Infinite Reality and Finite Mind

Is contemplating the same as thinking?

We use thinking as a tool, but the knowing that arises because of its use is above and beyond the process of thinking; it leads to our not being fooled by our thinking any more. You recognize that all thinking is merely the movement of the mind, and also that the knowing is not born and doesn’t die. What do you think all this movement called ‘mind’ comes out of? What we talk about as the mind --- all the activity --- is just the conventional mind. It’s not the real mind at all. It is real just IS, it’s not arising at and it’s not passing away.

Ajahn Chan: SEEING THE WAY

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My understanding is that most contemplation practices are about concentrated thinking on an object, phrase, word, icon or other material object. As my practice evolves I can see that what is achieved by doing so can lead to the same results as meditations focusing on the breath. A good friend insists that these are all material and that he practices contemplation on God (envisioning his compassion, wisdom, grace or higher consciousness and etc.) as though these are somehow different from any other material manifestations. Words are just words and, as Marshal McLuhan was at one time often quoted, “words are the map and not the territory.” In this case the word God is but the map of a higher consciousness, a higher power, and I believe even these to be a rather inadequate ones at that. I look at these words closely and find that some roads are no longer there in the territory and that new ones are not yet on the map at all. God is a territory I must travel to know. If I want to get the bigger picture I can Google up one but it is still not the same as actually going to the place. Words are but our limited perceptions and not the infinite reality that can never be completely known with the finite mind. When I sit, I access the terrain, the feel, to sense what it is to be one with God.

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