Controlling the danger, recognising the opportunity

Since the crisis hit the world the World Community has been approached by many people asking how we can help. We have consulted widely, reflected deeply, and we feel that A Contemplative Path Through the Crisis is a response that meets many needs in different ways. Meditation will not instantly solve all problems. But it changes how we view and deal with the challenges we face. It helps us to ‘set our troubled minds at rest’ and to find the authentic, interior peace that stabilises us when we are in turmoil.

For many who have a spiritual path and practice, this crisis is a call to deepen it. For those who never had time to develop a path before, this is the opportunity. 

The immediate need is to reduce fear and anxiety and – even in a time of social isolation – to discover a sense of connection with others. The ‘Contemplative Path’ programme grows from the essential teaching of the community about the daily practice of meditation. For a generation or more we have taught this simple way from the Christian contemplative tradition to people of faith and those who belong to no special tradition.

Building on this practice, the Contemplative Path online programme offers meditation sessions, contemplative eucharists, psychological insights about how to deal with the feelings stirred up by the crisis, bodywork sessions, teachings and reflections from a range of people who follow a spiritual path while living and working in the world. 

Each of us can be build an inclusive contemplative response that makes a difference to everyone around us even when we are physically separated. Social distancing can bring us closer together spiritually. But we need to go deeper. To go deeper we need to be still. Meditation does both.

Following such a path also means becoming more other-centred, turned practically towards the relief of others’ suffering. This is to be, in a Christlike way, what every contemplative path aims to be: ‘medicine, physician and nurse to those in need’.

We need to get through the crisis but also to see the opportunities it offers. With a path, we can better see how to be ready to play our part after the crisis. A contemplative path commits us all not only to survival, but to a better human flourishing.

Welcome to A Contemplative Path.