A spiritual practice [like contemplation] simply disposes us to allow something to take place.
A gardener practices certain gardening skills that facilitate growth that is beyond the gardener’s direct control. In a similar way, a sailor cannot produce the necessary wind that moves the boat. A sailor practices sailing skills that harness the gift of wind that brings the sailor home, but there is nothing the sailor can do to make the wind blow.
And so it is with contemplative practice, not a technique, but a skill. The skill required is interior silence.
— Martin Laird, Into the Silent Land
