SadhanaOriental Meditation and Christian Prayer
Contemplation in action
ーLandscape in my heartー
[7] Getting rid of unnecessary thoughts
We try various methods to attain harmony with God.
We may
- Close our eyes, straighten ourselves, and devote ourselves to prayer
- Sharpen our sensitivity and become aware of the mystery of life
and
- Show warmth and goodwill to our neighbors and serve them
- Believe our intellect and power of reflection and expand our thoughts.
By doing so, we focus on directing ourselves to God and try to meet Him. But at the same time, many obstacles appear in our mind.
One of the serious obstacles is that we think and contemplate.
Thinking and contemplating is an important process for us to advance spiritually. But at the same time, it has a pitfall that we may continue thinking and contemplating more than necessary.
In our path to meet God, great opportunities lie in relating with others and serve others apart from thinking and contemplating. God is full of wisdom, but at the same time, He continues His creative activities all over the world and helps us improve our life. God, full of life, relates with us actively, which could be described as his “work” or “act.”
If we aim to relate with others in a friendly manner and try to improve the relationship like God does, we can often meet God and live in harmony with Him.
To act like God is to relate with others affectionately and serve others by fully opening up our heart. If we try to show our love in a limited manner or relate to others using only a part of us, we are not likely to live in harmony with God. Even if the spirit encourages us to relate with and serve others, we cannot be successful if we do not fully commit ourselves because of thinking or contemplating. Jesus cherished how children handle things because they are committed to what is in front of them without being distracted.
Therefore, when we try to attain “contemplation in action,” we need to focus on opening up our heart to others and serve them exhaustively.
Spiritually awakened people always try to seize the opportunity to become in harmony with God and maximize the opportunity. When we try to do so, we want to eliminate any obstacle that prevents us from living in harmony with God.
In our path of “contemplation in action,” we gradually eliminate unnecessary thoughts. We become able to break out of unnecessary thoughts in every scene of our daily life and direct ourselves fully to God.