“The states or stages of the soul corresponding to concentration, meditation and contemplation are those of purification, illumination and union.” Meditations on the Tarot

The Nature of Contemplation

“What is the gnostic sense? It is the contemplative sense. Contemplation—which follows on from concentration and meditation—commences the very moment that discursive and logical thought is suspended. Discursive thought is satisfied when it arrives at a well-founded conclusion. Now, this conclusion is the point of departure for contemplation. It fathoms the profundity of this conclusion at which discursive thought arrives. Contemplation discovers a world within that which discursive thought simply verifies as ‘true’.” Valentin Tomberg, Meditations on the Tarot, p44

“A transition is made from consideration and discourse to the immobility and complete silence of supernatural communion, where one no longer thinks something from a distance, but where this Thing itself is present and reveals itself. Contemplation is the union of the thinker with reality. Here one does not arrive at a ‘conclusion’, but one receives—or undergoes—the imprint of Reality.” Valentin Tomberg, Meditations on the Tarot, p456

“Concentration without effort—that is to say where there is nothing to suppress and where contemplation becomes as natural as breathing and the beating of the heart—is the state of consciousness (i.e. thought, imagination, feeling and will) of perfect calm, accompanied by the complete relaxation of the nerves and the muscles of the body. It is the profound silence of desires, of preoccupations, of the imagination, of the memory and of discursive thought. One may say that the entire being becomes like the surface of calm water, reflecting the immense presence of the starry sky and its indescribable harmony.” Valentin Tomberg, Meditations on the Tarot, p10

“I think that the general nature what the wisdom schools are trying to do is really call forth in people the contemplative as a sphere, as a path of knowing an integral, whole knowing. And when you put together the two pieces of deep contemplative practice with what’s nowadays called mindfulness or the ability to keep your attention in the present and run it through a deeply embodied awareness all, a different kind of knowingness emerges in people that looks a lot like what the ancient mystics used to call contemplation which didn’t mean just sitting in emptiness but in moving into a knowingness that was deeper than the philosophical mind speculated.” Cynthia Bourgeault, Claymont 2012 Jacob Boehme, 2b.Wedam.TeachingGWS14.

Contemplation as a Process

“In order to concentrate, it is necessary to have attained a certain degree of freedom and detachment. In order to meditate, one must place oneself within the light from above. And in order to experience contemplation, it is necessary to become one with this light. For this reason the states or stages of the soul corresponding to concentration, meditation and contemplation are those of purification, illumination and union. And it is the three sacred vows of obedience, chastity and poverty which render concentration, meditation and contemplation effective, with a view to the realization of the soul’s purification, illumination and union.” Valentin Tomberg, Meditations on the Tarot, p456

“The Major Arcana of the Tarot are authentic symbols, i.e. they are ‘magic, mental, psychic and moral operations’ awakening new notions, ideas, sentiments and aspirations, which means to say that they require an activity more profound than that of study and intellectual explanation. It is therefore in a state of deep contemplation—and always ever deeper—that they should be approached. And it is the deep and intimate layers of the soul which become active and bear fruit when one meditates on the Arcana of the Tarot.” Valentin Tomberg, Meditations on the Tarot, p4

Contemplation and Love

“With regard to Mary Magdalene, who for the author of the Cloud of Unknowing is the model of what contemplative awareness is, he specifies that what Mary Magdalene learned to do was to hang up her love and her yearning desire in the cloud of unknowing and come to love that which can neither be had, neither seen in the clarity of her reason, or held in the sweet light of her affection. In other words, what the author is saying very clearly here is the love that he has in mind.” Cynthia Bourgeault, Divine Exchange, 3:00 disc 2 track 5.

Integrating Contemplation and Action

“The heart does not need to forget all contemplation in order to act, and does not need to suppress all action in order to contemplate. It is the heart which is simultaneously active and contemplative, untiringly and unceasingly. It walks. It walks day and night, and we listen day and night to the steps of its incessant walking. This is why, if we want to represent a man who lives the law of the heart, who is centered in the heart and is a visible expression of the heart—the “wise and good father”, or the Hermit—we present him as walking, steadily and without haste. The Hermit of the ninth Card is a man of heart, a solitary man who is walking. Therefore he is a man who has realized in himself the antinomy “knowledge—will” or “contemplation—action”. For the heart is the solution here.” Valentin Tomberg, Meditations on the Tarot, p226

“The highest form of intelligence is meditation, an intense vigilance that liberates the mind from its reactions, and this alone, without any willful intervention, produces a state of tranquillity. This requires an extraordinary energy, which can only appear when there is no conflict in us, when all ideals have completely disappeared, all belief, hope and fear. Then it is not contemplation that arises, but a state of attention in which there is no longer a sense of ‘I,’ someone present to participate in the experience, to identify with it.” Jeanne de Salzmann, Reality of Being, p279

The Dark Night of Contemplation

“The divine light of contemplation, when it beats on the soul, not yet perfectly enlightened, causes spiritual darkness, because it not only surpasses its strength, but because it blinds it and deprives it of its natural perceptions…This is the reason why the illuminating ray of hidden wisdom, when God sends it from Himself into the soul not yet transformed, produces thick darkness in the understanding…The soul, by reason of its impurity, suffers exceedingly when the divine light really shines upon it.” St.John of the Cross in his Dark Night of the Soul, quoted in Meditations on the Tarot, p445-446

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Logion 5
Yeshua says…
Come to know the One in the presence before you,
and everything hidden from you will be revealed.
For there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed,
and nothing buried that will not be raised. 

Logion 17
Yeshua says...
What your own eyes cannot see,
your human ears do not hear,
your physical hands cannot touch,
and what is inconceivable to the human mind--
that I will give to you!

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Quotations from the Gospel of Thomas are from Lynn C Bauman, Ward J Bauman, Cynthia Bourgeault, The Luminous Gospels (Praxis 2008)

Valentin Tomberg, Meditations on the Tarot, Jeremy Tarcher, 1985

Read the Impression introducing the Gospel of Thomas.