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Re-encountering Lectio Divina
After two years of stepping back from my involvement in Fr. Thomas Keating's Contemplative Outreach organization (and Christian community per se), i find myself once again opening 'the book' with the practice of Lectio Divina. Initially, I found nothing but today, I have had a different experience. An extremely familiar Bible passage yielded a new level of meaning/teaching/encouragement/integration. So I've answered my question: "Can old things have new meaning?". And I'm reminded of Ken Wilber's statement that there is an amber Jesus, an orange Jesus, a green Jesus, a teal Jesus and so on. In the parable about the lost sheep, I encountered receptivity (the listeners) and resistance (complainers - 'let's stick with the level we're at'), an inquiring searching energy (the shepherd - 'something's missing here', awareness, eros too), a general state of being (the sheep), and the friends and neighbours, other aspects of being/relationship (external quadrants/perspectives?). I saw all these as one, aspects of one. I saw search, effort, risk-taking - reaching to the next level?, encountering and integrating what was lost or previously not present - shadow perhaps. I saw integrating energy spill out into the external domains as well.
Although Lectio has 4 'moments' as Fr. Keating calls them, they don't follow in any rigid progression. In fact, I'm experiencing what I've heard monastic folk describe as an all-day, ongoing involvement with the practice. But when I think about moving from meditatio as above, to oratio (a second person practice of prayer), what comes for me is gratitude, the practice so recommended by Br. David Steindl-Rast. And contemplatio, the fourth moment, isn't lending itself to words, unfolding in the space between, I guess.
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Aspects of one
Posted November 28th, 2008 by Linda HollierI too am experiencing a time of “re-encountering” in my life and so I felt an affinity with what you shared.