Two whole thoughts in one day. Who'd have believed it?
On Wednesday evening the Lent lecture by the excellent Rev'd Hugh Wybrew former Dean of Jerusalem, ended with questions being asked and ably fielded by said Rev.
One question was "what is the difference between meditation and contemplation, which in turn led to a friend commenting on the difference between other seemingly identical words ( or rather words whose meaning appeared to be identical)
These, as well as the original meditation and contemplation were, belief and faith, and absolution and forgiveness.
We each had opinions which differed and on arrival back home I dug out a couple of dictionaries and found them to be virtually useless in terms of differentiation.
Would anyone like to have a shot at any or all three apparent pairs of words.
Go on, you know you want to.
I could be wrong but I view contemplation as being less active than meditation and possibly more long-term - one meditates as a focussed activity over a fixed time but one can be contemplative for life. Maybe?
ReplyDeleteYou are rather spoilt up there in the Home Counties, aren't you, getting Lent Lectures from the erudite likes of Fr. Hugh. Deep envy!
Doorkeeper Hi,
ReplyDeleteYes I agree about contemplation as being less active in fact I view meditation as an exercise which may need a formula, so a 'doing' process, while contemplation for me is 'being', almost without thought if possible.
You're right, we are spoilt and singularly blessed in our(certainly this year's) Lent Lecturers.
Thanks for your thoughts.