“And do not evaluate, measure, or judge your periods of contemplative prayer. In our achievement-oriented society, we’ll probably begin to pray with a superficial concern for results in a futile attempt to discern if our investment of time and energy was worth it. Did it produce any luminous insight or any extraordinary experience? That kind of spiritual materialism will disappear, the ego will be purified, and self-consciousness will fade through the practice of daily prayer.

“Just show up and shut up.”

– Brennan Manning in The Signature of Jesus.