As a first step. we might investigate what we mean by the two above-mentioned practices, before we are able to understand their common ground. Although it seems hopeless to define them meaningfully and briefly, we nevertheless should dare the impossible in order to clarify our current belief system and bring it into movement.
A first attempt:
Contemplation is a practice to unite the finite with the infinite. Philosophical practice is a dialogic way of meeting another person in his existential freedom. Both lead to the experience of being touched – touched in the center of our being. Is therefore the center of our being this common objective we are looking for?
I am a German philosopher, a board member of the International Society for Philosophical Practice (IGPP), and alumnus of the first education course of the German professional association on philosophical practice. I am dedicated to exploring ways to approach the fathomless, or what the ancients called “the One.”
Personal contact via email: gerald.drhofer@web.de