Contemplative Prayer

Contemplative Prayer: What is it?

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So you’ve stumbled upon this website and might be asking yourself, “What is contemplative payer?” Well its quite simple… and to some extent its power lies within its simplicity. The best definition I have found is in a book called, “The Cloud of Unknowing” written by an anonymous author who scholars agree is most likely a monk. (interesting ey)? The anonymous man writes…

Without a doubt it is in the stamping out all remembrance of God’s creation, and in keeping them covered by that cloud of forgetting… [For] if ever you are to come to this…cloud of unknowing [in which God exists]… you must also put a cloud of forgetting beneath you and all creation.

Basically the idea stems from the assumption that while traveling through this journey we call life, we develop an “ego” or “false self”. This false self has been molded by many things. (ie: what we experience, how others see us, and how we view ourselves). We also do this with God. From a very early age we are shown images of what God may look like.  Most people probably conjure up a blonde hair blue eye’d Jesus in a dazzeling white robe.  This God seems like more of a baywatch lifeguard in a Ku Klux Klan outfit than an actual savior to me. We are also told how God acts.  Take the example, ”God doesn’t like when you curse little Jimmy”, or my personal favorite regarding God’s good friend St. Nick, “If you’re bad you’ll get a coal in your stocking”.  These “learned” ideas of who we are and who God is become both a crutch and a wall to actual spiritual growth.  A crutch because culturally acceptable ideals are comfortable to lean against, and a wall because they hinder us transcending to actually asking God who He is.

When we create gross misrepresentations of ourselves  and God, poorly designed statues if you will, and then smash them together in an attempt of “prayer”… well it’s no wonder so many individuals find themselves dissatisfied with prayer and spirituality in general.  I suggest there must be a better way to go about things

Thus comes contemplative prayer… Contemplative prayer is a letting go of who we think we are and a throwing away of who we suppose God to be.  A simple resting in silence and allowing Him to “speak”. When we let go of attachments (yes very Buddhist), God is capable of “re-working” us. When we place all that we suppose “beneath the cloud of forgetting” and allow our hearts to “beat against the cloud of unknowing (which is God)” we no longer serve as a hinderance to His grace. So what is contemplative prayer you ask… quite simply it’s sitting, sitting and letting go, sitting and letting go with the intention of allowing the Divine to be Divine.

For the next couple of posts I’m going to discuss some of the history and biblical basis for contemplative prayer.  I then plan to put on stage some modern prevalant figures who partake in the contemplative prayer movement. I’ll also share with you all my first real experience with contemplative prayer and then begin to explain some specific techniques behind how to pray contemplatively.

See ya,

Chase Brumfield

P.S. Leave some comments let me know what you think so far!