Surveying with the eyes or in the mind an object, a truth, a beauty, an idea or the Divine. There can also be auditory and tactile objects of contemplation such as music and the sensation of internal or external heat.
Contemplation is an operation of the cognitive powers, and may involve bodily senses, imagination, or intellect. By reason of delight in the object contemplated, it may overflow into the appetitive faculties of emotions and will and, if intense and prolonged enough, affect the body itself (e.g. cause neglect of physical circumstances). As a type of knowledge, it is experimental and connatural, intuitive or immediate, rather than discursive. In the purely natural order, i.e. excluding the supernatural, it finds its highest expression in the operation or presence of wisdom or in aesthetic response. In other words, it both attracts and is attracted to truth and beauty. Whether the truth contemplated be of the sensible order, the intellectual order, or the supernatural order, contemplation in its philosophical modes is not the study of a truth by discursive reasoning, but a consideration and delight in truth already grasped; not usually directed to the practical life of action, but a speculative, disinterested, and sometimes delighted gaze upon such truth itself. Contemplation involves the following elements: (a) on the part of the object contemplated: truth or some aspect thereof sought for its own sake; (b) on the part of the faculty used: the speculative intellect, not limited in its function as a reasoning power but intuitive vision, though utilizing other cognitive powers as auxiliaries; (c) as a relationship: adherence or a loving gaze that arouses delight and admiration, extending to the appetitive powers by which the delight is intensified. Contemplation may be divided into the following types: aesthetic contemplation, which is the delightful vision of truth under the aspect of its beauty (although this is a distraction called prelest by the early Church fathers); philosophical or scientific contemplation, which is delightful vision of truth in the natural order; theological contemplation, which is the intuitive gaze of the spiritual reality or as known through a reason enlightened by faith; acquired supernatural contemplation, which is the blessed or beatific simple gaze upon God or the One as known through faith and experienced through love; mystical infused contemplation, which is the intuitive experience of communion of Self with God attained through the active virtues or works of faith, charity, and hope, and the charismatic gifts grace of of wisdom and understanding. The contemplation normally signified in the vocabulary of traditional ascetic or mystical theology is restricted to that which has God as its object, and God as experienced through the supernatural virtues or gifts, or, in other words, acquired supernatural contemplation and mystical infused contemplation. In some schemes meditation refers to natural activities of the mind, contemplation to supernatural, and concentration to ineffable mystical experience.
Religious mystics and monastic groups of all religious traditions use some former state of contemplation in their disciplines. Contemplative and pseudo-contemplative elements exist in many self-improvement courses and cults.
Contemplation can create the internal detachment, calm and benevolence needed to constructively participate in social change.
Contemplation leads to an appreciation of existence. It breaks down barriers and mutes aggression.
Such an outlook arises from faith in the God of life, who has created every individual as a "wonder" (cf. Ps 139:14). It is the outlook of those who see life in its deeper meaning, who grasp its utter gratuitousness, its beauty and its invitation to freedom and responsibility. It is the outlook of those who do not presume to take possession of reality but instead accept it as a gift, discovering in all things the reflection of the Creator and seeing in every person his living image (cf. Gen 1:27; Ps 8:5). This outlook does not give in to discouragement when confronted by those who are sick, suffering, outcast or at death's door. Instead, in all these situations it feels challenged to find meaning, and precisely in these circumstances it is open to perceiving in the face of every person a call to encounter, dialogue and solidarity. It is time for all of us to adopt this outlook, and with deep religious awe to rediscover the ability to revere and honour every person, as Paul VI invited us to do in one of his first Christmas messages. 108 Inspired by this contemplative outlook, the new people of the redeemed cannot but respond with songs of joy, praise and thanksgiving for the priceless gift of life, for the mystery of every individual's call to share through Christ in the life of grace and in an existence of unending communion with God our Creator and Father. (Papal Encyclical, Evangelium Vitae, 25 March 1995).
As with any spiritual or intellectual discipline, contemplation can become an end in itself, resulting in social passivity and withdrawal.
Contemplation glorifies individual intellectualism at the cost of active social engagement.