The Art of Contemplative Self-Cultivation
The ancient Chinese classic, The Book of Changes (I Ching), teaches that all things in nature change based on dynamic relationships between contrasting opposites: there is no up without down, hot without cold, summer without winter, young without old, or part without whole. Contemplation is no exception; contemplation is a complement to meditation. A primary goal of meditation is to foster stillness and tranquility by means of undercutting thought. Through practices such as focusing closely on one’s breath, repeating a mantra, or cycling through sequences of movements with one’s body, the streams of thought containing one’s impressions, ideas, plans, memories, identities, and anxieties are dissolved; allowing one to have an experience of quiet and simple clarity of mind. Such clarity, or mindfulness, is vital to the resiliency required to manage complex challenges in our daily lives.
What meditation does not directly address however, is the operation of how our thinking shapes how we make choices, solve problems, bear difficulties; or any other ways that thought is used to resolve life’s problems. Meditation will help to clear one’s thoughts, but it is not intended to provide guidance on how to make good choices; choices require us to use thought in action. They require a philosophy – a love of wisdom (in Greek, philos means love and sophia means wisdom). Consequently, learning to resolve conflict within ourselves and outside ourselves requires the guidance of some form of practical wisdom to help us to shape our thinking, in order to creatively manage how the habitual forces at work in our choice-making do or do not generate positive outcomes in our lives. In this sense, one’s moral orientation can be understood as a reflection of one’s choice-making; and we make better choices when we have access to practical wisdom.
To highlight this contrast between meditation and contemplation, imagine you are a teacher in a kindergarten classroom with a dozen energetic youngsters revolving around you. Every school day you are faced with challenge after challenge in your responsibility for the social and academic growth of your students; all of which takes a toll on your energy and your patience. Meditation could be a godsend for you, helping you come into the classroom with grace, focus, and compassion for the innocent young minds in your care. Yet, meditation will not guide you on how to strike the right balance between being firm and nurturing, how to diffuse impassioned arguments between students, how to effectively support their learning; or in more general terms, how to successfully embody moral excellence in your behavior.
Such goals can only be measured by the self-awareness that comes from consciously reviewing your own personality and contemplating how the way you manage your personality plays out in your experience of self, and your behavior: What principles do I live by? How do my actions affect others? Does my behavior reflect my intentions? What perspectives make up my worldview? What does it mean to be healthy? What is my role in processes greater than myself? Thus, in contrast to meditation, contemplation is to think deeply about life and apply practical wisdom to generate balance in thought, for positive self-cultivation of human character (I give an overview of what I mean by human character in my previous piece, Crisis in Perception – Respond by Evolving Character).
By reflecting on principles that outline how the interpretive nature of our decision-making can come to promote conflict-resolution, the art of contemplative self-cultivation can aid us in fostering health in our individual experiences of life, and in our effects on the world around us. As my father, Gola Wolf Richards, would describe it, “To seek, find and integrate into consciousness the eternal harmony underlying the world’s endless points of disorder is how one becomes centered. Contemplation provides a means to this end”.
Generally speaking, common sense would teach that, when dealing with problems, a limited frame of reference can prevent us from realizing potential solutions. In other words, fixing something becomes far more challenging if you don’t know how the thing you are fixing works. For example, if my bike breaks, I have enough of a frame reference to diagnose and fix the problem. But if my computer breaks, my lack of understanding of the technical aspects of digital electronics renders me useless as a source of resolution. However, given enough time and effort, it is possible for me to widen my frame of reference, by learning the principles of digital electronics; and, through practice, develop the skills for dealing with such problems in the future. This is the power of education to cultivate higher capacities of human understanding.
Along the same lines, regarding the experience of conflict in our personal circumstances of self, family, friendship, creative pursuit, profession, civic participation, etc.: When we are able to expand our frame of reference through contemplative education, to provide a more comprehensive context for understanding, we are likely to be better equipped to navigate the complex difficulties we face in our growth toward maturity. Therefore, continually expanding our perspectives throughout the course of our human development is a requisite to the cultivation of maturity in our character; or in other words, growth requires consistent efforts over time. Again, turning to the words of my father, “Maturity is balance in thought; it acts to harmonize opposition”.
In my view, healthy human character is a function of maturity; and maturity is a product of sustained growth over time. Always a dynamic process occurring within relative stages of human development, maturity is cultivated slowly through the accumulation of individual attempts at transforming difficulties into growth, problems into insights, or challenges into achievements; by navigating conflict-resolution in the various aspects of our human experience. By learning to become centered, the wisest among us have earned their wisdom through being challenged time and time again to create solutions to the complex difficulties inherent in their growth.
What do I mean when I say that contemplative self-cultivation is an art form? In the simplest terms, art uses creativity to communicate meaning; and meaning is understood through interpretation. Whether it is the creative arrangements of shapes and color in a painting, the lighting and focus of a photo, the notes and rhythms in a piece of music, fabrics and threads in a fashion show, the words and syntax of a poem, or movements and gestures in dance; artists interpret the principles of their craft to create works that communicate meaning for the interpretation of others. The beauty of art is how an artist can use their craft to communicate rich layers of meaning that no amount of explanation can fully describe.
Regardless of the medium, all good artists achieve their mastery through the complementarity of principle and practice. The principles of the craft outline the core aspects and dynamics of the given system. An architect must have a working knowledge of physics to design a beautiful building; a composer must understand the ins and outs of music theory to write a symphony; and a poet must learn the rules of grammar before she bends them with poetic license. However, knowledge alone is not enough to create great art; the artist needs to routinely practice applying the principles of their craft in creative pursuits over time. In other words, artistic mastery must be cultivated through processes of refinement.
This same demand for refinement is at play in the character of our personalities, if we are to grow toward maturity. In the contemplative traditions of ancient China, self-cultivation of one’s character was considered to be one of the highest forms of art, as well as one of the most difficult to practice. Described in The Book of Changes as the daily renewal of character, living a virtuous life, by sustaining a positive attitude and maintaining emotional composure in response to life’s challenges, was considered the way in which human nature can come to reflect the harmony of the natural world. Again, the emphasis here is on the actualization of virtue in your character, not the mere intellectual understanding of how it could be done; it requires both comprehensive principles and sustained practice. As we have all surely experienced, this is easier said than done.
Difficulty arises from the fact that, with self-cultivation, there is no intermediary medium on which to focus. While the painter can focus her interpretative efforts on the brush and canvas as conduits of meaning, regarding self-cultivation, the very thing you are attempting to interpret is your own interpretation of life itself! It is trying to see your own seeing, to analyze your own analysis, or to become aware of the character of your own awareness. Consequently, self-cultivation requires us to understand the principles of perception itself. Sages in Chinese antiquity considered the principles within The Book of Changes to be the “principles of the craft” for human perception and found great value in contemplating and applying them to practical aspects of their lives.
In the coming installments of Language of Change, I will discuss these universal principles that shape the nature of perception, and their practical application to commonplace concerns. In the meantime, I invite you to watch my new video, The Art of Contemplative Self-Cultivation; which explores this topic further, my background as a teacher, and a few of the core principles that I use to teach. Thanks for reading and I wish you health and happiness.
