How Do I Sit?
How do I sit? Let me count the ways.
I end my daily walks at a peaceful spot on the grounds of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church about 2 blocks from my house. I’m not a member of the church, but I find it to be a place of peace and calm that is perfect for my morning sit. Sit is a noun as I use it here.
I have noticed that I engage in four different kinds of sits. One way I sit is in conversation with myself. It sounds something like this: “This bench is really uncomfortable. They could have done a better job with bench selection. The foliage is dying. They need to water it more. The statue of the Virgin Mary needs to be tidied up a bit. One of the devotional candles is out. Why doesn’t someone re-light it?”
I’m guessing that you identify with that because that’s the normal way of thinking for most of us. Our minds are wired to categorize and evaluate everything. That sit doesn’t do me much good. In fact, I can feel worse after my morning sit. But, that’s what happens without intentional effort.
Another way to sit is to sit in prayer. Generally, prayer is asking for something for ourselves or for someone else. It can be making deals with God.
Yet another way to sit, and closely related to prayer, is to sit in meditation. While prayer is generally asking for something, meditation is listening for something. It’s allowing the mind to settle and the noise to subside so we can hear what needs to be heard. I believe we’re all being called. We just can’t hear the call because of the noise of our lives.
Finally, we can sit in contemplation. Contemplation is often called prayer without words, a form of contemplative or meditative prayer where individuals seek to connect with a higher power, inner self, or spiritual realm through silence and stillness, rather than using spoken or written words. This type of prayer emphasizes a direct and nonverbal communion with the divine or a deeper aspect of one's own consciousness.
Contemplation is sitting with God like you would sit in silence and comfort with an old friend without asking for anything or even feeling the need for conversation.
In this practice, individuals might focus on their breath, a specific image, a feeling of love or gratitude, or simply maintain a receptive and open state of mind. The goal is to create a space for inner reflection, spiritual connection, and a sense of presence, without relying on language or specific thoughts.
Prayer without words is common in various religious and spiritual traditions, including contemplative branches of Christianity, Buddhism, and Sufism, among others. It's often seen as a way to transcend the limitations of language and concepts and to access a more direct and intuitive experience of the divine or the sacred.
You may have heard the admonition, "Don't just sit there, do something." Try not doing something and just sitting there, and see what happens.