--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Spiritual reading, discursive meditation…" description: "\"“Spiritual reading, discursive meditation, and prayer prepare our hearts for contemplation. Contemplation is a state of realized oneness with God. When..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce8/james-finley-33778_contemplation_spiritual-reading-discursive-meditation_2280540.jpg" --- # Spiritual reading, discursive meditation, and prayer… ![“Spiritual reading, discursive meditation, and prayer prepare our hearts for contemplation. Contemplation is a state of realized oneness with God. When engaged in contemplation, we rest in God resting in us. We are at home in God at home in us. Our role in contemplation is essentially receptive, in…” quote by James Finley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce8/james-finley-33778_contemplation_spiritual-reading-discursive-meditation_2280540.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce8/james-finley-33778_contemplation_spiritual-reading-discursive-meditation_2280540.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce8/james-finley-33778_contemplation_spiritual-reading-discursive-meditation_2280540.jpg) > ““Spiritual reading, discursive meditation, and prayer prepare our hearts for contemplation. Contemplation is a state of realized oneness with God. When engaged in contemplation, we rest in God resting in us. We are at home in God at home in us. Our role in contemplation is essentially receptive, in that when we are engaged in contemplation we receive a gift of divine awareness. Contemplation, in its essentially receptive aspect, is sometimes referred to as mystical experience or mystical prayer. The word mystical, as used in the classical Christian texts, does not refer to having visions, hearing God’s voice, or experiencing any other similar, extraordinary events. Although these kinds of experiences can and do occur, they do not necessarily arise from God, and even when they do, they can become hindrances if we cling to them. The Christian mystics use the terms contemplation and mystical union with God to refer not to visions and other similar experiences, but rather to a life-transforming realization of oneness with God. In this mystical realization of oneness with God we are liberated from our tendencies to derive our security and identity from anything less than God. In specifically Christian terms, we enter the mind of Christ, who realized oneness with God to be the reality of himself and of everyone and everything around him.”” [James Finley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-finley/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Contemplation is a receptive, prayerful state that brings a deep sense of unity with God, distinct from extraordinary mystical visions, fostering inner peace and divine awareness. **In simple terms:** Contemplation is a receptive prayerful unity with God. Key Takeaway Cultivate receptive prayer for inner peace. Themes spirituality unity inner peace Mood peaceful reflective Type spiritual philosophical When to use this quote - daily meditation - spiritual retreats - quiet reflection - faith practice Key Concepts Mystical union receptive prayer Questions to Reflect On - How can you stay grounded in everyday life? - What does receptive prayer mean to you? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on mystical experiences can distract from true contemplative depth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Contemplation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contemplation/) [Contemplation Contemplation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contemplation-contemplation-660813/) [Contemplation Mystical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contemplation-mystical-2803433/) [God'S Voice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/god-s-voice/) [Meditation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meditation/) [Mystical Realization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mystical-realization-1882867/) [Prayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prayer/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Spiritual reading](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spiritual-reading/) [Terms Contemplation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/terms-contemplation-5321024/) ## Related quotes > [This is an essential experience of any mystical realization. You die to your flesh and are born into your spirit. You identify yourself with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/this-is-an-essential-experience-of-any-mystical-realization-you-die/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [Have a sense of piety ever on your mind, and be ever mindful that this is subject to no change, but will last you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-boswell/have-a-sense-of-piety-ever-on-your-mind-and-be-ever-mindful-that-this/) [James Boswell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-boswell/) > [“us. The good of contemplation is contemplation—not some result that it may bring.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-wilson-watts/us-the-good-of-contemplation-is-contemplation-not-some-result-that-it/) [Alan Wilson Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-wilson-watts/) > [Spirituality lies in regarding existence merely as a vehicle for contemplation, and contemplation merely a vehicle for joy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/spirituality-lies-in-regarding-existence-merely-as-a-vehicle-for/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [What distinguishes - in both senses of that word - contemplation is rather this: it is a knowing which is inspired by love. "Without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-pieper/what-distinguishes-in-both-senses-of-that-word-contemplation-is/) [Josef Pieper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-pieper/) > [“First, it has been charged with inviting people to remain in a kind of desperate quietism because, since no solutions are possible, we should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/first-it-has-been-charged-with-inviting-people-to-remain-in-a-kind-of/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) > [Because of Christianity the West has missed many things, and one of them is meditation, the rarest flowering of a human being, because they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/because-of-christianity-the-west-has-missed-many-things-and-one-of/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [“To pay no attention to health of body but only that of soul. To plan day on arising and evening examination of conscience. More…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-day/to-pay-no-attention-to-health-of-body-but-only-that-of-soul-to-plan/) [Dorothy Day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-day/) > [“Only God knows the good that can come about by reading one good Catholic book.” — St. John Bosco”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-john-bosco/only-god-knows-the-good-that-can-come-about-by-reading-one-good-2/) [St. John Bosco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-john-bosco/) > [Don't consider me too demanding if I ask you once again to set great store by holy books and read them as much as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pio-of-pietrelcina/don-t-consider-me-too-demanding-if-i-ask-you-once-again-to-set-great/) [Pio of Pietrelcina](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pio-of-pietrelcina/) > [Spiritual reading is a regular, essential part of the life of prayer, and particularly is it the support of adoring prayer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evelyn-underhill/spiritual-reading-is-a-regular-essential-part-of-the-life-of-prayer/) [Evelyn Underhill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evelyn-underhill/) > [Only God knows the good that can come about by reading one good Catholic book.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-bosco/only-god-knows-the-good-that-can-come-about-by-reading-one-good/) [John Bosco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-bosco/) > [“There is another reason also why the soul has traveled safely in this obscurity; it has suffered: for the way of suffering is safer,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-john-of-the-cross/there-is-another-reason-also-why-the-soul-has-traveled-safely-in-this/) [Saint John of the Cross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-john-of-the-cross/) > [“Spiritual reading, therefore, is slow, deliberate, meditative reading in which we allow the words to penetrate our heart and question our spirit.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-j-m-nouwen/spiritual-reading-therefore-is-slow-deliberate-meditative-reading-in/) [Henri J.M. Nouwen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-j-m-nouwen/) > [“Liturgy puts us to work along with all the others who have been and are being put to work in the world by and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugene-h-peterson/liturgy-puts-us-to-work-along-with-all-the-others-who-have-been-and/) [Eugene H. Peterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugene-h-peterson/) ## More by James Finley > [“We give God a name. We then equate God with the name we have given him, and in doing so we make ourselves, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-finley/we-give-god-a-name-we-then-equate-god-with-the-name-we-have-given-him/) [James Finley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-finley/) > [“It is little wonder then that the term "religious" is often a pejorative one indicating an escapist, self-righteous, other-worldly or perhaps superstitious stance toward…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-finley/it-is-little-wonder-then-that-the-term-religious-is-often-a/) [James Finley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-finley/) > [“How strange God's ways are! He calls us to a union we do not understand. 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For the more we are transformed in compassion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-finley/compassion-forms-the-essential-bond-between-seeking-god-in-meditation/) [James Finley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-finley/) > [“Compassion is the love that recognizes and goes forth to identify with the preciousness of all that is lost and broken within ourselves and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-finley/compassion-is-the-love-that-recognizes-and-goes-forth-to-identify/) [James Finley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-finley/) > [The depths of the self are the heights of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-finley/the-depths-of-the-self-are-the-heights-of-god/) [James Finley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-finley/) > [“We can say that, for Merton, religion refers to our deepest reality which lies hidden in our innate propensity for union with God. Our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-finley/we-can-say-that-for-merton-religion-refers-to-our-deepest-reality/) [James Finley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-finley/) > [As you expand your meditation practice, in concert with your faith, you will find that these divine moments come more often, until you are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-finley/as-you-expand-your-meditation-practice-in-concert-with-your-faith-you/) [James Finley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-finley/) > [“All that we can do with any spiritual discipline is produce within ourselves something of the silence, the humility, the detachment, the purity of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-finley/all-that-we-can-do-with-any-spiritual-discipline-is-produce-within/) [James Finley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-finley/) > [If we are absolutely grounded in the absolute love of God that protects us from nothing even as it sustains us in all things,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-finley/if-we-are-absolutely-grounded-in-the-absolute-love-of-god-that/) [James Finley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-finley/) > [“This disappearance, this annihilation is all a matter of appearances as seen through the eyes of the false self. The annihilation is only apparent,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-finley/this-disappearance-this-annihilation-is-all-a-matter-of-appearances/) [James Finley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-finley/) > [“In our zeal to become the landlords of our own being, we cling to each achievement as a kind of verification of our self-proclaimed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-finley/in-our-zeal-to-become-the-landlords-of-our-own-being-we-cling-to-each/) [James Finley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-finley/) > [Meditation is a way of slowing down so as to descend into the depths of yourself in the present moment, where God lies waiting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-finley/meditation-is-a-way-of-slowing-down-so-as-to-descend-into-the-depths/) [James Finley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-finley/) [Explore all 14 James Finley quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-finley/) ## More Contemplation quotes > [“Inside every pause lived a contemplation”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-jerome-dickey/inside-every-pause-lived-a-contemplation/) [Eric Jerome Dickey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-jerome-dickey/) > [... Arthur Gride, whose bleared eyes gloated only over the outward beauties, and were blind to the spirit which reigned within, evinced - a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/arthur-gride-whose-bleared-eyes-gloated-only-over-the-outward/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [“Let no one hope to find in contemplation an escape from conflict, from anguish or from doubt. 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No hand, except its own, can dissolve the fabric of beauty in which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/poetical-taste-is-the-only-magician-whose-wand-is-not-broken-no-hand/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [Catholicity seized on man... and the mystics, transcending all, taught him to ascend on high with the wings of contemplation the Ladder of Jacob…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juan-donoso-cortes/catholicity-seized-on-man-and-the-mystics-transcending-all-taught-him/) [Juan Donoso Cortes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juan-donoso-cortes/) > [To enter into the realm of contemplation one must in a certain sense die: but this death is in fact the entrance to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/to-enter-into-the-realm-of-contemplation-one-must-in-a-certain-sense/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [The whole of life is a journey toward youthful old age, toward self-contemplation, love, gaiety, and, in a fundamental sense, the most gratifying time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashley-montagu/the-whole-of-life-is-a-journey-toward-youthful-old-age-toward-self/) [Ashley Montagu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashley-montagu/) > [“Yet that grief and this joy were alike outside all the ordinary conditions of life; they were loop-holes, as it were, in that ordinary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/yet-that-grief-and-this-joy-were-alike-outside-all-the-ordinary/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [Everyone who wants to know what will happen ought to examine what has happened: everything in this world in any epoch has their replicas…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niccolo-machiavelli/everyone-who-wants-to-know-what-will-happen-ought-to-examine-what-has/) [Niccolo Machiavelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niccolo-machiavelli/) > [We must not imitate the externals of nature with so much fidelity that the picture fails to evoke that wonderful teasing recurrence of emotion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-f-carlson/we-must-not-imitate-the-externals-of-nature-with-so-much-fidelity/) [John F. Carlson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-f-carlson/) > [As objects of contemplation, images of the atrocious can answer to several different needs. To steel oneself against weakness. To make oneself more numb.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/as-objects-of-contemplation-images-of-the-atrocious-can-answer-to/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [I think the church should strive to give parishioners good music. Music is as necessary for worship as a building with a beautiful altar,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-brubeck/i-think-the-church-should-strive-to-give-parishioners-good-music/) [Dave Brubeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-brubeck/) > [ My contemplation of life and human nature in that secluded place \[cell 54 of Cairo Central Prison\] taught me that he who cannot change… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anwar-sadat/my-contemplation-of-life-and-human-nature-in-that-secluded-place-cell/) [Anwar Sadat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anwar-sadat/) > [You cannot grow in the integrative dance of action and contemplation without a strong tolerance for ambiguity, an ability to allow, forgive, and contain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/you-cannot-grow-in-the-integrative-dance-of-action-and-contemplation/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) [Browse all 960 Contemplation quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contemplation/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Spiritual reading, discursive meditation, and prayer prepare our hearts for contemplation. 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