I have offered a few reflections from Sister Joan Chittister because I really like the way she thinks and theologizes. I have had the good fortune to be at the Benedictine monastery in Erie, PA where Joan calls home. I was invited one time to share a lecture with the nuns and guests. That was a special experience for me and was even more significant when I chose to spend the night and be with the sisters the following morning. I like being in this kind of environment that feels rich with commitment, dedication and meaning. Everyone there is on an intentional journey to know and serve God.
Chittister has been a prophet for the faith for decades now. I would like to think she has been given eyes to see things the rest of us would miss. Probably this is because her own spiritual sensitivities have been sharpened from her own spiritual journey and her life with the other sisters. It is hard to underestimate the power of community. I am sure she has been shaped and formed by years in her community. And this has fashioned her prophetic eyes and we are the recipients from what she has seen.
Rather than pursue directly her prophetic vision for our time, I was intrigued by what she had to say about contemplation and being contemplative. Allow me to share a few of her thoughts and to develop them for our own purposes. The first thing that attracted me to what she was saying was actually a surprise. Chittister says, “Contemplation, you see, is a change in consciousness. I teach a class on contemplative spirituality, so I have read and thought about this stuff quite a bit. But I never thought about contemplation in terms of consciousness.
Consciousness is a complex idea. It is funny that most of the time we are conscious, but we don’t have a clue how to define it or, perhaps, understand it. Dictionaries will give us the profound definition that consciousness is the state of being awake! Of course, that is true, but it is not very helpful. I have only been unconscious a couple times when I had some surgeries. When you do surgery, there is really no sense of going out of consciousness. I remember them telling me they were going to do it, but then no memory until the recovery room. I had no sense of “going” unconscious.
This brings me back to the Chittister quotation. Contemplation is a change of consciousness. In effect, she is saying that contemplation is a different form of consciousness. To be a contemplative is to be conscious, but in a different way that the non-contemplative. That makes sense. And it invites us to see how Chittister develops this idea.
She develops it by claiming contemplation “brings us to see the big picture.” That makes sense. To be contemplative does open one’s eyes. It is as if we are given new visual capacity. We are able to see things that earlier we would have missed. To be contemplative is to be removed from routine and habit, both of which can deaden and flatten our normal seeing. Contemplative as a change in consciousness makes us more alert and capable of noticing things that otherwise would have simply passed us by. Instead of the little picture of our routine, we are able to see the big picture. The big picture is the change in consciousness. And if we can see the big picture, we are given new ways to respond and to act.
I like how Chittister takes these thoughts even further into a spiritual direction. She says contemplation as changed consciousness “brings us to see beyond our own boundaries, beyond our own denominations, beyond even our own doctrines and dogmas and institutional self-interest, straight into the face of a mothering God from whose womb has come all the life that is.” There is good stuff here. It is almost to say that contemplation gives us foresight.
Foresight is the ability to see beyond our boundaries. This means we can see beyond our normal limits and, perhaps, prejudices. Contemplation means we do pre-judge. We are open and expectant. And then she becomes practical. Contemplation allows us to see beyond our own denominations. This is great. If we are contemplative, we are not limited to being and seeing just Quakers or Catholics or, even, Christians. We are more likely just to see people---to see people shining like diamonds, as Thomas Merton put it in his mystic experience at Fourth and Walnut in Louisville.
To be contemplative moves us beyond institutional self-interest. In fact, contemplatives are moved beyond self-interest in the normal sense of that term. Remember, contemplatives see the big picture. We see ourselves insider that big picture. If we are really moved to a change of consciousness, we can see into the face of that mothering God. I very much like this image of God.
God is a mother from whose womb all of life that is comes forth. That includes me and you. Theologically, I want to believe this. Spiritually, I want to experience it. Contemplatively, I want to live it.
Chittister has been a prophet for the faith for decades now. I would like to think she has been given eyes to see things the rest of us would miss. Probably this is because her own spiritual sensitivities have been sharpened from her own spiritual journey and her life with the other sisters. It is hard to underestimate the power of community. I am sure she has been shaped and formed by years in her community. And this has fashioned her prophetic eyes and we are the recipients from what she has seen.
Rather than pursue directly her prophetic vision for our time, I was intrigued by what she had to say about contemplation and being contemplative. Allow me to share a few of her thoughts and to develop them for our own purposes. The first thing that attracted me to what she was saying was actually a surprise. Chittister says, “Contemplation, you see, is a change in consciousness. I teach a class on contemplative spirituality, so I have read and thought about this stuff quite a bit. But I never thought about contemplation in terms of consciousness.
Consciousness is a complex idea. It is funny that most of the time we are conscious, but we don’t have a clue how to define it or, perhaps, understand it. Dictionaries will give us the profound definition that consciousness is the state of being awake! Of course, that is true, but it is not very helpful. I have only been unconscious a couple times when I had some surgeries. When you do surgery, there is really no sense of going out of consciousness. I remember them telling me they were going to do it, but then no memory until the recovery room. I had no sense of “going” unconscious.
This brings me back to the Chittister quotation. Contemplation is a change of consciousness. In effect, she is saying that contemplation is a different form of consciousness. To be a contemplative is to be conscious, but in a different way that the non-contemplative. That makes sense. And it invites us to see how Chittister develops this idea.
She develops it by claiming contemplation “brings us to see the big picture.” That makes sense. To be contemplative does open one’s eyes. It is as if we are given new visual capacity. We are able to see things that earlier we would have missed. To be contemplative is to be removed from routine and habit, both of which can deaden and flatten our normal seeing. Contemplative as a change in consciousness makes us more alert and capable of noticing things that otherwise would have simply passed us by. Instead of the little picture of our routine, we are able to see the big picture. The big picture is the change in consciousness. And if we can see the big picture, we are given new ways to respond and to act.
I like how Chittister takes these thoughts even further into a spiritual direction. She says contemplation as changed consciousness “brings us to see beyond our own boundaries, beyond our own denominations, beyond even our own doctrines and dogmas and institutional self-interest, straight into the face of a mothering God from whose womb has come all the life that is.” There is good stuff here. It is almost to say that contemplation gives us foresight.
Foresight is the ability to see beyond our boundaries. This means we can see beyond our normal limits and, perhaps, prejudices. Contemplation means we do pre-judge. We are open and expectant. And then she becomes practical. Contemplation allows us to see beyond our own denominations. This is great. If we are contemplative, we are not limited to being and seeing just Quakers or Catholics or, even, Christians. We are more likely just to see people---to see people shining like diamonds, as Thomas Merton put it in his mystic experience at Fourth and Walnut in Louisville.
To be contemplative moves us beyond institutional self-interest. In fact, contemplatives are moved beyond self-interest in the normal sense of that term. Remember, contemplatives see the big picture. We see ourselves insider that big picture. If we are really moved to a change of consciousness, we can see into the face of that mothering God. I very much like this image of God.
God is a mother from whose womb all of life that is comes forth. That includes me and you. Theologically, I want to believe this. Spiritually, I want to experience it. Contemplatively, I want to live it.
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