I should attend to fully, leaving no space left for distractions or competition. The experience has, in the past,


taught me profound personal truths. First of all, when my mind is still and calm there is a corresponding relaxation in the body. The two somehow systematically synchronise into a harmonious whole. Secondly, when contemplation is


deepened, over time I find I have a number of ‘eureka’ moments, and certain problems or concerns that may preoccupy me are somehow resolved. I find that I’m in a space where a different mental perspective starts to surface, bringing with it certain insights and solutions. This apparent independence of detachment, if that is what I can call it, seems to summon up a fresh level perception that supports me in new appraisals without me ever being consciously aware that I was in anyway engaged with the process. Finally, and very importantly, when


prolonged, this process can lead to greater awareness. Our normal habitual


thinking, which can border, at times, on the anxious if not neurotic, is slowly dissipated and released to allow for a much calmer state to develop. The seed- bed conditions that have been prepared in the seven practices above will sustain and nourish further growth that can flourish into quite profound experiences or ‘epiphanies’. This will open us up to new territory and new landscapes of thinking and being. Merton’s contemplative life was


a struggle at times, full of slips and mishaps, which he himself duly acknowledges in his writing. He kept his faith and remained loyal throughout, knowing that it was the only life he could lead. There was no going back; his quest remained constant: to discover the truth of who he was and what his place was in the world. This journey was never going to be easy, but he would penetrate the depths and share in his immense collection of writings the wisdom he found, which is still of great pertinence and relevance to us today. “Let no one hope to find in


contemplation an escape from conflict, from anguish or from doubt. On the contrary, the deep, inexpressible certitude of the contemplative experience awakens a tragic anguish and opens many questions in the depths of the heart like wounds that cannot stop bleeding. For every gain in deep certitude there is a corresponding growth of superficial ‘doubt.’ This doubt is by no means opposed to genuine faith, but it mercilessly examines and questions the spurious ‘faith’ of everyday life, the human faith which is nothing but the passive acceptance of conventional opinion.“ [Merton, ibid] n


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Michael Lewin is presently engaged in simplifying his life. His writing practice continues to guide, teach, support and nourish him.


His book, ‘Buddhist reflections on death, dying and bereavement’ was published recently.


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