Do you meditate or contemplate?
What is the difference in application?
How might the outcomes differ?
Recently we were asked what is the difference between meditation and contemplation. In many ways people meditating are contemplating – and people contemplating are meditating. Confused? Not surprising really. Many people find it difficult to tell the difference.
True meditation is the ability to relax the mind and enter a deeper state of awareness than the physical. It allows us to access all levels of our being by following certain steps and practices. In repeating these we go deeper and deeper into our centre of awareness – the heart of our being.
Contemplation is the art of deep reflective thought.You think about something until you find answers or more understanding through the mind, not the heart. In other words you use the mind in contemplation and relax the mind in meditation.
Of course you don’t tell it to stop working! by using specific techniques – and these vary according to the type of meditation – your mind learns to stand down. It is no longer on duty trying to protect you. It can relax knowing you are safe and allow you to enter into your heart awareness where you may go deeper and deeper into understanding All That Is. It is never critical or jealous, only warm, safe and accepting.
With meditation there it always more to uncover, explore and enjoy beyond your imagination. With contemplation there is more to uncover and explore, limited by your ability to understand.