Spiritual Methodology

Concerning the influence of the scientific method of monasticism: "The idea was that if you set up the right conditions, a kind of laboratory for prayer, and if you carried out the experiment according to instructions, you would get the desired result....  This concept has by now evolved into the simple pharmacology of contemplation: you take the right pill and you turn on. Hence the idea of discipline was corrupted into a kind of methodology, and ....instead of really praying and meditating, people became obsessed with their 'method' and observed themselves at prayer.....  This transformation of discipline in a broad, human measure and in a theological climate of love and grace into a methodology of will and concentration has been fatal to Catholic contemplation."

~Thomas Merton, Contemplation in a World of Action