Monday, August 8, 2011

Transformation and Self-Integration

So from the past few blogs, it is clear that I am approaching all this from two perspectives: my own personal experience of contemplative prayer and also the work I've done on what I call "self-integration" and the motivation of the will in my dissertation.

The idea that contemplative prayer (or any prayer, for that matter) shapes one's moral character is not exactly groundbreaking. Many authors and presenters focus on how the practice of contemplative prayer over an extended period of time transforms the practitioner (1). In fact, one of these writers, Dennis J. Billy CSsR, asks the question in the title of his article "What is Contemplative Ethics?" Still, I'd like to investigate more specifically how contemplative prayer helps us integrate our intellect with our emotion and how that shapes our moral character.

In my dissertation, I investigated the role of self-integration in the moral philosophies of St. Augustine and H. Richard Niebuhr (the lesser known of the Niebuhr brothers but in my opinion the more interesting). I will unpack the definition of self-integration in more detail in subsequent blogs, but for now what I mean by self-integration is the integration of rational and experiential knowledge with more bodily and emotional knowledge. By and large, the Western Enlightenment philosophical tradition has driven a wedge between the mind and the body. Niebuhr and Augustine recognize the need to integrate these. Both recognize that the emotions do indeed provide important knowledge, and if attended to and reflected upon by the intellect, can bring us to a kind of wholeness that each left to its own devices cannot. It is in attending to our emotions - which are mediated through our bodies - and then reflecting with our intellect upon our experience that we achieve integrity and wholeness - responding to what happens to us and not simply reacting.

This has important ethical implications. When we react, we do so unthinkingly and often out of fear. Often we find ourselves in ethically compromised positions when we react rather than respond. We lose ourselves when our emotions have not been attended to. A response in integrity comes from reflection - not just by applying abstract principles but from considering emotions, understanding what they mean, and acting accordingly.

Contemplative prayer is an excellent way to to be still and connect with God and our emotions and bodies. Western society is hopelessly in its head and action-oriented. Contemplative prayer provides a means by which to stop for a few minutes and simply be. We invite God into our whole being and by God's grace reconnect with our deepest nature. Out of this wholeness we respond when confronted with something that seems morally wrong to us - rather than going along out of fear of what might happen if we have the moral courage to speak out.
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1. Dennis J. Billy, CSsR. "What is Contemplative Ethics?" Josephinum Journal of Theology 13:1 (2006):2-16; Fr. John Ettelsohn, OMI. "Transformation: Change That Lets Your Soul Grow Up." Nurturing the Contemplative Spirit Lecture Series. Contemplative Outreach of Indiana. November 12, 2011; Brian C. Taylor, "Changing Your Mind: Contemplative Prayer and Personal Transformation." Sewanee Theological Review 42:2(Easter 2005):182-197.

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