If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern. —William Blake
What does “contemplative” mean?
To understand contemplation, we must first become aware of the difference between the
THE THINKING MIND
The thinking mind is what we use that is necessary for
EXAMPLE:
If I wish to see the true beauty, uniqueness, and elegance of my visual world instead of what I think it is, I will need to let go of my thinking mind for a moment (my habitual and mechanical thoughts, concepts, opinions and judgments) and be open and receptive to “unfiltered and unmediated seeing.” If I want to have a closer relationship with God through the Holy Spirit, on some level, I will need to let go of what I think God is based on what well-meaning others might have said to be true, and be open to receiving information that is not solely based on my thinking mind.
THE AWAKE MIND
We have to let go to experience a
What is a contemplative photograph?
Contemplative spirituality is centered on listening to and receiving from the
Some interesting statistics:
• In 2017, KeyPoint Intelligence estimated that there werephotographs taken.
• In 2020, KeyPoint intelligence estimated that there werephotographs taken.
This is primarily because of the rise of the
A contemplative photograph is one that is taken when the photographer has made a
When we only see the world around us with the thinking mind - and when we only pray with the thinking mind - we become severely
When we turn our awareness out toward the visual world with an awake mind, any aspect of the visual world that comes into view could
This is when prayer goes to its
What is so moving about contemplative photography is the understanding that we’re truly
3 Levels of Clarity
How do you capture a contemplative image once you receive it? There are 3 levels of clarity involved in contemplative photography:
LEVEL 1 | Identifying the
This is simply the moment we receive that flash of perception or when an image captures us. It’s when one sees something that is out of the blue that, in some ways, stops one’s mind and brings one up short.
LEVEL 2 | Visually clarifying the received image or perception
• Where does the perception
• Where does it
• Is it more of a
Level 2 is the key level of
To clarify what we have received takes a lot of
LEVEL 3 | Expressing what was received as closely as possible with a photograph.
When the Holy Spirit touches our hearts, we call it a
A thin place is a place where the boundary between heaven and earth is especially thin. It’s a place where we can sense the divine more readily. —Dr. Mark Roberts, in “Thin Places: A Biblical Investigation
Contemplative
Summary
A contemplative photograph is one that truly expresses the beauty that we have received (regardless of whether it is beautiful to others or not) in a way that we can safely say that:
- We didn’t
something from our thinking mind that affected our perception , , or receiving the image and have our hearts touched; and - Nothing is
. The photograph expresses exactly what we saw – what stopped us in our tracks and made an impression on our hearts…the image we received from the Creator itself.
Last, but not least…
It is critically important to know that
GROUP ACTIVITY | LET’S TRY IT!
We’re going to take 30 minutes for each group member to try a “contemplative walk.” As a group, we will start with a 5-minute meditation and relaxation exercise, followed by a 25-minute walk.
Once we are finished, we will gather to share the images that we received before going on about our day. At the end of this first session, follow the link below to submit your image for us to share on our “Sacred Space at Mosaic” Facebook Group.