Christian monastic tradition stresses the importance of what it calls “natural contemplation,” or what other traditions might call nature meditation. This Christian tradition claims that one needs to learn to encounter God in all of creation, living or otherwise, if one truly is to grow spiritually.
For those of us living in today’s society outside of monastery walls why might natural contemplation prove crucial to growing spiritually? For one thing I believe that creation itself serves as our monastery.
A School of Life
All too often we may think of monasteries as places where men or women go to escape from the challenges of everyday life. Monasteries would seem to offer a simple life where we can leave behind hassles, distractions, and troublemakers. The reality lies far from this simple view. Instead, living in close quarters with people with whom you work, eat, and pray for years on end offers countless opportunities for people’s shortcomings to rub up against each other, creating heat that easily grows into flames. These intentional communities provide a context where their members, guided by mentors schooled in the wisdom of centuries, must learn patience, open-mindedness, and humility among other things. They also offer guidance in prayer practices that help open their practitioners to the presence of God in all things, places and times.
Natural contemplation offers us similar opportunities, particularly if practiced with others. I remember dealing with the worst mosquito season in memory as I backpacked with an Opening the Book of Nature group in the Range of Light behind Yosemite. Swarms of mosquitoes attempting to bite every square inch of exposed skin provided wonderful opportunities for developing patience and learning to live graciously under difficult circumstances. Every time I face annoying gnats on my daily walk or irritating people at the office I remember the lessons I learned from the mosquitoes in Yosemite. Creation makes a wonderful novice master for those who would learn.
Learning to See and Hear
Contemplating nature also helps us develop what the monks call the “spiritual senses,” the ability to perceive a deeper reality or presence beyond what our usual senses present us. Jesus often said, “You who have eyes to see, see. And you who have eyes to hear, hear.” He called people to delve below the surface of things that they might encounter God there.
It’s far easier to do this in natural settings where the distractions of our everyday life are few. Many people say they don’t go to church on Sunday because they go out into nature and encounter God there. The woods are their cathedral. The Romantic poets like Wordsworth, for instance, point to this experience.
So, by contemplating nature we both learn to become more God-like and to experience God’s presence in all things, whether human or nonhuman. Like study abroad where one comes to appreciate one’s own country by experiencing life elsewhere, we find that, by yielding ourselves to the discipline of the monastery of creation, we grow spiritually in our everyday work and home life.
Should you wish to learn more about our programs in natural contemplation, click on the links below. In a future entry I’ll describe the book we’re working on to help guide people in this spiritual practice. So, watch for it in the next two or three months.