man contemplating under prayer flags

CONTEMPLATION: The path to awakening

Last updated: October 21st, 2018

“If you could get rid of yourself just for once, the secret of secrets would open to you. The face of the unknown, hidden beyond the universe, would appear on the mirror of your perception.”Rumi

How often are we truly alone with ourselves for any prolonged period of time? How often do we enter into a space of stilled silence? How often do we find sufficient time in order to think and reflect upon our lives? One of the biggest problems we face in our economically-driven world is  over activity – the desire to constantly be striving for something. Rushing around, trying to speed up this moment in order to enter the next, never quite knowing that underlying all this energy is anxiety–a deep anxiety that grips us by the collar and won’t let us go.

Workaholism–the compulsive addiction to work–is a modern malaise that currently blights the lives of so many. Throughout western societies, and beyond, it runs rampant through the population with no signs of abating. In Japan they label it karoshi, “death by overwork.”In the Netherlands they have identified “leisure illness” as a condition in which workers become physically ill on weekends and on leave as they desperately try to wind down and relax from the work situation. The pattern of overwork is similar in North America and Europe as well with stressed out workers becoming increasingly unable to cope with the demands of the working week. Unfortunately, work is often seen as a respectable “addiction” that is not to be discouraged. But it is not just in the work environment where our addiction to over-activity finds expression. Our 24 / 7 world drives us to fill up our lives with busyness. As a result, our physical, mental and spiritual well-being suffers.

Workaholism and busyness are socially unchallenged addictions that must be challenged otherwise we run the risk of being distracted, led away from fundamental life issues and questions that need to be addressed. Our journey in life, the real quest that we must undertake, is finding out who we really are so that we can start to define our purpose in life. On one level this may seem naïve, or even absurd to some, but I would argue that this issue lies at the very core of our existence, just waiting to be addressed. Projecting an image of the self onto others, which is inauthentic and flawed, while our true self lays buried deep within in us is the greatest way to waste our lives. So deep our true Self remains  hidden, ever ready to be engaged and nurtured as long as we create the right conditions for its awakening.

Nothing external to ourselves can awaken us. All we can ever really do is turn within and explore, with deep presence, the fundamental questions that need our attention. But, what are these conditions that we must engage with and can they really serve our needs? Contemplation, a state of wakefulness to the world around us, relies on a simple lifestyle that has, at its heart, a deep presence of stillness, solitude and silence.  Contemplation will gently lead us on a journey where we become more mindful, leading to profound insights and eventually, awakening. This spiritual process can simply be expressed as: SIMPLICITY, SOLITUDE, STILLNESS and SILENCE leads to CONTEMPLATION which opens us up to  MINDFULNESS, AWARENESS, INSIGHT and AWAKENING.

Gentle perseverance is the key to awakening; the deeper we go into contemplation the richer the harvest we reap. To others it may appear misplaced, selfish, or wasteful. Some may say that it leads to trickery and even delusion. But in reality, as long as the right circumstances are supporting our practice, only a much fuller person can emerge. One that becomes aware of new truths, not old falsehoods. One that has a much broader vision, that sees and experiences a feeling of unity, a Oneness with all living creation.

We must not get mistaken over what is big and what is small in life. What is important and what is unimportant. What is it that we should undertake in order to grow more as individuals and what is it we must avoid, that which holds us back in the trap of self-diminishment?

Self-awakening knows no bounds and does not belong to any one, single school of thought. Krishnamurti once said that: “Truth was a pathless landscape,” and what he meant by this surely is that no philosophy, ideology or theology has a monopoly on truth. Arguably, all traditions contain profound wisdom, from which we can learn and grow, but not one can be exclusively “right.” The insight journey we undertake to explore and reconcile the lives we lead is unique to each of us. No one can undertake the journey for us. Ultimately, it is a solitary pursuit that demands much of us in terms of patience–making ourselves available to the mystery of existence, the uncertain and the unexpected, the unknown. Waiting quietly, silently, deeply. Not attaching to any expectations, desires or projected outcomes around what might be. Shutting down the machinery of noise and activity, making ourselves open and available like a dry, parched meadow ready to receive fresh, spring rain.

Active contemplation

Awakening into a new vision–an insight that could shape our entire future–can erupt almost anywhere, at anytime. It need not be the exclusive preserve of a solitary monk seeking enlightenment through deep meditation. It can happen to each and every one of us, in varying degrees, in differing locations. Whether we are strolling in the countryside, hoeing the garden, writing a poem, reading a meaningful book, painting a canvas or simply staring into a blazing, winter fire; all can induce feelings of introspection which can offer up profound, collected thoughts and reflections that, in the normal course of our busy lives, go largely undetected. All can map out a deep inner wisdom that is much more relevant and precious to our self development and growth than all the technological advances available to us in our postmodern world.

Contemplation is not an evasion or denial of reality. On the contrary, it’s a direct confrontation with it. It actually helps us to shine a searchlight on the truth – the “what is,” unblemished and untarnished, in full view. And through our exposure to this comes a better vision of who we are and our place in the world. It helps us grow in faithfulness to gain insight on the deepest, truest parts that beat repeatedly at the core of our being and cannot be ignored. But in order to make strong progress here we have to accept that the artificial, false self must die or rather diminish to a level of unimportance so that our new life can enter.

The conditions of contemplation (simplicity, solitude, stillness and silence) do not alienate us from reality, they do not disconnect us from our brothers and sisters and they never exclude us. Quite the opposite, they help liberate us through new visions of bonding. They allow us to escape from the illusion of separateness and, therefore, the poverty of real alienation and loneliness.

Contemplation is a by-product of closing down from the busy activity of our quasi–neurotic world. It helps us to penetrate into the realization of our true identity. It’s a surrendering of yesterday (all that has gone on before) and a surrendering of tomorrow (all that we fear may happen) for the precious moment of a fully aware, fully relaxed, fully present NOW.

“There is a perverse form of contemporary violence ( and that is ) activism and overwork….The rush and pressure of modern life are a form of violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects….. is to succumb to violence. The frenzy of activism neutralizes our work for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our won work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.”– Thomas Merton

[su_panel background=”#f2f2f2″ color=”#000000″ border=”0px none #ffffff” shadow=”0px 0px 0px #ffffff”]by Michael Lewin
image: Oedo (Creative Commons BY-NC-SA)