Of the meenes that bryngen a man to contemplacioun.
The Three Means of Contemplation
The author identifies reading, meditation, and prayer as the foundational practices for the contemplative life.
There are three methods commonly used by those who devote themselves to contemplation: reading Holy Scripture and holy teaching, spiritual meditation, and diligent prayer with devotion.
Purifying the Heart through Meditation
Meditation serves as a mirror to reveal the soul's wretchedness and the necessity of purity for the vision of God.
You aren't able to make good use of reading Holy Scripture, so you need to occupy yourself more with prayer and meditation.1 Through meditation you will see how much you lack of the virtues; and through prayer you will obtain them. Through meditation you'll see your wretchedness, your sins, and your wickedness—pride, covetousness, gluttony, lechery, the wicked stirrings of envy, wrath, hatred, melancholy, irritability, bitterness, sloth, and unreasoning heaviness.2 You'll also see your heart full of vain shames and fears of your flesh and of the world. All these stirrings will always boil out of the heart as water runs from the spring of a stinking well, and they block the sight of your soul so that you can neither see nor feel cleanly the love of Jesus Christ; for know this well: until your heart is much cleansed from such sins through steadfast faith and diligent beholding of Jesus Christ in prayers and in other good works, you cannot perfectly have spiritual feeling of Him.3 He Himself bears witness in the Gospel: Beati mundo corde quoniam ipsi deum videbunt (Matthew 5:8).✦ Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Cultivating Virtue for the Contemplative Life
Meditation and prayer are essential for acquiring the virtues necessary to enter into the rest of contemplation.
Also in meditation you'll see virtues you need to have: humility, mildness, patience, righteousness, spiritual strength, temperance, peace, purity, and sobriety, faith, hope, and charity. You'll see these virtues in meditation—how good, how fair, how profitable they are—and by prayer you'll desire them and obtain them; without them you cannot be contemplative. For Job says this: In habundancia ingredieris sepulcrum (Job 5:26)—that is to say, you'll enter your grave in an abundance of good bodily works and spiritual virtues, that is, the rest in contemplation.✦4
Read the original Latin
Thre meenys there ben whiche men most comonli use that gyven hem to contemplacioun: redynge of Holi Writ and of hooli techynge, goosteli meditacion, and besi praeris with devocioun. Redynge of Holi Writ mai thu not wel use, and therfore thee bihoveth more occupye thee in prayer and in meditacioun. By meditacion schalt thou see hou mykil thee wanteth of vertues; and bi prayer schalt thou gete hem. Bi meditacion schalt thou see thi wrecchidnesse, thi synnes, and thi wikkidnessis, as pryde, coveytise, glotonye, leccherie, wikide stiryngis of envye, ire, haterede, malincolie, angrynesse, bittirnesse, sleughthe, and unskilful hevynesse. Thou schalt also see thyn herte ful of veyn schames and dredes of thi fleisch and of the world. Alle thise stirynges wole alwey boylen ought of the herte as watir wole renne from the sprynge of a stynkande welle, and letten the sight of thi soule, that thu mai neither see ne fele clenli the love of Jhesu Crist; for wite thou wel, til thyn herte be mykil yclensid from sich synnes thorugh stedefaste trouthe and bisi biholdynge on Jhesu Crist in praieres and in othir good werkes, thou mai not perfightli have goostli felynge of Hym. Witnessinge Hymsilf in the Gospel thus: Beati mundo corde quoniam ipsi deum videbunt (Matthew 5:8). Blissid be the clene of herte, for thei schullen see God.
Also in meditacioun thou schal see vertues whiche aren needful to thee for to have, as mekenesse, myldenesse, pacience, rightwisenesse, goosteli strengthe, temperaunce, pees, clennesse, and sobirnesse, feith, hope, and charité. Thise vertues schalt thou see in meditacion, hou goode, hou faire, hou profitable thei aren, and bi prayer thou schalt desire hem and gete hem, withoute whiche thu may not be contemplatif. For Job seith thus: In habundancia ingredieris sepulcrum (Job 5:26); that is for to seie, thou schalt in plenté of gode bodili werkes and goostli vertues entre thi grave, that is the reste in contemplacioun.
Scripture echoes
Notes
- 1 ↩ME 'mai thu not wel use' most naturally means inability or limited capacity to use Scripture-reading well (as for an unlettered recluse), not a moral prohibition against reading.
- 2 ↩'unskilful hevynesse' is spiritual dejection without just cause or skillful governance (near acedia/gloom), not mere sadness; rendered 'unreasoning heaviness' to keep Hilton's moral-psychological force.
- 3 ↩'stedefaste trouthe' rendered as 'steadfast faith' (ME trouthe = faith/loyalty/truth); 'goostli felynge' kept as experiential spiritual sensing of Christ, not mere emotion.
- 4 ↩Hilton reads sepulcrum allegorically as contemplative rest (death to self / repose in God), not merely physical burial.
Scala Perfectionis (The Scale of Perfection) companion
A daily portion of stillness
Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.
Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.
- Daily bite-sized excerpts from the contemplative classics, never a wall of text
- A built-in timed stillness practice that grows from 2 minutes to 10
- Gentle progression through the tradition — the app remembers where you are on the ascent