Contemplative consciousness vital for our future

With floods again devastating parts of Queensland and New South Wales in Australia, we are seeing yet more evidence of climate change. Apart from war, climate change is the greatest threat to the future of the planet, to which the latest report from the IPCC*, released this week, attests. Long-time Christian meditator Roger Layet* says that if the planet is to have a sustainable future, then human beings must develop a contemplative way of seeing which understands that we are part of nature, not apart from it. Meditation, he says, can help us overcome the illusion of separation from nature and one another, and help us realise our essential oneness.

‘A dark time for the world’ – Laurence Freeman

Laurence Freeman, a Benedictine monk and Director of the World Community for Christian Meditation, made the following statement of solidarity with the people of Ukraine on February 24th, and called on meditators worldwide to join him for an online meditation event on March 26th as an expression of their love and support, and for ‘decency and justice in the world order’.

Down from the clouds - letting go of death and ‘rapture’

From the age of five, author Paul Mitchell had a morbid fear of death until, when he was 20, a theology of rapture (that at the end of time the ‘saved’ will fly up into the clouds and meet Jesus ‘in the middle of the air’) and conversion to Christianity allayed his fears. Now, over 30 years later, he finds solace in poetry and contemplative prayer, and through them explores mortality, how to live authentically and in a way that is life-giving.

The spirituality of dying – a personal experience

In November 2018, I had the privilege of being with my mother as she approached her last breath. In the week before her death and for a few days afterwards, I experienced one of the most intense spiritual times I have ever known. I felt like I was learning so much about the deeper dimension of life and this critical moment in life, which is physical death, as I watched and interacted with my mother.

Learning to live wisely and well for the sake of the Earth and the common good

The climate emergency, at its heart, is a spiritual emergency. Unless we learn to fall in love with the wonder and beauty of the Earth, and no longer see it simply as a resource to be exploited, then the outlook seems bleak. As the world’s Indigenous peoples and wisdom traditions have also known for millennia, recognising the deep interconnectedness and mutual dependence of all life is also critical to our future. UK author and long-time meditator Jim Green has developed a new online course, ‘Contemplating Earth’,* which argues that it is in opening to the contemplative consciousness that unites each of us with one another and with the Earth itself that we will learn, in the depths of our shared being, how to act wisely and to live well for the good of all. The following is the introduction to the course.

Climate emergency demands a ‘courageous love’

The COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (31 October – 12 November) is widely regarded as humanity’s last chance to prevent catastrophic global warming. Australia has been described as the ‘canary in the coal mine’. In 2020, devastating bushfires swept through many parts of the country, including along the Eastern seaboard of New South Wales and Victoria, where Anglican priest Linda Chapman* lives. Here she reflects on her experience of the mega-fire that was powerfully symbolised by the image of an iron cross burnt into the ground, the only remains of a wooden church in Cadgee in New South Wales (see picture). The earth is undergoing a crucifixion, she says, and humanity needs to undergo a transfiguration through a contemplative consciousness that leads to a courageous love for the common good.

Meditation – discovering a flame of love at the ground of our being

In meditation we discover that we are loved, and that this love is the source and ground of our being, writes long-time meditator, educator and author *Dr Noel Keating. This is Part II of his article expounding the teaching of Benedictine monk John Main, by reflecting on the prayer he wrote for meditators to pray before meditating: ‘Heavenly Father, Open our hearts to the silent Presence of the Spirit of your Son. Lead us into that mysterious Silence where Your Love is revealed to all who call.’ It was John Main’s life and teaching which inspired the formation of the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM) in 1991. See Part I of Dr Keating’s article here: https://www.thelivingwater.com.au/blog/meditation-like-sunlight-unfolding-a-flower

Meditation – like sunlight unfolding a flower

Meditation opens the human heart as naturally as sunlight gives rise to the unfolding of a flower. So believed Benedictine monk John Main, whose life and teaching inspired the formation of the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM) in 1991. Long-time meditator, educator and author Dr Noel Keating* here expounds John Main’s teaching through reflecting on the prayer he wrote for meditators to pray before meditating.

The Home Monastery

I’m writing from the midst of another lockdown in Melbourne Australia, in response to COVID19. What we’re going through has been compared to prisoners and asylum-seekers’ experiences, and often we and those in Sydney and New South Wales have been encouraged to empathise with their plight. Our time shut away, especially for those of us who live with others, has also been compared to life as a monk or nun.

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