Maintaining A Contemplative Calm In A Chaotic World

Several insights into maintaining a contemplative calm in crisis times emerged from a recent retreat in Schuyler, NE. (Photo by J. Alden Marlatt)

Whenever I guide a spiritual retreat, I always come away having received far more from those who come to the retreat than I could possibly give in return. That was again the case at a weekend retreat I was invited to lead in Schuyler, NE.

The retreat was for lay associates of Christ the King Priory in Schuyler, people who seek to live the monastic values of listening, community, hospitality, simplicity, humility, prayer and praise in the context of the secular world.

Given the tragic, ongoing war in Ukraine, the unspeakable horror of so many mass shootings this past year, and the drip-drip-drip of disturbing revelations from the Jan. 6 investigative committee, maintaining a contemplative calm in a chaotic world seemed an appropriate topic to explore.

At the end of each retreat, I usually go around the room and ask each person to name one or two ideas or practices they will take forward. The Christ the King retreatants responded with with a particularly meaningful set of takeaways. I’d like to share some of them with you in the hope that one or more of them will become an inspiration — perhaps even a mantra — for you in the coming week:

• Time is eternal (one retreatant described time as ‘borrowed dust’). There is no reason to become stuck over a particularly disturbing moment or incident.
• Go in peace into your workplace and any other environment, breathing mindfully and smiling as you go.
• Check your emotions before rushing to react. Respond rather than react.
• It’s okay not to have a plan for everything. Be present to the task at hand.
• There is no ‘ultimate peak’ on the spiritual journey. We strive to connect with ‘today.’
• The Spirit works through chaos.
• Seek God wherever you are.
• Be like a pilot light adding light to whatever community in which you find yourself.
• Accept with care the differences you encounter with others. Seek to uplift others.
• Every bit of news we receive can be good news depending on how we receive it.
• God can spin gold out of even our feeblest efforts.

The pond in front of St. Benedict Center and Christ the King Priory in Schuyler, NE with statue of St. Benedict, founder of western monasticism, reaching out with extended arms. (Photo by Sara Anderson)

One participant in the retreat pointed to a story I told that comes from the writings the late peace activist Jim Forest. Jim recalled a letter written to him by his friend, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk and teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, when Jim was in prison for burning draft cards during the Vietnam War.

“Do you remember the tangerine we shared when we were together?” Thich Nhat Hanh wrote in the letter. “Your being there [in prison] is like the tangerine. Eat it and be one with it. Tomorrow it will be no more.”

Be one with it. Tomorrow it will be no more.

Good advice as we seek to navigate so many crises at once.

Participants of a recent retreat for lay associates of Christ the King Priory in Schuyler, NE. The lay associates, known as ‘Oblates,’ seek to bring the monastic values of listening, community, hospitality, prayer and praise into the secular world. (Photo courtesy of Christ the King Priory)