We are meditating on that part of the Via Negativa that is about silence and contemplation. One might call it the “mind-emptiness that leads to mind-fulness.” Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) is best known as a theologian who ushered the scientist Aristotle into Western culture, insisting that religion without science is sure to make many mistakes about Divinity. What many people forget, however, is that Aquinas was not just an intellectual genius but also a profound mystic in his own right. There are passages in Aquinas that are very Buddhist in this regard. Consider his teachings about How to Meditate:
“The first requirement, then, for the contemplation of wisdom, is that we should take complete possession of our minds before anything else does, so that we can fill the whole house with the contemplation of wisdom. It is also necessary that we be fully present there, concentrating in such a way that our aim is not diverted to other matters. Thus Scripture says: ‘Return home quickly and gather yourself together there and play there and pursue your thoughts’ (Eccles. 32:15-16). To gather yourself together there’ is to draw together your whole intention….”
Thus Aquinas is instructing us to focus thoroughly, to “take complete possession of our minds;” to “be fully present;” to “concentrate;” and not let our minds wander, to “draw together all our intention.” He derives this teaching from a Wisdom book of the Hebrew Bible, the Book of Ecclesiastes. What comes next?
“When our interior house is entirely emptied like this and we are fully present there in our intention, the text tells us what to do next: ‘And play there.’” Play, too, is a kind of letting go and another expression of the unself-consciousness that is part of the Via Negativa. Play and laughter are indeed part of Letting Go and therefore of the Via Negativa. We are to play with wisdom.
Thus Aquinas continues: “There are two features of play that make it appropriate to compare the contemplation of wisdom with playing. First, we enjoy playing, and there is the greatest enjoyment of all to be had in the contemplation of wisdom. As Wisdom says in Ecclesiasticus 24:27, ‘My spirit is sweeter than honey.’ Second, playing has no purpose beyond itself; what we do in play is done for its own sake. And the same applies to the pleasure of wisdom.”
Contemplation leads to play—not to more seriousness.
Adapted from: Matthew Fox, Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality, pp. 210, 211.
Banner Image: “Altar Candle, Bangalore, India.” Photo by CHIRAG K on Unsplash
For Deeper Contemplation
Take Aquinas’ advice about taking possession of your mind, being fully present, etc. Be there. Be still there.
Next, play with wisdom that is present to you. What do you perceive? Draw, journal, or otherwise express your experience.
Recommended Reading
Matthew Fox renders Thomas Aquinas accessible by interviewing him and thus descholasticizing him. He also translated many of his works such as Biblical commentaries never before in English (or Italian or German of French). He gives Aquinas a forum so that he can be heard in our own time. He presents Thomas Aquinas entirely in his own words, but in a form designed to allow late 20th-century minds and hearts to hear him in a fresh way. The result is exciting!
Too often, notions of God have been used as a means to control and to promote a narrow worldview. In Naming the Unnameable, renowned theologian and author Matthew Fox ignites our imaginations by offering a colorful range of Divine Names gathered from scientists and poets and mystics past and present, inviting us to always begin where true spirituality begins: from experience.
7 thoughts on “Aquinas on Contemplation—Part I”
And to think that Thomas had less than 50 years (1225-1274) in which to live and learn and play and leave such a legacy ! How then are we to spend/invest/enjoy the greatly extended length of days that many have in this century ? Live and learn, play and appreciate… and yes, aspire and assent to emergent consciousness befitting our own time and place in this vast mysterious cosmos.
I don’t want to take anything away from the “genius” of Thomas Aquinas, but to have been such a learned person back in the 13th Century he must have been fortunate enough to live in a safe and nourishing environment. Today there are so many young boys and girls that live in dangerous and unhealthy places that I wonder if they will survive the next 24 hours. It is sad to think we have not created a safe and nourishing for all the world’s children to “play and explore” and realize their “genius” for our times. What a different world we would live in today. I believe we can create these “micro-ecosystems” all around the world in diverse cultures so that all children can look up at the stars at night and contemplate the wondrousness of the stars and Universe (and God). I believe we can continue to create these “micro-ecosystems” by expanding our Missionary organizations (of all religions and denominations) that bring the love, wisdom and blessings of God to all the future geniuses of the world.
Dear William.
I, too go to children in pondering Maria’s question. What I know from years of directing children’a programs in churches, is that this joy, this curiosity and playfulness, this spiritual depth does not have to be taught. Children are born with it. That is, we are all born with it. What we need to learn is how to keep it from becoming lost to this knockabout world of hate and distrust. Once its gone, it’s so hard to get back again.
Gail Sofia Ransom
For the Daily Meditation Team
Dear Maria,
Thank you or your comment addressing the length and quality Thomas Aquinas’s life compared to ours. I wonder if we could liquify quality of life and measure Aquinas’s 50 years to our 70-90 years, nearly double, how we would measure up. I would expect, not very well. Some people are already coming awake to the gifts of life, are spiritually connected, and plumbing the depths, many through these meditations. But others have not even begun to think there could be some other life besides our consumeristic, soul crushing culture. We need teachers, mentor, companions, writers, artists, dancers, authors and mystics to invite people onto the journey.
Gail Sofia Ransom
For the Daily Meditation Team
I can’t seem to find the referred to scripture in either Ecclesiastes or Ecclesiasticus. Might the reference be wrong?
Hello Michele,
There are 2 such references in this dm. The 24.27 reference is easily found in the Scriptures.
The reference to 32.15-16 is not so easily found but you have to remember that the numbering of the chapters and verses of Scripture was not always present nor finalized in the Middle Ages. Aquinas memorized Scripture but did not always get the numbering accurate. There was also fluctuation with naming Biblical books; for example Aquinas will often talk about a “prophet” writing but the citation he referring to is from the Psalms, not from the prophets as such.
If you need to trace this reference, you can go to the footnote in Sheer Joy for the Aquinas text (referenced in the DM post citations) and pursue that. It is referenced there to the Prologue of his Commentary on Boethius’ De Hebdomadibus.
~ Matthew Fox
Pingback: How to Live a Contemplative Life : Moonwalking to Joy