"But true contemplation is not produced by images or clear representations in the soul. It is the experience of an immediate spiritual union with God, a union which can only be effected by God and which is essentially a union of supernatural charity. Needless to say, no spirit other than God Himself can unit himself immediately to the soul, and no one but God can infuse supernatural charity into the soul. True contemplation is, then, the experience of a union that is so purely and perfectly supernatural that no created nature could possibility bring it about."

Thomas Merton, The Ascent to Truth, p. 79