Contemplation

Connie moved into the Ark in 1996. Her office was on the fourth floor. The trees around The Ark created a quiet, natural space that was perfect for contemplation. And yet, Connie encouraged all to practice contemplation often and wherever you are at!

“Contemplative” describes a way of living, a way of loving, a way of being, a way of seeing. Contemplation is not something we do at a particular time of the day. Contemplation is rather living here and now the day in which we find ourselves. Contemplation has to do with the everyday. It is not a question of withdrawing from the world but rather a way of being in the world. One can retreat from the world and still not attain contemplative presence. One can be headed in the wrong direction even in the desert. One can be hurrying to accomplish something even in a monastery. There can be a rush toward enlightenment. Contemplation doesn’t have so much to do with “doing” as it does with “letting it be done unto me” (Luke 1:38). It means attentiveness to a different sense of time and timing. Read more about this in the article on Contemplation Becoming by Donald Goergen, OP that Connie had in her files on Contemplation.