When Leonardo da Vinci was painting "The Last Supper," he would sometimes stand before the fresco for hours deep in contemplation. Days passed and he did not take up a brush. These apparently dilatory methods annoyed both the overseer of the work and the duke, his patron. They remonstrated with the artist, urging him to get on with the picture and spend fewer idle hours. Leonardo's reply was that, though they might not think it, he was actually accomplishing most when he seemed most idle.
It was during those periods of contemplation that the artist gained the vision which made this painting the priceless masterpiece that it is. It is our daily periods of spiritual contemplation, when we realize God's, Mind's, allness, our oneness with that Mind, and the unreality of all that is unlike good, that will enable us to live our lives so that they will be masterpieces in the art of real living.
A primary and fundamental element of prayer is individual quiet recognition of spiritual truth. One means of attaining this recognition is spiritual meditation or contemplation. Two individuals driving through a beautiful countryside may differ in their readiness to recognize their attractive surroundings. One sees only the road and the traffic, recognizing little of interest. The other, recognizing the beauties of nature, drinks in with satisfaction the ever-changing scenes. It is wise and helpful to begin each day with a recognition of the beauties of spiritual reality, expecting progressive unfolding of infinite Mind's priceless treasures, for these are ours only through recognition of their ever-presence.
