Contemplative Life

Monday, 16 December, 2019

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 Part One: Contemplation in Context - Classical Perspective

Among the Ancient Greek thinkers it was thought that the order of the universe existed in

all things being good and beautiful, and that humans must live in accordance with this

order. And that it is through the act of contemplation that we aim for the goodness and

beauty by looking for unity of the soul with, and in God. The term contemplation is

commonly used in association with this concept of striving for goodness and beauty of

the soul. Etymology reveals contemplation to originally be from the word Latin

contemplatio, it comes from the verb to contemplate. The term also corresponds to the

Greek word “theoreîn” which means to observe, to watch, to see. All these verbs still

encompass the essence of contemplation practices today amongst various communities

and religions, such as Christians, Buddhists, Islamic, medical clinics, and modern

mindfulness. The theory of contemplation dates back for thousand of years, and remains

one of the most deliberated over concepts in human philosophy. This essay uses the

texts ‘The Republic’ and ‘Nicomachean Ethics’ to reflect on the classical perspective of

contemplation and will engage with the ideas of philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle.

According to the classical perspective, contemplation exists as an attitude or disposition

of the soul, the mind, and the body. This disposition stands in contrast to what many

individuals would consider to be natural habits or learned behaviours. For instance, you

are required to reflect on thought and experience rather than directly participate. This

involves suppressing the instinct to interact with your own thoughts. Moreover, the

practices also involve addressing action as theory rather than praxis; focusing

interactions on individuals over collectives; favouring rational over volatile emotion;

following intuitive deliberation rather than discursive, and finally insight should remain

private instead of publicly communicated. In addition, the concept of contemplation also

depicts the highest cognitive capacity a person can reach with the mind and soul. It is

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thought that when achieved, a person will become one with the highest truth and be able

to grasp the world in its entireness through experience in sense and meaning. This is

considered to be the achievement of a human being’s true and highest determination.

As expected, many strived for this highest cognitive capacity. This, in turn, lead to

contemplation being a way of life, the vita contemplativa. Hadot (1995) provides his

explanation of the appearance of the contemplative life as follows “Wisdom, then, was a

way of life which brought peace of mind (ataraxia), inner freedom (autarkia) and a cosmic

consciousness. First and foremost, philosophy presented itself as therapeutic, intended

to cure mankind’s anguish.” With this explanation he implies that while those who chose

to dedicate themselves to contemplation are constantly striving for the highest systematic

insight of the world as cosmos, it is in fact the journey, the estimation that brings peace

and wisdom to the individual. It is philosophy as the art of life that leads people to

abandon their life of consumption, greed and politics in favour of a curiosity and kindness

concerned with the soul and its endurance and inspiration.

Around 375BC, one of the oldest yet most well known philosophers provided his

perspective in the book ‘The Republic’. Plato’s allegory of the cave simile discusses the

theory of contemplative thought that material objects that have not been given meaning

through thought have no consequence. This concept that only ideas and thoughts are the

only things that truly exist, that material objects are meaningless is frequently seen in

Plato’s works. The allegory describes how prisoners, born in the cave and remained there

since, understand shadows, which are made by objects passing in front of a small fire, as

all there is in the world. One day, one of the prisoners is freed. Initially, they struggle to

adjust their eyes and perception of the outside world. Eventually, they begin to observe

shadows for what they are, reflections of the truth. The prisoner sees the sun, regarding it

as they purest light providing truth. Upon returning to the cave, the prisoner urges the

other prisoners to leave the cave and learn the truth, however, mistaking his readjustment

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to the darkness of the cave as confusion and madness they violently reject attempts to be

freed. They chose to condemn themselves to a life of ‘safe’ ignorance.

The simile likens the prisoners situation, chained to the wall their whole life, to the human

mind; living in the darkness, accepting reflections of the truth instead of breaking away to

see the reality of the world by the light of the sun. Therefore suggesting that those who do

not follow the contemplative way of life are left accepting this darkness and world of half

truths and shadows. Whereas, seeing the sun is symbolic of reaching contemplation and

represents the ultimate principle of all knowledge and insight. Evidentially, following the

contemplation life is the process of seeking this light and truth, many other philosophers

also speak of this way of life and end goal of achieving this goodness, this ultimate wisdom

and truth.

Most notably, this was the perspective given by Aristotle, an Ancient Greek philosopher,

who gave the opinion that the contemplative life is a life of happiness. That as a life form it

is the most noble, most endurable, and a divine purpose in itself. He believed that it is

through the act of contemplation, a person can exist in perfect happiness, an activity he

believed to be the activity that most fully exercises the virtue of our intellect and the

exercise of contemplation. He gave various reasonings as to why he held this opinion. He

stated that the act of contemplation is continuous and so we can reflect longer on this task

than any other. The nature of length of the task allows a person to dedicate themselves

and their time to a meaningful purpose. This stands in contrast to the instant gratification

culture that has been brought about through excessive use of technology in the modern

world. Aristotle also outlines how the act of contemplation brings a person pleasure and

only requires oneself, therefore leaving a person to be self-sufficient and aware of their

own capabilities, it is the most natural state for a human being. While he describes the act

of contemplation as an independent activity, he speaks of the contemplative life in

comparison to other ways of life and goes even further to depict that the happiness

achieved through contemplation is only ones own.

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Both texts describe happiness only in its essence, never is an actual definition given to the

term. When reading the words ‘ultimate happiness’ a few things are bound to come to

mind, the image of a bright white light that with it brings clarity and peace. Again, the sense

of peace and truth go hand in hand with the ambiguous term ‘happy’. But can one Hunan

emotion encompass all this? When I think of the moments in my life that I would describe

as happy, I do not think of reaching a moment of wisdom on my own, I confess that such

moments of quiet clarity bring a great sense of satisfaction and relief. But it is the loud,

busy and colourful moments of my life spent with many of my loved ones that I would

depict as happiness. So when Aristotle refers to reaching contemplation and achieving the

happiest life it is perhaps more appropriate to interpret contemplativa as reaching for truth,

clarity and a God like wisdom.

In conclusion, the classical perspective of contemplation pays great attention to the idea

that contemplation practices are meaningful, perhaps the most meaningful act of a

humans life is to dedicate themselves to the search for truth through careful thought and

consideration for life itself. The perspective also gives attention to the concept of one

person seeking to better themselves, whether that be in terms of intellect, spirituality or

wisdom, in order to reach a higher level of existence. Parallels can be drawn in most

religions today that also incorporate contemplative practices; saints in Christianity, Wali in

Islamic such as Sufism, and arhats in Buddhism. Overall, the lasting impression of the

Classical perspective is that it was able to recognise the desire for peace, truth and

happiness in human kind and was able to comprehend that through contemplative

practices these desires can be satisfied or at the very least occupied. This concept

remains as true today as it was in the years of 300BC as it is in modern mindfulness today.

With all the changes the world has seen, the human’s need for seeking peace and

understanding has remained dominant in communities.

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Part Two: Academic Research on Mindfulness in Buddhist and

Medical Perspectives

This essay aims to address and analyse the use of mindfulness meditation from the

perspectives of both modern medicine and Buddhism. Mindfulness meditation has

recently seen a spike in popularity amongst the western mainstream world. Most notably,

this is seen through the introduction and common use of apps such as ‘Headspace’ and

‘Calm’. Both applications offer promises of inner peace, a clear perspective and a happier

life, all for a small monthly subscription fee, of course. This leaves many with the

questions: is inner peace really achievable through listening to recorded audio on our

phones? And can you really buy happiness? I wonder that when individuals chose to

download these apps or read self help book after self help book, if they pause to consider

the spiritual, historical and now medical implications of the mindfulness they seek.

In the context of current medical research, mindfulness is simply defined as appointing

non-judgemental attention to ones current experience of the present moment (Kabat-

Zinn, 1990). Further in-depth research has identified a two-component model of

Mindfulness. The first component outlines the maintenance of focused attention on the

immediate experience through conscious regulation. Where as the second involves

addressing your experiences with openness, curiosity, and acceptance without

expectations.

With regards to actual practices, mindfulness is pursued through the activities such as

sitting meditation, walking meditation, or mindful movements (Kabat-zinn, 1990). During

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these meditative practices people are encouraged to focus their attention on the

experience of body sensations, emotions and thoughts while observing and letting any

outside thoughts pass. In recent years, mindfulness meditation has been increasingly

incorporated into psychotherapeutic programs as a result of the practice being found to

positively impact a number of psychiatric, functional semantic, and stress-related

symptoms (Baer, 2003; Grossman, Niemann, Schmidt, & Walach, 2004). For instance

mindfulness-based stress reduction (MSRM) clinics, first introduced in the 1980s, can

now be found in hospitals,

Further research conducted into the efficiency of mindfulness based treatment programs

found there to be significant improvement of many clinical disorders. This includes

anxiety (Hofmann, Saywe, Witt. & Oh, 2010), depression (Hofmann Ethan al., 2010),

substance abuse (Brown et al., 2007), eating disorders (Tapper et al., 2009), and chronic

pain (Grossman, Tiefenthaler-Gilmer, Raysz, & Kesper, 2007). Furthermore, mindfulness

meditation has also been found to have a positive impact on an individuals physical

health, for instance improved immune function (Carlson, Speca, Faris, & Patel, 2007),

reduced blood pressure and cortisol levels (Carlson term al., 2007), and finally the

practices have even been found to increase the activity telomerase, an enzyme involved

in the process of DNA replication. It is not only physical health that is positively impacted

by mindfulness, but also psychological wellbeing in healthy patients (Chiesa & Serretti,

2009) and even enhances an individuals cognitive functioning (Slagter term al., 2007). As

a result of these various research findings on the benefit of mindfulness, it is steadily

becoming recognised as a respectable and legitimate form of treatment in the medical

circle.

In order to fully comprehend the Buddhist perspective and the ethical concerns

surrounding modern mindfulness it is empirical to dive into the history of the religion itself.

The book “Pali Canon” holds the words of the Buddha from the 5th to 6th century. Due

this book having been written in Pali, a classical language formed in ancient India, and

having survived in full in an Indic language it hold the highly esteemed reputation of being

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the earliest form of Buddhism. For Theravada Buddhists this text is considered to be the

purest depiction of the teachings and truth of the Buddha, otherwise known as Dharama,

as well as the organisation of the Sangha which includes the community of monks and

nuns. Because of the nature of the Buddhas teachings (Dhamma) they are consciously

preserved by the Sangha and kept intact through a deep respect for what they mean and

the spiritual value they hold. Therefore, can the core principles of the Buddhist religions

practices be morally adapted and applied to modern clinical treatments?

It is no secret that over the religions lifespan it has been adopted across the world, giving

it a sense of transnationality. For instance, Theravada is a dominant religion of

communities in Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the Union of Bruma, and the

Kampuchea Kroc region of Vietnam. Moreover, in more modern times the religious way of

life has been adopted in Indonesia, adapted in India, and introduced into Nepal amongst

specific communities redefining their identities (Crosby, 2014). Mindfulness meditation

has been actively practices by Buddhists since as far as the religion dates back. The

religion has travelled and spread across the world, naturally evolving and adapting to the

times and cultures of the places it has emerged in. However, the key principles and

definitions have remained largely the same due to the protection of and value held in its

teachings. To be a Buddhist is to take refuge in the three refuges. Those three refuges are

as follows: first is the Buddha, upon whose path to salvation the Buddhist religion

stemmed from. The second refuge is the Dhamma, the truth and teachings of the

Buddha. Lastly, the third refuge is the Sangha which can be described as the community

of monks and nuns who have pursued and preserved the Dhamma (Crosby, 2014).

However, while the new branches of the religion have grown and adopted to the different

communities practices have remained rooted in the concept of the Buddhist religion and

therefore, its followers have forsaken other religions and devoted their spiritual wellbeing

to following the teachings and principles of the Buddha. This begs the question of how

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modern medicine can use mindfulness meditation practices in isolation of their religious

roots to treat individuals of other or no religion.

In his article, Kabat- Zinn addresses the implications of taking mindfulness practice

outside of its traditional setting and the risk of watering down the richness of the

practices. He states that there is concern that mindfulness may lose its integrity and

depth when taken out of its historical, cultural, and religious contexts (Kabat-Zinn, 2017).

To another point, he describes his goal of keeping an essence of Dhamma within the

workings of MBSR. Therefore suggesting that when introducing the concept of MBSR to

a American population there is a reluctance to associated the meditation practices with

the Buddhist religion. He also expressed a distinct desire to separate MBSR from the

following terms: ‘New Age,’ ‘Eastern Mysticism’ or just plain ‘flakey’.

His reasoning for this being that he considered association with these terms would risk

undermining the programs attempts to present itself as commonsensical, evidence-

based, and ordinary, and ultimately a legitimate element of mainstream medical care.

However, it is a more frequently held perspective that dharma practice and medical

treatments are brought together into one unified whole to produce MBSR.

In summary, the ethical concerns regarding the adaption of spiritual practices for

meditative non-religious practices are understandably a root of concern for those who

follow Buddhism. However, it can be argued that mindfulness meditation practices have

significant benefits on an individuals mental, physical and psychological wellbeing. All in

all, there is one key principle that is deeply rooted in both the medical (clinical) and

Buddhist practices of mindfulness and that is the desire to end suffering, for others and

for oneself. With this understood, it can be concluded that treatments such as MBSR

which have been proven to significantly improve peoples general wellbeing should, as is

the essence of the Dhamma, be given to those whose sufferings need remedied.

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 Part Three: An Examination of Experiences within

‘Contemplative Inquiry”

The contemplative life is a way of facing the world, a way of life. Although there are certain

common characteristics, such as austerity or the search for wisdom and inner peace, this

lifestyle has been practiced by people of different religions and beliefs across the world,

and throughout history. From the Greek classics, such as Pythagoras, to the modern

notions of today, through Judaism, Buddhism, Islam,and Hinduism.I n all, contemplation

has been merged with the idiosyncrasy of those group of people to result in a different

form of contemplative life. Various activities are carried out such as meditating, praying,

singing, and many others. They also require a person to adopt certain types of behaviours

like being humble, peaceful, and disciplined. It should be noted that the contemplative life

is a path to take within these beliefs and religions, but not something that belongs

exclusively to any particular religion, although there are very popular contemplative life

notions such as the Christian monastic or the Buddhist monastic. Today, Western culture,

fascinated by the mysterious and esoteric customs of the East, has aroused its curiosity

about these practices that, even though they already had a presence in Europe for

centuries, are more popular in the East. But, with the age of technology and science, today

empirical and more pragmatic approaches are made to the phenomena that interest us.

Therefore, the ancient texts, the testimonies of intellectuals, the history and mythology of

religions are studied and, in addition, these practices are analyzed to discover their

benefits. Of course, what can be false or harmful is also investigated. Over the past few

months, we have personally carried out an approach to various forms of contemplative life.

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Thanks to the texts, the readings, the debates, the talks and the implementation of

meditation, yoga or mindfulness, we have been able to examine individually its operation

and effectiveness from a theoretical and practical framework. Does this mean a change of

mindset? Does contemplative life fit into the normal routine of western individual? What

aspects of our life could we change to obtain the benefits of a contemplative life?

Throughout this essay, we will examine the experiences of each of us in order to assess

and answer these and other questions related to the adoption of the contemplative life.

Interview 1

Yessica interviews Eidann

For the first interview of the assignment I (Yessica) sat down and interviewed Eidann. We

met in a public setting, which is the Nobelparken Kantine, not too far away from other

people. It was important for me to be in a setting that could turn out to be comfortable for

both Eidann and me, as I wanted the interview to develop into more of a dialogue instead

of an actual interview. The intention behind the public setting was to make it more casual,

instead of Eidann and me sitting by ourselves in a room without other people, which would

have made the interview more private and maybe also more intimidating, as we don’t know

each other that well. Other than taking notes we also used an app called Otter to record

and transcribe the interview automatically, which helped a lot for the interviewer to be more

present instead of being too focused on taking notes, which would have had a significant

impact on the interview.

To get the interview and conversation started, Eidann was asked how she ended up in the

Contemplative Life course at Aarhus Universitet. First of all Eidann talked about how she

actually wanted to be in the course from the beginning and had applied for it as her first

choice, but wasn’t accepted because it was already full. She therefore attended another

class for the first 6 weeks of the semester until she was transferred to Contemplative Life

and felt so happy about it. When asked if she faced any difficulties, Eidann told me that

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she had tried to catch up on most of the readings from those 6 weeks, but to keep up to

date with the readings for upcoming classes and also other courses, she found it difficult to

read every single one of them, but eventually felt up to speed with the other students from

the course.

Her expectations were well-met by the course, as she knew she would be diving into

practices of yoga and meditation and be learning a lot about theory, mostly regarding

these practices in different types of religions. The thing that contemplative practices were

also a big thing in other religions than Buddhism was a fact that puzzled her, as she had

no idea it had such a big place in Christianity and Islam as well, which was a thing she

found very interesting. Eidann also elaborated how her mind changed regarding to the

classical and more philosophical perspectives, as she had always found philosophy to be

“kind of like, a lot of old white men telling us how to think” (04:45-04:52). Through the

course though, as there was being talked about Plato and had a more psychological

approach, she learned to find it very interesting. Mostly the part were we talked about the

kind of idea that we in different ways are all conditioned to think something similar, “the

normal”, especially with the consumer world we live in right now, which in a way also gave

her a new view on her daily life, because she had never actually thought about it that

much.

Regarding the practical exercises, Eidann tried to implement them in her daily routine as

much as possible, but didn’t always find the time to do it. Before Eidann moved to

Denmark she had already experience with practicing yoga and other meditative practices,

but mostly as a hobby, not even a couple of times a week. After moving to Denmark and

attending the course, she feels like it has been easier to implement in her daily routine and

does some kind of meditation or stretching every other day. Her work with these practices

has improved something in her both mentally and physically. Already before starting the

course Eidann says to have been a very calm person, not easily stressed out by a lot of

things. After moving to Denmark though, Eidann has experienced some situations being

stressed and nervous, as she suddenly was in a whole new country where she first of all

didn’t know anyone and second of all didn’t speak the language. She describes her

experience as follows:

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“I'm quite relaxed, kind of like, doesn't matter, it'll work itself out kind of person anyway.

But, um, I definitely feel like I'm even more like, because I've done quite a lot of travelling

recently being an exchange student. And with travelling, and like, with being in a country,

but like a different country, different culture, comes a lot of kind of, like, sticky moments.

You kind of get in situations, where you're like, what, like, what's going on? But, um, yeah,

I've just been even more mellow, just kind of like, it'll work out, it's fine.” (07:13-07:47)

Eidann describes her experience with meditation as a bit of a rough road. She elaborated

her experience with it as being difficult, as she is influenced by her ADD diagnosis. It was

tough for her to sit down for 20 or more minutes at a time and not move, so she’s realized

that the most common way of meditation is maybe not meant for her. She claims that she

has improved nonetheless, as she could not even sit down and focus on something for 10

minutes at a time before joining the course and now she is able to sit down and focus for

20 minutes+. The only thing that is still difficult for her is to take a timeout in her daily

routine to sit down and meditate, as she simply finds it too difficult to just sit still. That is the

case for a lot of people, and as we will touch upon later, sometimes there are just some

types of contemplative practices that work better for some people than others. It’s mostly

about finding a way that works for you, as it is an individual journey.

Interview 2

Lara interviews Yessica.

Regarding the expectations that Yessica had before the subject began, she claims to be

pleasantly surprised by the prominence of the practical exercises. She thought that the aim

of the course would be to study meditation, mindfulness and its relationship with various

religions (especially those best known for its contemplative practices such as Buddhism),

in a more theory-centered way.

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As for the theory of the course, Yessica thinks that, although it is a necessary basis for

doing the exercises, it is not essential. She states that, although the exercises and the

theory have an obvious relationship, the practice could also be done without the theory in

a satisfactory way. Even so, it should be noted that sometimes, we act moved by

unconscious knowledge. That is why Yessica is aware of the possibility that at the time of

performing the exercises, the theory could have been present without her being fully

aware. Apart from the exercises, the theory itself has also been interesting and enriching.

For example, Yessica says that before she did not know that the contemplative life was

something so present and widespread in so many religions and beliefs.

About these practical exercises, more present in the course than she thought, they have

had a positive impact on the students of the course. In the case of Yessica, she believes

there are several aspects where she notices changes for better. First, meditation and

breathing exercises help her fall asleep faster and easier, helping to her sleeping problem.

Also, she has improved her flexibility thanks to yoga, something that Yessica remarks

since she has always been "like a stick". On the other hand, she has improved her

physical condition in general, something that can be perceived in examples as mundane

as keeping her breath up the stairs. So the positive physical benefits are remarkable.

Although, it is necessary to point out that Yessica has been enrolled in yoga lessons in the

afternoon, so she thinks that, if she had not been in those classes, her progress might

have been less.

On the other hand, there are benefits beyond the physical plane. Yessica is a tolerant and

open-minded person, so if contemplative life has affected how she thinks or how she

relates to others, she can only have increased something that already existed before, so

she doesn't notice a significant change. Although, she does note improvement in other

aspects, such as public speaking. This is something that caused her stress, but she

believes that breathing exercises can help calm her nerves in these situations.

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Yessica does not perceive that neither theory nor practice has had a negative impact as

such. But she could say that not everything is easy and happy. That is, despite the

benefits, sometimes sacrifice, discipline is required ... There are times that can be hard.

For her, for example, it was hard to remember something good and something bad.

Yessica ended a really tense situation, so when it came to exercising, she ended up

crying. Facing your feelings can sometimes be painful, but she thinks it's best to do it

before they grow. He believes that advice received in class to handle feelings is useful.

Yessica confirms that she intends to continue with these exercises from now on. Mainly

because they are beneficial for many aspects in your life, psychological, in your mood and

physical. The exercises she wants to practice the most are yoga and breathing exercises.

Yoga is not only a beneficial practical practice, for Yessica it is also a social event. Thanks

to go with these friends to these classes, she assures to take advantage of the social time

for something enriching, in addition to having a space a day to de-stress and have fun with

a friend. For Yessica, meditation has a difficulty, for her it is difficult to be so quiet and

focused for so long. That is why yoga is an option that fits your needs. For her it is an

opportunity to "meditate on the move". She needs to be on the move to concentrate, so

she positively values having discovered that there are several ways of performing

meditation and mindfulness. Thanks to the course, he discovered that he can meditate on

the move (yoga) and that is why he wants to continue. It should be noted that he also

believes that meditation now costs him less than at the beginning. Maybe continuing it is

able to be more still and concentrated. In short, he has noticed significant changes in his

life thanks to the implementation of the contemplative life, so he plans to fit these practices

with his usual routine.

Can the contemplative life adapt to the western way of life? According to Yessica,

practicing it would be beneficial for us because our usual routine involves stress and

haste. She is not sure how these different ways of life could be coordinated, but if

achieved, they could help with all that anxiety present in our lives. For example, she has

made the decision to get up an hour earlier every morning, so now the day begins calm

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and with enough time to do everything. In the end, an act as small as setting the alarm 60

minutes before, has a tremendously significant impact. For this reason, Yessica believes

that, although we cannot turn our lives 180 degrees, we can change significant details.

She believes that, if you are really interested, you can always find something that fits in

your life (although not everything is possible). In our class, the students had a personal

interest: some for their studies, others for stress problems, others for improving physical

condition... Without personal interest, not so much progress would be achieved. In the

end, if there is interest, the way is found. For example, Yessica proposes that the practices

of contemplative life can be taught in religion class. Also, because now we know that it

really is very related. If this were accomplished, these people could have the most

assimilated and present contemplative attitudes in their life, since it would be something

learned in childhood. So, although it is difficult to synchronize such different lifestyles, you

can find a way to change small details that can bring great benefits.

In short, Yessica has learned interesting and enriching information from the theory (apart

from what she already knew). Also, the exercises have had a positive impact on her

thinking and mood, but especially, on her body. Thanks to all this, she has decided to

make "the contemplative life" part of her normal routine. And she defends that the rest of

Westerners could also benefit from doing so.

Interview 3

Eidann interviews Lara

This interview followed a semi-structured style, Lara and I met in a cafe and began with a

short introduction to the interview. We discussed the aim of the interview alongside the

logistics. She was informed of her right not withdraw from the interview at anytime and was

also told she could choose not to answer any questions she chose not to. However, due to

the cooperative nature of the project, this was not an issue. Moreover, the interview

questions did not touch upon any sensitive subjects. Instead, the questions were centred

around her own expectations of the course, her impressions of contemplative life, and her

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personal experiences with interacting with meditative practices. To record and transcribe

the interview, an app called Otter was used.

When asked about her thoughts and interests at the beginning of the course, Lara

discusses the idea that there is a lot of anxiety and stress among young people nowadays

and how this affects people from one day to another. While there are many other methods

of coping with this stress, such as talking about our feelings, working with a psychologist or

exercise, as mentioned by Lara, she found herself interested in meditation as a form of

stress management and mood control, this lead her to sign up for the Contemplative Life

course during her 6 month exchange at Aarhus University.

However, after having completed the course she has found that there is a strong

theoretical foundation to contemplation and now regards the topic in a different way.

Instead of placing focus on the physical basis of the topic, such as yoga and breathing

techniques, she has come to recognise contemplation to be deeply rooted in human

history, most notably in religion. She expresses the thought that ‘religions are more related

to one another’ that she initially thought. This is likely in reference to the principle of

reaching a greater self through contemplations that is seen amongst many religions. For

instance, becoming a saint in Christianity, a Wali in Islamic, and an arhat in Buddhism.

Moreover, this principle of higher truth and clarity is also seen in texts by Greek

philosophers which furthers the point made by Lara, that common ties run through most

religions and that faith is something that connects rather than divides people. In addition,

the concept of faith itself is a form of spirituality seen in all religions. Within her answers,

she goes on to address the topic of scientific information and its place within this course.

She talks in detail about a man called Wim Hoff, and outlines his methods that combine

the properties of metal with the characteristics of breathing. His theory is based in his

strive to study acts of faith and give then a scientific basis through proving them. When

describing the link between science and meditative practices Lara’s language is more

favourable towards contemplative practices. Perhaps this is an indication of the millennial

generation's dependence on science and tangible matter as a pose to premodern so

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reliance on faith. The years leading up to the turn of the century saw a dramatic increase

in people identifying as atheist across the globe. This coincided with a change in

education, lessons become rooted in scientific knowledge and drifted from religious

teachings leaving people to believe in only what they can prove and see with their own

eyes. This leaves little room for contemplation. However, the increase in anxiety and other

mental health issue, as mentioned by Lara, has perhaps been a spark that has reignited

the western worlds interest in spirituality. Hence the course chose to cover not only the

classic perspective alongside a range of religious contemplative methods but also modern

meditation practices. These modern day meditation practices are often rooted in scientific

research and therefore have reinvented contemplative practiced in a way that today's

society will accept it and be able to benefit from following the practices. There appears to

be a need for people to believe and follow something, a way to calm anxieties and

recenter yourself, for atheists perhaps it is becoming meditation. As Lara mentions, its

through doing the practices that she feels able to feel balanced and take time out to focus

on something higher than everyday stresses.

When asked what the process of the course has taught her, she outlines the connection

between physical and mental wellbeing. She describes how she saw her body improve

with the yoga and become more flexible over time, but also how on some days her body

doesn’t quite stretch as much as last time. She compared this to how she sees

improvements within her mental wellbeing and ability to focus on meditation some days

but can quite often see digression from one day to another and how managing this can

also require work. She describes how placing so much focus and emphasis on her body

and mind has allowed her to identify her good days and bad days. While she suggests that

this is a good thing, she also describes how easily reliant a person can become on yoga

and meditation. For instance, she mentions how if she doesn’t have the time to dedicate

20-40 minutes of yoga and meditation exercises then she will feel noticeably worse than

before she began the course. Moreover, she has begun to notice that the way the body

feels can affect the way your mind thinks. Instead of thinking of them as separate entities,

her language suggests that she considered them to be more like two parts of a whole.

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When one is feeling drained or hindered then the other will too. Specifically, she mentions

how she believes it is just as important to keep the mind in a positive headspace and thing

good thoughts as it is to deliberately focus on taking deep breaths. She suggests that

more focus should be put on the connection between our bodies and our minds in

everyday lives. She even credits the balancing of the two with feeling as though she is

able to calm herself down more easily than before starting the course. She goes on to say

that taking a moment to breathe and refocus her mind has almost become instinctual. Her

body and mind need a moment to refocus and do so without Lara having to actively make

the effort to, she even describes it as her first reaction to stressful or overwhelming

situations. Therefore, by being enrolled on this course, she has seen distinct changes in

her own behaviour and also believe it has made her more sensitive to others reactions,

specifically if she is to carry out interviews as is required of her during her degree and

future career as a journalist.

Journalism is a profession that requires that you not only interact with people but also that

you interact with the story. More often than not, a journalist is having to report on a

negative story and dig deeper into that story, even when the interviewee is reluctant to

reveal the truth. As Lara outlines, this can be frustrating, especially when you are aware

that someone is lying to you. Therefore, it would be a helpful tool to be in control of your

emotions. Through meditation practices we become able to observe our thoughts and

emotions, accept them and continue with a focus on peace.

When asked to discuss what she’d learnt from the practises, Lara spoke of how she has

become more accepting and compassionate with herself. For instance, she mentions how

meditation has taught her not to criticise herself for losing focus or ‘failing’. Instead, she

has learnt to notice when she is distracted, accept it and bring her thoughts back to

refocus and start again. This is a key principle of meditative practices and she believes it

can benefit other areas of a person's life. She used the analogy of basketball; if a person

misses a point, instead of believing they are a failure and should no longer play the game,

they instead are able to pause and accept that this time they missed and start again.

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There is no language that connotation with failure, instead the next point is considered

another opportunity. She outlines how she believes this attitude will lead to more success

as the focus is put on trying again and the process of success rather than the end goal and

ever missed step towards said goal.

Conclusion

To make sure that the interviews and interviewers weren’t affected by each other, we made

sure to do them in three different settings, meaning that we did the interviews one on one

on different days throughout the week.

About the contemplative life in western society, one of the conclusions we have reached,

thanks to our experience in this course and to the interviews between us, is that the

contemplative life is a way of life that has a place in the western routine. Although, it is true

that we live in a frantic society, focused on productivity and therefore stressful. And,

although it is difficult to coordinate practices and a way of dealing with the world so

different, the contemplative life includes diverse activities that can adapt to different ways

of life. Contemplative life has traditionally been present in many religions and beliefs with

very different characteristics (Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism) ... This is proof

of its adaptability. Yessica, for example, has decided to continue with yoga because

moving meditation is what best suits her. In the case of Lara, she wants to investigate

another form of meditation in motion more oriented towards self-defence: chikung. In

addition, Eidann plans to continue practising yoga as well as implementing meditation in

the hope she can continue to improve her ADD symptoms. In short, each person is

different and, therefore, can find their own original way of putting into practice the doctrines

of the contemplative life. Read, meditate (which can last hours or just a few minutes),

flexibility exercises, breathing exercises, mindfulness. Although we cannot do everything,

we can choose some practice that can mean a significant change in our lives. It should be

noted that some of these practices focus exclusively on our thoughts or the management

of our feelings, so they do not take up time or space. The same conclusion has reached

some modern people, interested in contemplative practices, which have implemented and

extended things like meditation, yoga, pilates or certain philosophies. This further

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facilitates the implementation of "a contemplative life", since there are gyms, classes,

lectures and readings. Contemplative life is something already extended in the West,

accepted, practiced and even institutionalised. Therefore, there are no excuses not to

start. The only thing necessary, initially, is to have personal interest. From then on, with a

good organisation, a mixed routine can be orchestrated.

On the other hand, not only would it be possible to introduce this lifestyle into our usual

routine, but it would be really beneficial. On the one hand in the personal sphere, as Lara

defends, it can serve you for a better control of thoughts and emotions. What translates

into greater emotional stability, and probably, will improve the quality of social

relationships. In addition, physical exercise improves physical, mental and emotional well-

being. It can have a positive impact on flexibility, improve posture, reduce stress and

anxiety, improve self-esteem ... But also, it can have a positive impact on the work area.

Lara brings her vision as a journalist. He believes that the management of thoughts and

emotions is necessary for his work, since it involves facing face to face with people who

may be lying or being aggressive. That is, in journalism, for its contact with possibly toxic

people and tense situations, it requires professionals who have a good management of

interpersonal relationships. In addition, like psychologists, journalists can also be

subjected to a high emotional load, so contemplative life can also be a help for that.

For these reasons, Yessica thinks that the contemplative life should be something taught

to children in schools. It can be much more beneficial when it is something that we have

assumed and normalised from so young, since it would become something normal in our

routine.

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