In a recorded conference for novice monks at the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, Kentucky, the Trappist monk and writer Thomas Merton suggests that simplicity is both a reward and a method in the life of prayer:

“The life of prayer is […] the simplest possible kind of life. Simplify your mind. Simplify your thinking. Simplify your thinking about yourself and simplify your thinking about life and simplify your thinking about God”

— Thomas Merton