The contemplative life involves less looking at God than gazing lovingly at the world through God's eyes.

In the contemplative life, we learn to focus our attention less on our Source - on God, the Great Mystery - and more on the WORLD as seen through God's eyes. In other words, we practice UNION with the spacious expanse of God's loving awareness, which then becomes a kind of backdrop - a sacred sky or ground - out of which all of life's beauty is able to manifest itself.

When seen through the spaciousness and transparency of God's vision, all things light up with their own inherent dignity and are thereby able to reveal their sacred reality. Here, God is experienced as humble and self-emptying rather than being preoccupied with himself and his own reality. In union with God, we too seek less to focus attention on ourselves, and instead begin to stand in awe and wonder at the majesty of the world around us, as seen through God's loving and affirmative vision.

Photos: (Top) Russian Olive fruits, the Poudre River, and Bellvue Dome, Bellvue, CO, March 4, 2015; (Middle and Bottom) A weathered Limber Pine stump and lichen, The Loch, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, March 2, 2015