An important question

This question, how long does it take, is a question that arises from a more secular or technological approach to contemplative practice rather than the approach that the Christian contemplative tradition teaches and encourages, which is to think of meditation not as a technique that’s going to take six weeks but as a discipline, as a path or a way that really has no limit to it. So that’s the starting point for our essential teaching. The question, “how long does it take?” is an important one, because people can become disappointed, discouraged, because they think they’re not making any progress. Or they give up at a certain point because they feel it’s dry or it’s not producing results. Or if the introduction to the practice has not been sufficiently informed or sufficiently deep, then the meditator may give up when they hit a difficult period in their lives.

( Breakthrough, by Laurence Freeman )