**\#️⃣ Tags:** #Dictionary #Philosophy #Wisdom > **🌱 Planted:** Wed 18 June 2025 --- ***Contemplation, or Theoria (θεωρία), is the practice of beholding reality for its own sake.*** In the ancient Greek understanding, contemplation represents our highest capacity as human beings. It isn't contemplation as in thinking about something as one would think when the word is heard. A great way to describe it is the difference between studying a flower to classify its species (for an outcome) versus sitting quietly with the same flower and allowing it to reveal its essence to you (for its own sake). When we contemplate, we temporarily set aside our usual agenda of judging, using, or fixing, and instead open ourselves to receive what is already there in the present moment. Unlike action (praxis) or production (poiesis), contemplation is characterised by stillness, receptivity, and [[Presence]]. It doesn't seek to control, force, use or improve what is observed, instead, it allows reality to unfold and be seen exactly as it is. It is the highest form of human activity not because it produces results, but because it returns us to [[Truth, Beauty, and Goodness are properties of being which reveal the true nature of reality|Truth, Beauty, and Goodness]]. # See Also - [[Truth, Beauty & Goodness]] - [[Poetic Attunement]]