“Just as all sane men instinctively seek, in some way or other, the awakening of their true inner self, so all valid social forms of religion attempt, in some manner, to provide a situation in which each member of the worshiping group can rise above the group and above himself, to find himself and all the rest on a higher level. This implies that all truly serious and spiritual forms of religion aspire at least implicitly to a contemplative awakening both of the individual and of the group. But those forms of religious and liturgical worship which have lost their initial impulse of fervor tend more and more to forget their contemplative purpose, and to attach exclusive importance to rites and forms for their own sake, or for the sake of the effect which they are believed to exercise on the One Who is worshiped.” (Merton, Thomas. The Inner Experience: Notes on Contemplation. Edited and with an Introduction by William H. Shannon. NY: HarperOne, 2003, pp 25-26)

Both the hermit and the Church should be seeking and allowing the inner true self. But, as Merton says, some ways of being/doing church have forgotten this central purpose. Those congregations, denominations, and individuals tend more towards legalistic re-creation of stale, static forms, towards the parroting of formulae. That is, they tend away from contemplation.