As it deals with Step 11, the AA Big Book makes a peculiar statement:

Being still inexperienced and having just made conscious contact with God, it is not probable that we are going to be inspired at all times.

Still inexperienced? Having just made conscious contact with God? What about all the praying we've been doing as we worked the first nine Steps? Wasn't that some sort of conscious contact?

Well, perhaps Step 11 is trying to tell us something about the nature of our contact with God. Certainly, we've prayed before; but the Big Book implies that we were not doing so with a high degree of consciousness. So what is it about Step 11 that "improves our conscious contact with God as we understand God"? Many of us believe that it's meditation as much as prayer; for one definition of meditation is being conscious of what it is we are doing, whether it be breathing, walking, or praying. In other words, the Big Book comes close to suggesting that it is the combination of prayer and meditation that deepens our conscious contact with God.