I’ve always loved how Richard Rohr speaks of contemplative prayer and mysticism as “experiential knowledge” about God.

Contemplation is not intellectual. It’s not “heady” or overly sophisticated.

It’s simple.

It’s basic.

It’s human.

And it’s all about direct experience.

Contemplative prayer is about experiencing God as the very Source of our own inner being.

It reminds me of the quote from mindfulness teacher and Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh who said:

“Discussing God is not the best use of our energy…if we touch the Holy Spirit, we touch God not as a concept but as a living reality.” [1]

This is contemplation…actually touching the Divine, not thinking about God or praying to God or reading a book about prayer.

It’s not “conceptual,” merely of the mind, but more immediate and experiential: mind, body, heart, and soul.

It’s slowing down to be ‘touch’ and be ‘touched’ by God.

But in order to know this experience, we need to slow down.

We need to slow back into a human tempo- into our own essential nature.

We need to learn to be still and know.

I hope you find some time today to slow down and just be, opening to God as the root of your own self, finding God beyond the mind and as the very Life of your life.

Direct experience.