--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Contemplation, on the contrary, is the…" description: "\"“Contemplation, on the contrary, is the experiential grasp of reality as subjective, not so much “mine” (which would signify “belonging to the external..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a5/thomas-merton-231_contemplation_contemplation-on-the-contrary-is-the-exp_2915938.jpg" --- # Contemplation, on the contrary, is the experiential grasp… ![“Contemplation, on the contrary, is the experiential grasp of reality as subjective, not so much “mine” (which would signify “belonging to the external self”) but “myself” in existential mystery. Contemplation does not arrive at reality after a process of deduction, but by an intuitive awakening in…” quote by Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a5/thomas-merton-231_contemplation_contemplation-on-the-contrary-is-the-exp_2915938.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a5/thomas-merton-231_contemplation_contemplation-on-the-contrary-is-the-exp_2915938.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a5/thomas-merton-231_contemplation_contemplation-on-the-contrary-is-the-exp_2915938.jpg) > ““Contemplation, on the contrary, is the experiential grasp of reality as subjective, not so much “mine” (which would signify “belonging to the external self”) but “myself” in existential mystery. Contemplation does not arrive at reality after a process of deduction, but by an intuitive awakening in which our free and personal reality becomes fully alive to its own existential depths, which open out into the mystery of God.”” [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) ## 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 an intuitive awakening to personal reality, not a logical deduction, revealing deeper existential mystery. **In simple terms:** Intuition reveals self‑mystery. Key Takeaway Practice contemplative mindfulness. Themes spirituality intuition existentialism self‑knowledge Mood tranquil reflective Type spiritual philosophical When to use this quote - meditation - spiritual retreat - creative writing - personal reflection Key Concepts philosophy theology Questions to Reflect On - How does contemplation affect your daily life? - What mysteries emerge through inner silence? A Different Perspective Intuitive insights may lack empirical verification. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Contemplation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contemplation/) [Fully Alive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fully-alive/) [Identity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/identity/) [Meditation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meditation/) [Mystery of god](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mystery-of-god/) ## Related quotes > [“Earthly contemplation means to the Christian, we have said, this above all: that behind all that we directly encounter the Face of the incarnate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-pieper/earthly-contemplation-means-to-the-christian-we-have-said-this-above/) [Josef Pieper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-pieper/) > [“Contemplation does not rest until it has found the object which dazzles it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/konrad-weiss/contemplation-does-not-rest-until-it-has-found-the-object-which/) Konrad Weiss > [What is addressed to us for contemplation does not threaten us, but makes us intellectual beings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/what-is-addressed-to-us-for-contemplation-does-not-threaten-us-but/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Contemplation does not ignore the 'historical Gethsemane', does not ignore the mystery of evil, guilt and its bloody atonement. The happiness of contemplation is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-pieper/contemplation-does-not-ignore-the-historical-gethsemane-does-not/) [Josef Pieper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-pieper/) > [To find love I must enter into the sanctuary where it is hidden, which is the mystery of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/to-find-love-i-must-enter-into-the-sanctuary-where-it-is-hidden-which/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [God is not a Christian, God is not a Jew, or a Muslim, or a Hindu, or a Buddhist. 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Winner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-f-winner/) > [We arc the miracle of miracles, the great inscrutable mystery of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/we-arc-the-miracle-of-miracles-the-great-inscrutable-mystery-of-god/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [Today Christmas has become a commercial celebration, whose bright lights hide the mystery of God’s humility, which in turn calls us to humility and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-benedict-xvi/today-christmas-has-become-a-commercial-celebration-whose-bright/) [Pope Benedict XVI](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-benedict-xvi/) > [There is much in Christianity which can be subjected to exact analysis. But the ultimate things are shrouded in the silent mysteries of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-urs-von-balthasar/there-is-much-in-christianity-which-can-be-subjected-to-exact/) [Hans Urs von Balthasar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-urs-von-balthasar/) > [The mystery of God touches us - or does not - in the smallest details: giving a strawberry, with love; receiving a touch, with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marion-woodman/the-mystery-of-god-touches-us-or-does-not-in-the-smallest-details/) [Marion Woodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marion-woodman/) > [“Doubt is the only force capable of disturbing the seed or impression; to avoid a miscarriage of so wonderful a child, walk in secrecy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neville-goddard/doubt-is-the-only-force-capable-of-disturbing-the-seed-or-impression/) [Neville Goddard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neville-goddard/) ## More by Thomas Merton > [“Let no one hope to find in contemplation an escape from conflict, from anguish or from doubt. On the contrary, the deep, inexpressible certitude…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/let-no-one-hope-to-find-in-contemplation-an-escape-from-conflict-from/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [If nothing that can be seen can either be God or represent Him to us as He is, then to find God we must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/if-nothing-that-can-be-seen-can-either-be-god-or-represent-him-to-us/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [It is almost impossible to overestimate the value of true humility and its power in the spiritual life. For the beginning of humility is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/it-is-almost-impossible-to-overestimate-the-value-of-true-humility/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [We are not perfectly free until we live in pure hope. For when our hope is pure, it no longer trusts exclusively in human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/we-are-not-perfectly-free-until-we-live-in-pure-hope-for-when-our/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [The desire to kill is like the desire to attack another with an ingot of red -hot iron: I have to pick up the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-desire-to-kill-is-like-the-desire-to-attack-another-with-an-ingot/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [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 mission of Christian humility in social life is not merely to edify, but to keep minds open to many alternatives. The rigidity of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-mission-of-christian-humility-in-social-life-is-not-merely-to/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [Peace cannot be built on exclusivism, absolutism, and intolerance. But neither can it be built on vague liberal slogans and pious programs gestated in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/peace-cannot-be-built-on-exclusivism-absolutism-and-intolerance-but/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [Things that are good are good, and if one is responding to that goodness one is in contact with a truth from which one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/things-that-are-good-are-good-and-if-one-is-responding-to-that/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [Love winter when the plant says nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/love-winter-when-the-plant-says-nothing/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy: the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and applause of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-logic-of-worldly-success-rests-on-a-fallacy-the-strange-error/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [“The wisdom of the flesh is a judgement that the ordinary ends of our natural appetites are the goods to which the whole of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-wisdom-of-the-flesh-is-a-judgement-that-the-ordinary-ends-of-our/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [I will no longer wound myself with the thoughts and questions that have surrounded me like thorns: that is a penance You do not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/i-will-no-longer-wound-myself-with-the-thoughts-and-questions-that/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [If you write for God you will reach many men and bring them joy. If you write for men--you may make some money and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/if-you-write-for-god-you-will-reach-many-men-and-bring-them-joy-if/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [“Contemplation means rest, suspension of activity, withdrawal into the mysterious interior solitude in which the soul is absorbed in the immense and fruitful silence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/contemplation-means-rest-suspension-of-activity-withdrawal-into-the/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Explore all 851 Thomas Merton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) ## 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 > [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. 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