In explaining what 'contemplation' and the 'contemplative life,' are,
the renowned Trappist monk, Thomas Merton, wrote that contemplation is "a more profound depth of faith; a knowledge too deep to be grasped in images or words, or even in clear concepts."
"Contemplation," he observed, "is the highest expression of man's
intellectual and spiritual life. It is that life itself, fully awake, fully active, fully aware that it is alive. It is spiritual wonder. It is spontaneous awe at the sacredness of life, of being. It is gratitude for life, for awareness, and for being. It is a vivid realization of the fact that life and being in us proceed from an invisible, transcendent and infinitely abundant source."
"Contemplation is, above all, awareness of the reality of that source. It knows the source, obscurely, inexplicably, but with a certitude that goes beyond both reason and beyond simple faith. For contemplation is a kind of spiritual vision to which both reason and faith aspire by their very nature, because without it they must always remain incomplete."
(See full article and attached videos at:
http://www.facebook.com/l/daca1QR4SWMetJbHx_29vFcnbvQ/spiritualblissblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/thomas-merton-on-contemplation-and.html)