Before we begin, the title is meant to be catchy. I am not in any way implying that I am a mystic or that banana trees bear any innate mystical qualities (unless, I suppose you could smoke them).*
There is something about laying in a hammock sipping margaritas from a mason jar while a breeze comes through banana leaves. This was yesterday and a fairly common position to find yourself in (for those of us living around here). Laying there enjoying the afternoon got me thinking; thinking about our cultures, travel posters, and faith.
Why do we love pictures of hammocks strung between two trees? Why do we relish the notion that we could be in that hammock? Is it fantasy? Or escapism? Jimmy Buffet once commented in an interview that "everyone wants to live the Jimmy Buffet Life (is that copyrighted?), but even Jimmy Buffet doesn't live the Jimmy Buffet Life." Well, I'm going to posit to you that it is something else. My assertion is that it is the beginning of the contemplative life.
"Whoa!" you say, "back the heresy truck up a little!"
We have all been duped. We have been taught throughout our lives the philosophy of the "Protestant Work Ethic". If you are not producing you are wrong. Everything you do must be in reference to some tangible yet-to-be-realized goal in the near future. To not do this is to commit the grievous sin of sloth. The worst thing a person can possibly be is "lazy". Here's the problem: sloth isn't just laziness. Sloth is the Latin Acedia and it is a spiritual laziness that "goes so far as to refuse the joy that comes from God" (CCC 2094). In fact, what may be misunderstood as the virtuous life of hard work, perseverance, etc. may actually be sloth. How can we claim to know God, to have a relationship with His Son if we never take time to acknowledge Him except for an hour on Sunday (if that)? How many marriages fail because "he's never home" or "all he worries about is his job"? What kid grows up and says to his parents, "I really appreciate you going to the beach with me and attending my games and having family dinners, but I sure wish you had spent more time at work because my life is incomplete seeing that you never bought be that video game." Same thing with God.
Soren Kierkegaard said "If I could prescribe only one medicine for all the world's ills it would be silence". That is why we look longingly at the picture of a deserted beach or a mountain top, deep down it represents what we know is the antidote to the disease of mammon that we have contracted by way of our spiritual adultery. This is the very same reason we immediately justify our behavior with "sure that's nice, but who has time for that" or "nobody really lives like that". We are scared. We are frightened of what (or Who) we might find in the silence. The world is full of distractions and we eat it up, anything to keep out mind occupied on things of false importance and off of God. It's hard to listen if we're always talking. What we should be doing is running to the silence.
What in the world does this have to do with some idiot drinking margaritas in a hammock? It's a beginning. It's a start. St. Bonaventure begins his The Mind's Road to God with the idea that God can be seen through His creation. The beginning of the contemplative life is knowing God even in His lowliest works. God tells Job to ponder His work of creation. Christ asks us to contemplate the lilies and the sparrows. St. Francis calls to sing the Canticle of the Sun. It's also about how the world has convinced us to turn everything upside down; to trade the Truth for a lie.
So go. Be silent. You might like it.**
*This is a joke. I am not condoning smoking banana leaves to achieve mystical states (besides, everybody knows you smoke the peels, not the leaves).
I only kept reading because of the smell of smoking bananas. I like your challenge. I find it very hard to be silent and listen to God. When I go to Adoration I really struggle to just listen. So, I guess I need that list of books brother.
ReplyDeleteYBIC,
Paul Brown
I have a friend who's a priest of the Community of St. John (the religious order founded by Dominican philosopher and theologian, Fr. Marie-Dominique Philippe). I saw him this past Tuesday, and somehow we got on the topic of hermits, and he said that, according to St. Bernard (of Clairvaux, who had a profound effect on the founding and development of the Order of Cîteaux, a.k.a, the Cistercians, in 1112 A.D.), a monk usually can become a hermit only after having lived exceedingly well the religious life for at least 20 to 25 years. Wow! My friend went on to say that such a person has to have learned "silent prayer" to such an extent that he can remain in such a state for 8 hours at a time. Clearly, this is not something done easily, according to the spiritual masters of history. It's one thing simply to be a recluse and live alone, my friend pointed out. That doesn't make you a hermit. It's quite another thing to be in a state of silent prayer--and in a disciplined way, according to a very detailed daily schedule (for otherwise idleness makes the hermit vulnerable to temptations from the devil)--constantly, as a way of life. My friend told me that, in his religious community, many of the monks ask permission every 10 years or so if they can become hermits, but they are almost always told 'no'. And then are grateful, realizing that they weren't ready. But I digress.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, I was going to ask my friend if what he means by "silent prayer" is contemplation. I have a feeling that it is.
My understanding is that contemplation is a fruit of meditation. And perseverance. It's quite impossible to force oneself to be silent, I think. That's kind of like forcing yourself not to think of elephants (and now that I've said it, it's hard not to do it, right?). But if one is actively engaging the mind and will by focusing on God, through meditation, gradually one's prayer becomes more and more simple; God takes over more and more of the actual work of prayer, and one does less and less; and eventually less and less "words" are needed in prayer, to the point where one is praying in silence. Perhaps this is why Pope John Paul II said that the Rosary is a "school of contemplation," since it can eventually lead us to silent prayer, through perseveringly praying and meditating on the mysteries.
Anyway, great post, Jason. Thank you.
I'm glad you said that (John). Perhaps I'll do a series of posts on what exactly the Church teaches in reference to wht contemplation is and what it is not. You're right, contemplation is not just being quiet any more that just being alone makes you hermit or being poor means you have embraced a call to poverty.
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