What is Contemplation, Anyway?

A theological definition of contemplation is, “a form of wordless prayer in which mind and heart focus on God’s greatness and goodness in affective, loving adoration; to look on Jesus and the mysteries of his life with faith and love.” ¹

But if we want to go a little deeper, a simple Bible verse gives us an extraordinary blueprint of contemplation that grows richer the longer we think about it. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.” 

This has been one of my favorite Bible verses ever since I can remember. Even as a child there was something so … alluring in being commanded to be still and know. As I got older, I started digging into the meaning of this verse. I learned the Hebrew word for “be still” is rapha. This stillness is more than a cessation of physical activity; it means to cease striving, to let go, to stop struggling, to release. The invitation here is not just to sit motionlessly at a desk or a church pew, but rather to cultivate an internal stillness that comes from a letting go of control, an active surrendering of my will to quietude.

But this is not soul quietness, just for the sake of quiet, like a meditation practice. It is the preparation for what is to come.

The second part of the verse, “know that I am God'' is even more surprising. The word for “know,” yada, means to know by experience, to percieve, and is also the word used for the knowing of another in sexual intimacy. This is not an academic, informational type of knowing; it’s an experiential reaching out to another and feeling a loving touch in return. It’s the fostering of a space for intimacy so that love can blossom, grow, and reverberate between two individuals.

This tiny verse contains an explosive revelation of how the God of the universe would like us to relate to Him. He doesn’t just want us to know a lot of facts about Him or engage in regular rituals to placate him or just appreciate Him when we go on a hike. He wants us to quiet ourselves so we can engage and connect with Him, while opening up the deepest parts of our heart, mind, and soul to His love. This is contemplation. 

Until I discovered this way of interacting with God, my main way of approaching Him was studying or talking about him through Bible/book studies. I also tried to engage in nightly prayers of repentance followed by a grocery list of prayer requests or times of intercession with other folks when we were praying for the really big ticket items of concern. All of these things were good, helpful exercises, but none of them developed anything like intimacy. I thought of God as a fusion between a wise but no-nonsense judge and a powerful CEO. Someone you respected, someone you didn’t want to get on the wrong side of, but not someone you longed to be alone with. 

I once heard a wise teacher say that none of us gets to a contemplative relationship with God without great suffering or great awe. I learn things the hard way so mine came through suffering. But on the other side of that suffering, I am so very grateful it led me to this new way of being with Him. During my years of intense pain and soul searching, I discovered something so much more beautiful than I could have ever imagined--a loving adoration that came first from need, but now from devoted love. Not just from me to him, but shockingly, from Him to me.

On my path of discovery in the contemplative way, God has gently led me to the tools and prayer practices found in the books and teachings of my spiritual grandmothers and grandfathers in the faith. They wrote down their contemplative experiences and discoveries in order to help us, the following generations, connect with God in this intimate type of knowing. To read more about specific contemplative prayer practices, click here.

If this short post doesn’t completely clarify what contemplation is, know that, ultimately, contemplation is hard to define because it is such an experiential reality. It's a relational invitation where you have to take a leap of faith into the deep, wide ocean of loving union with God. In the wise words of Brother Lawrence, a 17th century Carmelite monk, “we must know before we can love. In order to know God, we must often think of Him; and when we come to love Him, we shall then also think of Him often, for our heart will be with our treasure.”² Brother Lawrence, whose main duties were prepping food and cleaning the monastery kitchen, discovered a wonderful mystery. If we make a practice of being still and knowing even in the midst of mundane duties or responsibilities, any moment of our day can become contemplative. We don’t just have to save these experiences for the special spaces in our week. Our contemplative heart can be opened to giving and receiving love throughout every minute of our lives.

I invite you to make time in your day-to-day to be still and know; it’s in this place of knowing that we get to discover the greatest treasure--a loving place of union with God.

¹ Vaticana, Libreria Editrice. Catechism of the Catholic Church. Liguori Pub., 1994. 

² Lawrence. The Practice of the Presence of God: Being Conversations and Letters of Brother Lawrence. H.R. Allenson, 1906.