I begin with this title because it is my truth.  As a spiritual director, I am often asked about contemplative prayer as a practice.  And, if I tell the truth about it, most of my own seeking life, I have danced a couple of different dances with these ideas, contemplation and contemplative prayer.  One dance looks like an angry Tarantella, with contemplation in the role of the spider.  The other dance looks a lot more like the pas de deux from a grand ballet.  In some situations, the idea of what it means to live in contemplation as expressed by teachers or groups has made me feel excluded, an outsider, because…

I begin with this title because it is my truth.  As a spiritual director, I am often asked about contemplative prayer as a practice.  And, if I tell the truth about it, most of my own seeking life, I have danced a couple of different dances with these ideas, contemplation and contemplative prayer.  One dance looks like an angry Tarantella, with contemplation in the role of the spider.  The other dance looks a lot more like the pas de deux from a grand ballet.  In some situations, the idea of what it means to live in contemplation as expressed by teachers or groups has made me feel excluded, an outsider, because…