With Or Without Discipline

Contemplative prayer is by no means a matter of training in piety, nor does it have anything to do with learning moderation. There is no systematic modesty involved, nor prudence, nor self-control. It offers no guarantee about any sort of ability to recollect something. Nor does it pay dividends in inner peace. It is not meant to condition anyone to any sort of lifestyle. In fact, contemplative prayer does not begin until each of these leave off. Each of these, along with any formal, historic discipline that may be associated with them, may be useful, but they are not what contemplative prayer is about in the least, much less the moralistic ideologies that mostly men generate to justify their participation in them.

Conversely, getting rid of discipline results in a casualness that is likewise an affront to contemplation's weaving of our lives. Without discipline, without structure, without form there is no serious reality. This may have temporary benefits. There are seasons for permissiveness. But in the end half-formed aspirations, sneaking suspicions, and unrecognized fears and resentments will undercut love and the dangers of a lack of form of prayer will prove overwhelmingly regressive.