“The artist is always the contemplative—the one who sees what is there. The uninhibited three-year-old, stopping with enthralled gaze to watch an insect, or some activity in the street, is also a contemplative. If we could recover that lost capacity to look, which we all once had, we might be able to penetrate to the heart of matters.”

–Elizabeth O’Connor, Cry Pain, Cry Hope (1987), p. 140