"Contemplation is precisely calling that ordinary mind into question and saying this thing you call thinking cannot get you there. We need a different operating system, and it both begins with silence and leads to silence.
"In my book,The Naked Now, I called non-silence 'dualistic thinking,' where everything is separated into opposites, like life and death. The dualistic mind is almost the only mind left in the West. We even think it is what it means to be educated — to be very good at dualistic thinking — but it is what Jesus and Buddha would call judgmental thinking (Matthew 7:1-5), and why they both strongly warn us against it.
"Dualistic thinking is operative almost all of the time. It is when you choose one side, or temperamentally prefer one side, and then call the other side of the equation false, wrong, heresy, or untrue. It is often something to which you have not yet been exposed, or it threatens you or your ego in a way, or is beyond your education. The dualistic mind splits the moment and forbids the dark side, the mysterious, the paradoxical. This is the common level of conversation that we have in the world. Basically, it lacks humility and patience, and it is the complete opposite of contemplation.
"Non-dual thinking is precisely contemplation. It is not a very inspiring term for what we thought was prayer, but it is a clinically descriptive word of exactly what is happening. The Holy Spirit frees you from taking sides and allows you to remain content in the partial darkness of every situation long enough to let it teach you, broaden you, and enrich you. You have to practice for many years, and make many mistakes in the meantime, to learn how to do this. Paul beautifully speaks of it in Philippians (4:6-7): 'Pray with gratitude and the peace of Christ, which is beyond knowledge or understanding ("the making of distinctions"), will guard both your mind and your heart in Christ Jesus.' It is all right there in concise form. Teachers of contemplation teach you how to stand guard and not let your emotions and obsessive thoughts control you.
"When you're thinking non-dualistically, with this guarded mind and heart, you will feel poor for a moment, and you will also be stunned into an embarrassing silence."
