The All Things Contemplative Blog©

Stephen Hatch, M.A. is a contemplative teacher, thinker, photographer and writer.  For the past thirty years, he has have lived as a "Worldly Monk," combining family life with meditation, silence, solitary time spent hiking and camping in the wilds, a simple lifestyle, and mindfulness. He has a B.A. from Colorado State University in Philosophy and Religion, and an M.A. from Iliff School of Theology. In the 1980s, he trained with Thomas Keating and then worked for several years with Contemplative Outreach, the organization Keating established to teach centering prayer. Formerly he was on the faculty of Naropa University, Boulder, CO where he taught contemplative Christianity.

"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face...” - 1st Corinthians 13

We’ve enlightening episodes coming: Wilderness Mysticism, Retreat to 8,000 Feet, Living in the Non-Dual Here and Now, Bluegrass Zen, and Miksang Photography.

Today marks the second year of Fr. Thomas Keating’s passing. As a contemplative he greatly influenced many and was greatly influenced by Zen and he loved haiku. Here’s one of his favorites.

Contemplative Outreach, an organization I've been extensively involved in over the past few decades asked that I submit a piece for their e-news on what I've been up to lately. I submitted this.

“My mind was racing with a thousand thoughts. I was not sure how I would deal with the long, dark hours to come but I soon noticed that each hand pull stirred up the bioluminescence in the water and broke up the darkness below. After I mentally adjusted to the dark space below me, I turned my focus to the night sky and the universe on display in the stars. I had rarely seen a night sky so bright and so full of stars…I got lost in the stars for several hours and the time passed as if I was time traveling…I realized that the whole ocean below me had lit up with its own show of bioluminescence…below me as deep as I could see, there were star-like dots of light, mimicking the night sky. I felt like I was floating in space, suspended between the sky and the sea. It was humbling and at the same time, felt primal on a level that is hard to articulate…it was the ultimate experience…time melted away in the largeness of it all.” (Jim Clifford, Catalina Channel night swim)

Jim Clifford, attorney, farmer, and senior citizen shares how he trains his body and mind;  the psychology of open water swimming including "the zone"; how he manages his mind during the many continuous hours involved; his experience of two contemplative values silence and solitude when swimming alone for hours at a time; and transcendence in nature.

References from the Show

https://openwaterswimming.com/2015/11/jim-clifford-thrice-as-nice/

Jane Goodall https://awaken.com/2020/05/mystical-experience-of-jane-goodall-ph-d/ 

Simplicity is often cited as a contemplative value. As the Shakers sang, "tis a gift to be simple, tis a gift to be free”.

In making things simpler, our days, weeks, or lives overall we can for some period of time withdraw, psychologically, socially, and/or physically in order to experience self and other more openly without the usual demands of daily life. 

In so doing a simpler mode of being brackets the usual demands on our time and energy while allowing us to experience the unseen, unheard, and even unimagined. In other words, it aids in awakening to the potential richness of lived experience. 

Retreats are one such traditional and common way to this end as are time spent in nature and meditation. Less well known is focusing on a single sense like seeing or hearing. For example, with the sense of seeing as described at The Miksang Institute for Contemplative Photography ("True Perception True Expression") or with sounds from the BBC's Slow Radio ("An antidote to today’s frenzied world. Step back, let go, immerse yourself: it’s time to go slow.") 

© Photo Elpopophoto LLC