Quotes about Contemplation

You do not have to sit outside in the dark. If, however, you want to look at the stars, you will find that darkness is required. The stars neither require it nor demand it. ANNIE DILLARD

In The Gutenberg Elegies, Sven Birkerts laments the loss of "deep reading," which requires intense concentration, a conscious lowering of the gates of perception, and a slower pace.

Now if you want a book about prayer, this one's probably not for you. You can find some wonderful books on prayer by some scholarly writers, books that are well worth the time spent reading them. In fact, I highly suggest you do. Can't really learn too much about prayer, can you? But here, in these pages, we aren't going to merely talk about prayer or think about praying. No. Get ready.

fixing our thoughts on Jesus requires time, for true reflection cannot happen with a glance. No one can see the beauty of the country as he hurries through it on the interstate. It is only when we sit still and gaze that the landscape fills our souls.

Atheism is the last word of theism.

My mind withdrew its thoughts from experience, extracting itself from the contradictory throng of sensuous images, that it might find out what that light was wherein it was bathed... And thus, with the flash of one hurried glance, it attained to the vision of That Which Is.

For instance, when I think and meditate on what I saw at the cross, that will do it. And when I look at my embroidered coat, that will do it. Plus, when I read and study the scroll I carry in my pocket next to my heart, that will do it. When my thoughts are warmly stimulated about where I am going, that will do it too.

I strongly encourage you to find a place to think and to discipline yourself to pause and use it, because it has the potential to change your life. It can help you to figure out what's really important and what isn't. As writer and Catholic priest Henri J. M. Nouwen observed, "When you are able to create a lonely place in the middle of your actions and concerns, your successes and failures slowly can lose some of their power over you.

Stopping to reflect is one of the most valuable activities people can do to grow.

To be always seeking after the useful does not become free and exalted souls.

Another real danger to young men is thoughtlessness and lack of consideration. Lack of thought is one simple reason why thousands of souls are cast away forever. Men will not consider,-will not look forward,-will not look around them,-will not reflect on the end of their present course, and the sure consequences of their present ways,-and awake at last to find they are damned for lack of thinking.

I want the times we live in to be praying times. I want the Christians of our day to be praying Christians. I want the Church of our age to be a praying Church.