God is the wisdom of every lifetime, a deep plunge into a clear pool, the sinew and muscle of ethical responsibility, a community of goodness, but always more. Descriptions reach out as far as they can toward the God of the universe, and then, like a rubber band stretched too far, they snap back and we are left with the silence of mystery and awe.
—Barbara Holmes, Liberation and the Cosmos
Father Richard considers how contemplative practice deepens our capacity to experience awe and wonder:
Moments of awe and wonder are the only solid foundation for the entire religious instinct and journey. Look, for example, at the Exodus narrative: It all begins with a murderer (Moses) on the run from the law, encountering a paradoxical bush that “burns without being consumed.” Struck by awe, Moses takes off his shoes and the very earth beneath his feet becomes “holy ground” (see Exodus 3:2–6) because he has met “Being Itself” (Exodus 3:14). This narrative reveals the classic pattern, repeated in different forms in the varied lives and vocabulary of all the world’s mystics.
We’re usually blocked against being awestruck, just as we are blocked against great love and great suffering. Early-stage contemplation is largely about identifying and releasing ourselves from these blockages by recognizing the unconscious reservoir of expectations, assumptions, and beliefs in which we are already immersed. If we don’t see what’s in our reservoir, we will process all new encounters and experiences in the same old-patterned way—and nothing new will ever happen. A new idea held by the old self is never really a new idea, whereas even an old idea held by a new self will soon become fresh and refreshing. Contemplation fills our reservoir with clear, clean water that allows us to encounter experience free of our old patterns.
Here’s the mistake we all make in our encounters with reality—both good and bad. We don’t realize that it wasn’t the person or event right in front of us that made us angry or fearful—or excited and energized. At best, that is only partly true. If we allowed a beautiful hot air balloon in the sky to make us happy, it was because we were already predisposed to happiness. The hot air balloon just occasioned it. How we see will largely determine what we see and whether it gives us joy or makes us pull back with an emotionally stingy and resistant response. Without denying an objective outer reality, what we are able to see and are predisposed to see in the outer world is a mirror reflection of our own inner world and state of consciousness at that time. Most of the time, we just do not see at all but rather operate on cruise control.
It seems that we humans are two-way mirrors, reflecting both inner and outer worlds. We project ourselves onto outer things and these very things also reflect back to us our own unfolding identity. Mirroring is the way that contemplatives see, subject to subject rather than subject to object.
Reference:
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Just This (CAC Publishing, 2017), 9–10, 12–13.
Image Credit and inspiration: Mieke Campbell, untitled (detail), 2021, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. The child’s wide-eyed wonder mirrors a heart open to awe: seeing the sacred glimmer even in the most ordinary of moments.
Story from Our Community:
In Ireland, I am always astounded and humbled by the natural beauty that has been intentionally preserved. The cliff walks, forest wanderings, majestic trees, and flowing streams evoke the feeling of visiting an ancient cathedral still standing after a thousand years. I’ve never felt so much awe or so closely aligned with the stunning gift of God’s creation as when I am in the midst of it without distraction. We’ve forgotten our innate and inherent connection to our earth home, its creatures, and one another. Spending time in nature softens everything and brings us closer to God.
—Catherine R.
