Mystical Christian Contemplation

Mark L Lockwood - Contemplative Intelligence

In a world clamouring for our attention, the ancient path of mystical Christian contemplation offers a profound invitation: to step beyond words, thoughts, and even feelings, and encounter God in the depths of our being.

Transcript

00:00Contemplation is not a search, it's the unveiling of presence.

00:26It's the fierce and tender commitment to stand fully within the field of what is allowing

00:36the whole of you, the restless mind, the witnessing heart and the fragile vessel of the body to

00:46be stained by the sheer fact of existence.

00:57To be able to see reality exactly as it is, without having to minimize it, distort it

01:06or judge it in any way.

01:07In this ceaseless dance of life, so many of us walk with a quiet longing, an emptiness

01:17inside, a longing for something more, a sense that beneath the surface of our days, beneath

01:26all these roles that we play and the thoughts we chase, there lies an unspeakable truth.

01:36The truth about who we really are and who God really is.

01:41We chase answers, we seek comfort, but often the deepest knowing escapes us.

01:50This longing, this desire or call, it's no flaw, it's a divine whisper.

02:01It's the soul's innate yearning for its source.

02:05None of us can escape it.

02:09It's built into our DNA and for centuries across all traditions, a path has been walked by those

02:17ones who dared to answer this call, the contemplative call, a path, not of seeking answers, it goes

02:27well beyond that, but of seeking something deeper, seeking presence.

02:32It is the path of mystical contemplation that is going to change the world, that is calling

02:40people back to source right now.

02:47Contemplation isn't about thinking harder, it's not about finding the perfect words or even

02:53having profound feelings.

02:57In fact, it's often the opposite.

03:00It's really about gently letting go of the need for words, for thoughts, for doing.

03:11Imagine now releasing a breath you didn't even realize you were holding.

03:17That release, that surrender is the doorway.

03:22Contemplative practice is a radical act of being as well.

03:35It's a turning inward, not to escape the world, but to truly meet it, transformed.

03:44To go above form, transformed.

03:47To encounter the divine, not as an idea out there somewhere, but as the very ground of

03:54your being, pulsing within you, flowing through you, really.

03:59It is the silent, courageous decision to dive beneath the restless, ceaseless waves of the

04:06mind into the stillness, fathomless ocean of God's presence.

04:12To taste directly the love of the divine.

04:21Love is a word we so overuse, but its power is beyond anything we can think.

04:33Today we are not the first to walk this sacred path.

04:38We stand on the shoulders of giants like St. Teresa, the Villa, St. John of the Cross,

04:47Christ.

04:51People who have mapped the soul's journey as an interior castle revealing chambers of ever-deepening

04:58intimacy with God.

05:03St. John of the Cross dared to describe the dark night of the soul.

05:08Showing us that even in our deepest spiritual desolation, God is purifying us.

05:15There's purpose.

05:17There's a drawing closer.

05:20And it's beautiful.

05:21Wonderful.

05:22Mystical.

05:23The mystics that lived before us, the Meister Eckhart, Julian of Norwich, the Desert Fathers

05:33and Mothers, they were just exceptional individuals, sure.

05:39But they were proof.

05:40Proof that this profound union with the divine, that we can't see but seek, is not an exclusive

05:50club for a few people.

05:52Not at all.

05:56It's an invitation to every single one of us.

06:00Etched into every single human heart.

06:04Doesn't matter what your name is.

06:06What your eye or skin or hair color is.

06:09Doesn't matter what you were born into.

06:13Everyone is included.

06:15Nothing will separate us from God.

06:17Not even the judgment of man.

06:21Ridiculous.

06:22The dualistic mind has separated us for long enough.

06:28It's time for contemplation to set us free.

06:34This universal invitation to connect is everyone's birthright.

06:41All you have to do is choose to answer.

06:43You know, I put before you life and death.

06:46Choose life.

06:47So the roads are there, both of them.

06:49All you have to do is choose one.

06:52And sometimes, unfortunately, we can't see that there's two roads.

06:56But there are two roads.

07:01There's always two roads.

07:08So how do we begin?

07:10Funnily enough, not with grand gestures, but rather with gentle intentions.

07:17You find a quiet moment.

07:19You close your eyes to practice contemplation.

07:22Soften them.

07:23Simply be.

07:24For just a few minutes even.

07:27And when you do that, you start to release every judgment and expectation one by one.

07:35You go above thinking as you let your thoughts drift by like clouds without judgment, without needing to grasp or cling to them.

07:50You simply consent to the presence of God within you.

07:54Not about doing something really.

07:56It's about allowing God to do something in you.

08:01To be still and know that you're being done.

08:05You don't need to do anything.

08:07But if this journey might not be easy, life is difficult.

08:15It asks for a patience for vulnerability for us to face the unknown, to face dragons, and then surrender.

08:25Until we see fear is not real.

08:28Until we see fear is not real, it appears real, but it's not true.

08:41The promise contemplative practice holds when it connects us to the divine is beyond measure.

08:50It brings a peace that transcends understanding, a love so vast it encompasses every broken

08:56piece of you.

08:59It gives you the best gift you could ever have, which is a knowing that you are never, ever

09:07separate from the divine.

09:09Your thoughts might suggest so, someone else's thoughts will probably suggest so, but nothing

09:15will separate you from God, it's impossible.

09:21You have that spark of life within you, the spark that you can turn into a flame and really

09:30change the world with.

09:34So you bring every broken piece of you with this knowing of connectedness really.

09:42And through that, it's the unveiling of truth that the peace you were so desperately looking

09:50for in life was the very peace that was already calling you to connect.

10:00Life is always inviting us to just be, but you've got to get still.

10:06You've got to move from one to zero to just be, and if this resonates with you, look into contemplation, look

10:16into contemplative practice, centering prayer, and seek a space where you can get your sacred

10:25conversations to flourish.

10:31It's amazing how we all find solace, it's amazing how we all find solace and silence.

10:39Who would have thought infinite love in stillness?

10:47Know that where personality ends, soul reigns, where mind ends, hearts open, where rationality

10:56ends, brilliant sanity flowers.

11:02Where thinking stops, contemplation stops, and where ego ends, God begins.

11:12Have a lifetime fica.

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