“We are built for contemplation. . . . Communion with God in the silence of the heart is a God given capacity, like the rhododendron’s capacity to flower, the fledgling’s for flight, and the child’s for self-forgetful abandon and joy.”
I am an introvert. I enjoy silence. I am fed by quiet time alone. Without it, I can be a bit cranky. So, it makes sense that I have found Centering Prayer, Meditation, Contemplative Practice (whatever you want to call it) a significant part of my prayer life. It is in the depths of silence that I have come to best know myself as I really am and to know God in great intimacy. But when I have tried to speak of the joy and richness of my contemplative practice; the extroverts in my life have chided that while that might be OK for me, it is not for them: they cannot sit still; sitting still makes the noise in their heads even worse; it is an introvert practice. And, yet, aren’t we asked to cross the introvert/extrovert boundaries of our lives? In the same way that my introvert self is called to be engaged in corporate worship and caring for my neighbor, aren’t my extrovert friends also called to be engaged in the quiet stillness of contemplative practice? WHAT DO YOU THINK???
Twenty five years ago when I first heard about contemplative spirituality, I was fairly high on the “extrovert” Myers Briggs scale. A book about temperment and spirituality challenged readers that to grow, one should “look” at the opposite temperment. Thus began my rich and rewarding journey into contemplative spirituality. I questioned “all that silence” but it wasn’t long before I began to know God in a wonderful new way. Therefore, I tell this “story” when the topic arises. I know some who have “tried” contemplative spirituality and are so very thankful they have. Others that did so, and “don’t relate to it”, others that never explored it. But I have shared my experience with others….just feel sad that more folks cannot know the fullness of joy that a contemplative journey brings. PS. Over the past 25 years, I have become much quieter and more introverted in many ways….and I am very blessed and content.
I’m looking forward to others’ comments and the exploration of this book.
“Not only has this God we desire already found us, thus causing our desire, but God has never not found us.” p 9
I abide in the land close to both introversion and extroversion on the continuum. Sometimes I am sure of God’s presence within me and all of us; yet at other times I am frantically striving to fix things or right wrongs and doubtful of God’s presence and power. I know that I am undeserving of any good. I feel fragile in body, soul and spirit. It is as if I never heard the gospel.
Reading Laird has confirmed that I am not alone.