The contemplative condition

This is what I mean by waiting: It’s not, ‘How long is this going to take with our meditation? When am I going to be enlightened? When am I going to get some wonderful experience?’ it’s not waiting in that impatient, wanting to get it over with or wanting to possess something that we desire as soon as possible. It’s quite the reverse of that. It’s a freedom from that – that is very much conditioned by the ego – but it’s to be free from that and to be able to be in the moment with the reality that we are part of. So we don’t need to be clever, we don’t need to have all the answers, to be in command. This is negative capability, this is poverty of spirit. And this is the contemplative condition, this is part of the contemplative condition.

The Art of Waiting, Laurence Freeman