SadhanaOriental Meditation and Christian Prayer
Contemplation in action
－Landscape in my heartー
[1] Easing tension in life
When contemplative thoughts grow in our heart and we live in such a state of mind, we can live and work while recognizing God’s careful attention. We can feel that the portion we have to support decreases with God’s help. As we develop such recognition, we start to see that we rarely have to overstrain ourselves or get tense in doing something.
When we contemplate in our daily life, we keep in mind that God is the main player of an activity and we prepare for or supplement that. When we are responsible for preparation and supplementation, we rarely feel strained or tense. We know that God supports the critical, core part of the matter. In other words, our role in our collaboration with God is supportive and submissive.
When we come to realize that we can rely on God and other people for many things, we can often stay relaxed. Even when working on a big issue, or acting in front of many people, we can feel the same way.
Such a mature way of handling things eliminates unnecessary tension.We do not have to have too much hope for success and results from work. We can set our goal adequately within a scope of our capacities or at a level that we can achieve. The mentality of agitating ourselves by saying “try hard,” “be strong,” “hurry up,” “be perfect,” and “please others” terribly deviates us from collaboration with God. A mentality based on our true self and the attitude of responding to reality without losing composure is a basic premise for contemplation in action.
It is a great advantage to become a skillful worker. We no longer have to be nervous about working but can continue working calmly and smoothly.
Thus, we handle many situations without mental and physical tension. We see the development of a situation in front of us and relate to it slowly in a relaxed manner. We calmly observe how things are going, carefully determine how we should relate to it, and act based on it. We push or pull back as needed, and wait when we should stop and see.
This takes some efforts to stay relaxed while we do not have to be strained. We slowly continue efforts such as: “keeping paying attention to those who we relate with,” “saying words that encourage people,” “shedding light on bright sides of things,” and “providing assistance from behind.” These are necessary qualifications as a supporter of God’s work.
When we are relaxed and emotionally stable, we can find many joyous factors in matters surrounding us, and we can work enjoyably.
This way of working may not be satisfactory for people who only seek for results and success from work. In that case, we may need to be patient about the temporary sense of dissatisfaction. Even if we are not satisfied with several matters in front of us, we will certainly find ourselves in an excellent development of things after working with God calmly for a while.
As we seek contemplation in action, we will eventuallygain such a landscape in our heart. In other words, we will be able to work and live in a relaxed, peaceful, and joyous manner in our daily life.