Everything you have learned about meditation applies to contemplation. The one thing that is different is your focus. Both meditation and contemplation are about stepping out of the world of doing into the realm of being. They both involve coming into the present moment by using a focus for your attention and working at letting go of everything else from your consciousness except that which you have chosen for your focus. In meditation, your focus can be anything: your breath, your thoughts and feelings, anything around you that comes into your consciousness (choiceless awareness), walking, a pretty flower. It doesn’t matter, although it would be wise to take into account God’s advice on what we should allow our minds to dwell on (Philippians 4:8):
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.
In contemplation, there is only one focus - God.
The early Christian contemplatives advised three renunciations that they considered essential for anyone seeking to practise contemplation. However, before we list these, a few things need to be said. First, whenever you turn within with a heart to seek God, you are in His presence. You don’t earn the right to enter His presence. All born again believers are one with God (1 Corinthians 6:17): “But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.” And all born again believers have the same free invitation no matter what their state of sanctification (Hebrews 4:16): “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Everything you experience of God in contemplation is at His initiative. It is all by grace. Many times, all you will experience is waiting, open and alert for God to show Himself. But whether your senses perceive Him or not is irrelevant. You are in His presence, and you are receiving grace to help in your need and the goodness of perfect love focused entirely on you. In fact, you are receiving all the fullness of God, whether or not your senses or your mind know that.
The three renunciations are helps to contemplation in that they are aimed at eliminating from your life things that might hinder your experience of God. They are:
(1) Renunciation of our former way of life: This is an ongoing work for all Christians, as we seek to turn our backs on the three enemies of our soul - the world, the flesh and the devil.
(2) Renunciation of our mindless thoughts: You will now know much about this from your experience with meditation.
(3) Renunciation of our images and thoughts about God.
The third renunciation is often new to Christians. When they want to enter God’s presence, they may tend to ponder what they know about Him, thinking about His character, His incredible love in sacrificing His Son for us, His wonderful works in creation, and so on. All these things are great for a focus for meditation. However, remember that contemplation is about touching into the pure being of God. Everything we know about God is only a small part of who He really is. This is the God who says of Himself (Isaiah 55):
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
To experience God in as much of His fullness as we can sustain as human beings means that we need to let go of what I call our “God box”. If you put together all that you know about God, that is your “God box”. What you know may be 100% the truth about God, but as much as you know, it is still only part of the truth about Him. So when we approach God, we need to give Him the courtesy of letting Him be who He is. Which means we drop our “God box” and all our preconceived notions about Him. We make room for Him to surprise us. We wait with no expectations about who He is or what He will do or what He might say. We are open to anything and everything.
For some, this is a scary proposition. This is especially true for Christians who have not yet found full healing for their emotional wounds and still feel a drive to be in some measure of control in all their life experiences. However, contemplation is voluntarily placing yourself in a position of complete vulnerability and 0% control before God. It is presenting yourself just as you are with no façade and no accomplishments to show - just being you - to a God whom you do not fully know and allowing Him full freedom to be and to do whatever. This is not an easy place for some to enter, let alone rest comfortably in for an extended period of time.
Acknowledging that this is not an easy road to travel, there will be a few more meditations provided which will continue to cultivate your experience of meditation. They will be of 20 minutes’ duration, allowing 10 minutes for you to practise letting go of everything, and turning to God within you in a state of complete openness, in other words, 10 minutes to practise contemplation. Or at least dipping your toe into the waters of contemplation.
exercises
Days 45-48
Do the 30-minute breathing meditation. This will provide you with a familiar kind of meditation plus a guided 10-minute contemplation.