The Christian contemplative tradition seeks balance not pure withdrawal

Evidence

Counter to what Arendt claims, the Christian tradition does not attach importance exclusively to vita contemplativa. Rather, the aim is to strike a balance between vita activa and vita contemplativa. … One must know, if a good course of life requires that one pass from the active to the contemplative life, then it is often useful when the soul returns from the contemplative to the active life in such a way that the flame of contemplation lighted in the heart confers its entire perfection on activity. Thus, the active life must lead to contemplation, but contemplation must proceed from what we have observed within and calls us back to activity. — Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society, 152

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Ritualized rehydration of specimens becomes a contemplative act of homage — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural…, 196