Surrender

There is a certain order that the contemplative life needs to be taken in. First and foremost is in yielding oneself to the possibility of direct union with God. While you may promote this as much as you like based upon readying yourself through prayer and solitude, in truth it may come at any time and in any fashion because it really depends absolutely on God, although loneliness, emptiness, exile from distractions, and freedom from subjection to other people often are good ideas. Direct confrontation with the baffling mystery of God sets the tone in all of this, and as such cannot be forced, but simply surrendered to.