Contemplatives warn us not to begin on the inward adventure without the strong promptings of the Spirit, but they believe that an inner quickening of life happens as one wills to take time to tend the small seed in one’s self which harbors the faith that there is infinitely more than we can now see or understand. That seed can die, or it can grow and shoot forth branches. When the mystics speak of prayer, they are talking about that which will create in us a new structure of consciousness. From this there is no turning back.