"Contemplation," or “meditation” in some groups, was rediscovered in contemporary times beginning with the writings of Thomas Merton in the 1950s and 1960s. The word most Christians are more familiar with is simply "prayer."

Unfortunately, in the West, prayer had become something functional; something you did to achieve a desired effect—which too often puts the ego back in charge. As soon as you make prayer a way to get what you want, you’re not moving into any kind of new state of consciousness. It's the same old consciousness, but now well disguised: "How can I get God to do what I want God to do?" It's the egocentric self deciding what it needs, but now, instead of just manipulating everybody else, it tries to manipulate God.