“Aligning contemplative practices with this self-awareness brings about incredible personal liberation. Taking time to pause and create a spirituality marked by solitude, silence, and stillness reminds us who we truly are, in the best sense of our True Self.”

Heuertz, Christopher L. The Sacred Enneagram: Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2017, p. 181.

When I first copied this note, I titled it “freedom in and from contemplation.” I don’t know now whether I meant ‘from’ as in ‘as a result of’ or as in ‘that protects us against.’ Maybe both senses of ‘from’ work. I mean, we don’t want to just pile on another legalism that demands we do contemplative practice this way or not at all. Where would the Gospel be in that?