CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE FOR THE COMING WEEK
The Contemplative Stance…
A few years ago a dear friend introduced to a group of us a beautiful prayer of four separate, yet completely connected words, with connections to Julian of Norwich. I am not quite sure what those connections to Julian are, but I have just briefly looked online and there is quite a bit about it. That aside, it is only in recent months however, that something of the depth of its meaning has come into the light for me personally. The words are:
AWAIT(ING) - ALLOW(ING) - ACCEPT(ING) - ATTEND(ING).
What powerfully awakened in me was that this speaks to our unfolding Cosmic Story and therefore at the same time, in a micro sense, is profoundly our story also; it is the natural rhythm of birthing Life:
AWAITING the Breath of the Spirit to breathe Life into the beginnings of the cosmos – that first Big Bang. Love is patiently AWAITING her birthing and all subsequent birthing’s.
ALLOWING that Breath of the Spirit to bring forth Life within its very Being in all its forms and all its beauty and diversity. Love is always ALLOWING that next step of the journey in its continuous unfolding, whatever it might be.
ACCEPTING that Breath of the Spirit to grow, to fruit and to die and to rise again, with that Life/Death/Life cycle that is continuously birthing Love and Life throughout the whole Cosmos and within us.
ATTENDING to the Breath of the Spirit NOW CONSCIOUSLY present in the human person to ATTEND to all that has been given to us, to now continue to CONSCIOUSLY Await further birthing, to Allow our unfolding, to Accept the Life/Death/Life cycle, and Attend to all that has gone before us with the Consciousness we are NOW, where we can look upon our story and be in AWE of the Mystery we are consciously immersed in and invited to now ATTEND to. We lovingly, compassionately and justly ATTEND to the Wholeness we now know we are. We are only here because of ALL that has gone before us and because of Love’s Energy continuously erupting.
Our history and understanding of it with the enormous contributions of the sciences, right back through over 13 billion years is the invitation to Await, Allow, Accept and Attend in the ordinariness of our everyday lives. THIS is the contemplative stance of the whole Cosmos, and therefore, in our Consciousness of this, is also our stance. By our very nature then, we are all Contemplatives, but it seems many of us have forgotten or are not aware of it, or even resist it. For the first time in our history, because we have become conscious of ourselves as a Whole, we can now resist or refuse to Await, we can resist or refuse to Allow, we can resist or refuse to Accept, and then we can resist or refuse to Attend to the CONTEMPLATIVES WE HAVE COME TO KNOW WE ARE, that will keep the Birthing process ALIVE.
In the week ahead allow these powerful words to become a mantra as you go about your daily business. Even find a musical tune where you can sing them to yourself repeatedly. Look at the nature around you and see where the awaiting, allowing, accepting and attending are a natural part of who we all are.
Who do we think we are to stand against this Awaiting, Allowing, Accepting and Attending?
© Annemarie Reiner