Thomas Merton, in his book, Contemplative Prayer, speaks against letting asceticism creep in to our devotional life. He cautions us in this passage about a hyper-spirituality that can disconnect us from everyday life.

A false supernaturalism which imagines that ‘the supernatural’ is a kind of realm of abstract essences (as Plato imagined) that is totally apart from and opposed to the concrete world of nature offers no real support to a genuine life of meditation and prayer. Meditation has no point unless it is firmly rooted in life.