As a kid, I would sigh anytime the word contemplation came up. It usually meant sitting quietly in the church in silence. So boring.
Unfortunately, I didn't study philosophy at school, so I learned about Plato and his concept of contemplation later in life. I'm not sure it would have made those hours of motionless silence less boring, but maybe a bit more meaningful.
For Plato, contemplation was a form of intellectual and spiritual discipline that aimed to purify the soul and elevate it to a higher understanding of reality. It was how humans could apprehend all things' perfect and unchanging essence.
We all learn how to acquire knowledge through sensory experience or reasoning. Contemplation, however, is something completely different. It is a direct, intuitive perception of the essence of things.
Plato believed that contemplation was essential for human happiness and fulfilment. Through it, humans could escape the material world's limitations and achieve a state of perfect knowledge and goodness, a state often described as a mystical union with the divine.
Lately, I've rediscovered the magical power of contemplation. The beauty of staying and contemplating reality as it is, resisting the temptation to understand or explain it. Initially, I used to do it hoping to receive something in the form of an insight or idea, and I often ended up disappointed when nothing came up. Now, I know that something always happens in contemplation; it just takes time for my mind to become aware of it.
If you want to innovate yourself and don't know where to start, practice contemplation regularly.