contemplation is union of being

John Michael Talbot is an amazing musician and worshiper. He is also a monk, living in Arkansas and Texas. On his website he wrote: 

Meditation is really part of the ancient Christian heritage of contemplative prayer. Scripture says to, "meditate on the law of the Lord day and night." Jesus spent long hours in solitary meditation and prayer, and teaches on the connection between the mind and the rest of our spiritual life. St. Paul also teaches clearly that the spiritual renewal of the mind is intimately connected with the quality of our entire spiritual life. As scripture also says, "Whatever you think, you will become." 

John Michael Talbot (con't): ...meditation is really pondering the things of God with mind and heart. Contemplation is going beyond thoughts or emotions into pure union of spirit in the Spirit. Meditation speaks of God and creation's knowable and perceptible energies. Contemplation speaks of God and creation's essences beyond the beyond. It is pure union of being in Being. As God is simply I AM, so we simply ARE in him when experiencing contemplation.

...meditation is part of a process of prayer that leads to mystical union with God. The monastic tradition speaks of "sacred reading, vocal prayer, meditation, and contemplation." It begins with reading a sacred text in a prayerful way. This is not like doing a Bible study! It may only involve a short passage, or a sentence, from the sacred text. The source may be scripture, or the writings of a master or saint. The text is taken into the soul, and there it is ruminated...

Here we almost effortlessly pass over into meditation. We use our mind to stir our imagination and our emotions. We visualize the events of the text. We experience the text on an emotional level as we relive the life of Christ, or a saint, or the personalization of their teachings through promptings of the Spirit to greater spiritual life. We may even find our senses experiencing the scene we visualize... the ancients actually recited a text out loud even when they read in private. Thus, "vocal prayer" also is a venerable part of the tradition. When we take the time to even just mouth the words of the text, the temptation to "speed read" the Word of God is minimized, and the opportunity to really meditate is maximized...As we find ourselves caught up in this meditation, we soon enough realize another change has occurred. We have almost effortlessly been transported over into a passive "contemplation" beyond thoughts, emotions, images, forms, or words. This is the place of pure spiritual intuition. Here we simply experience He who IS as we ARE. We simply be with the ultimate Being. Our body and soul have been appropriately used to ramp us over to pure experience of the Spirit of God. This process includes senses, emotions, and thoughts, but goes beyond them all, in a way that fulfills everything.

This is all possible through the authentic experience of Christian meditation.