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39What is contemplation?Contemplation is thinking about something (a noble thought, a problem, a philosophical idea) or simply letting the mind wander from one idea to the next with no particular direction.Religious meditation can be a kind of contemplation%u2014dwelling on the truths and principles of one%u2019s religion.Isn%u2019t that what people mean by %u201cmeditation%u201d?To many people, yes. Some may call contemplating on this or that topic a kind of meditation. Others may consider quiet reflection to be meditation, while still others consider relaxing thoughts and daydreams to be meditation.But Transcendental Meditation is not a form of contemplating or zoning out. TM is a very specific eyes-closed practice, very different from any of these other mental activities.Transcendental Meditation is a specific way of using the mind to launch transcending.What about mindfulness?There are many different kinds of mindfulness practice. In general, mindfulness is a kind of contemplation that can be described as %u201copen monitoring%u201d%u2014directing the attention to monitor the flow of experience while maintaining an attitude of being nonjudgmental.Well, isn%u2019t that just the same as TM?Emphatically no. It%u2019s a different process, and it produces different results.