Meditation and Contemplation

Meditation

Meditation is a discipline of consciousness, beyond the conditioned, "thinking" mind, in a state of relaxation. It often involves turning attention to a single point of reference. Meditation is recognized as a component of almost all religions, and has been practiced for over 5,000 years. It is also practiced outside religious traditions. Different meditative disciplines encompass a wide range of spiritual and/or psychophysical practices which may emphasize different goals -- from achievement of a higher state of consciousness, to greater focus, creativity or self-awareness, or simply a more relaxed and peaceful frame of mind.

The word meditation originally comes from the Indo-European root med-, meaning "to measure." From the root med- are also derived the English words mete, medicine, modest, and moderate. It entered English as meditation through the Latin meditation, which originally indicated every type of physical or intellectual exercise, then later evolved into the more specific meaning "contemplation."

Contemplation

The word Contemplation comes from the Latin root templum (from Greek temnein: to cut or divide), and means to separate something from its environment, and to enclose it in a sector. Contemplation is the Latin translation of Greek 'theory' (theoria). In a religious sense it is a type of prayer or meditation.

Definitions above are adopted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meditation