Apophatic Spirituality:
The dazzling dark of welcoming silence lies hidden, in the intensity of divine darkness, all brilliance outshining, our intellects blinded, overwhelming with the intangible and invisible. This now is my prayer.
— Pseudo-Dionysius
For more on this paradoxical subject, see this Wikipedia article: negative theology. |
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Contemplation: see meditation and contemplation entry...
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Contemplative: (Noun) A contemplative is a person given to contemplation. But more specifically, a contemplative is someone who, by nature or by cultivation, approaches matters of religion and spirituality primarily in terms of direct experience, presence, mysticism and so forth. To a contemplative, matters of doctrine and ritual are usually secondary to matters of awareness and personal interaction with Ultimate Reality.
(Adjective) In religion, contemplative emphasizes the experiential, immediate, present-centered, or mystical aspect of something. Hence, contemplative spirituality is that form of spirituality especially concerned with cultivating direct experience of Ultimate Reality. And contemplative prayer is that form of prayer, distinct from petitionary prayer or devotional prayer, which seeks unity with God's Presence.
Not that it matters, but most religion wonks pronounce it "conTEMMMplative" (sounds like "contemporary"), and not "contemPLATEive" (like "contemplate" with "iv" at the end). The dictionary says both are OK.
see also: meditation & contemplation
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Contemplative Prayer: I'm going to write a longer article here soon. For now, just read the entry for "contemplative"...
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equanimity: A virtue that comes naturally from the fruition of spiritual development. It has the same root as the word "equal". With equanimity, one tends toward being equally serene about "good" and "bad", accepting conditions however they fluctuate. In this state, one may still have preferences, hopes and dreams, yet neither be tied to those preferences nor dependent upon outcomes for happiness. Equanimity is even-spirited. |
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faith:
Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel.
--Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary In common usage, faith usually refers to belief, and allegiance to particular religious systems. It often refers to believing in things unseen or unprovable -- or "blind faith" which means accepting things on the basis of external authority.
But in the realm of contemplative spirituality, "faith" refers to something more personal. Faith is confidence -- surefooted on one's journey, trusting in the efficacy of spiritual teachings or teachers, relying upon one's own spiritual resources, etc. Faith is an energetic stick-to-itiveness that helps keep one going, especially in times of struggle or darkness. The spiritual journey goes through phases of strength and weakness. In the good times, "faith" might describe our strong determination and momentum. But faith is more important in times of weakness, when we forget all about any wisdom we once had and lose touch with all sorts of inner capacities and resources. While we bottom out in those tough times, faith helps us inch our way along until we regain clarity.
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Holistic: Holism refers to a system in which, as Aristotle put it, "The whole is more than the sum of its parts".
Holistic spirituality regards human life as an organic part of the Ultimate Whole. Since body, mind, environment and community are interrelated and inseparable from spirit, growth in any one of these areas nurtures each of the others as well. Likewise, imbalance in one area of life can impact all the others. So, holistic spiritual practices cultivate all facets of the whole person.
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Insight Meditation: see entry for Serenity and Insight
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Interfaith: This concept has two major usages, both of which are active on this website.
In one sense, interfaith refers to the interaction between two or more distinct religions. The assumption in this usage is that each person or belief belongs to a single faith tradition. One might speak, for example, of "interfaith dialog" between an orthodox Christian and a devout Muslim. Or one might speak of an "interfaith marriage" between a Buddhist and a Hindu. Here interfaith is like the word international, as when referring to something like "international relations between the US and Canada".
In another sense, interfaith refers to the overlap and mixing of religions. A person might say "I'm interfaith", meaning that he or she has beliefs drawn from multiple traditions, or had parents from two different faiths. Or a religious community might be interfaith, gathering under one roof to explore multiple religions, yet unaffiliated with any of them. In this usage, interfaith is still somewhat like international -- in the sense of "international waters" that belong to nobody. But, while some interfaith people or communities do feel somewhat adrift in a sea of homelessness, many others would reject that analogy and insist that they have their own firm ground.
There can be friction between these two interfaith concepts. Some traditional believers think it dangerous to even consider the views of other religions. Similarly, some who engage in deliberate interfaith dialog believe that you need to belong to some "home tradition" before you can safely consider "foreign traditions". Meanwhile, many others believe we can be at home in a sort of neutral territory, transcending particular religions, where a higher truth can be found without having to belong to any religion.
Studio Zero aims to be an interfaith zone where each of these perspectives may be explored. This project was born, however, of a nomadic spirit. We are particularly concerned with providing interfaith resources for spiritual orphans and wanderers.
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Meditation & Contemplation: For the purposes of this website, contemplation and meditation mean the same thing -- a type of spiritual practice or way of being that emphasizes "nonconceptual awareness", "engagement with the present moment" and similar notions -- as distinct from more mentally-active practices. Unfortunately, these two words are often used in an arbitrary and unclear contrast to each other.
There is a common tendency in many religions to describe two special forms of applying the mind: one form in which we deeply think about some sacred subject; and another form in which we nonconceptually engage with some sacred reality. In Western religion, the first of those is called meditation, and the second is called contemplation. In English renderings of Eastern religions, unfortunately those two distinctions often get inverted, using contemplation for the thinking form, and meditation for the beyond-thinking form.
Regardless of the terminology, the important point is that both the Eastern and Western religious traditions have branches that specialize in cultivating "present-centered nonconceptual awareness" as a way of being -- and when they say meditation or contemplation they're referring to that way. This website, too, focuses on that way of being, and leaves the other kind of meditation (such as visualization, for example) for others to explain.
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