Side by Side Exploration
| Reading | Meditation | Prayer | Contemplation |
| careful study of scriptures, concentrating all one’s powers on it; lesson, busily looking on scripture with all one’s will and wit | busy application of the mind to seek with the help of one’s own reason for knowledge of hidden truth; studious in searching with the mind to know what was before concealed through desiring proper skill | the heart’s devoted turning to God to obtain what is good; a devout desiring of the heart to go get what is good | mind is lifted up to God and held above itself, so that it taste the joys of everlasting sweetness; lifting up of the heart to God tasting somewhat of the heavenly sweetness and savour |
| seeks the sweetness of a blessed life (seek through reading) | perceives it (find in your thinking) | asks for it (asks; knock through praying) | tastes it (feel what you desire) |
| puts food whole into the mouth | chew it and breaks it up | extracts its flavor (finds its savour) | the sweetness itself which gladdens and refreshes (delights and strengthens) |
| works on the outside; the bark, the shell | works on the pith; the nut | asks for what we long for; desiring, asking | gives us delight in the great sweetness which we have found |
| the foundation; it provides the subject matter | considers carefully what is to sought after; it digs for treasure which it finds and reveals, it directs us to prayer | lifts itself up to God with all its strength and begs for the treasure it long for, the sweetness of contemplation | in inebriates the thirsting soul with the dew of heavenly sweetness |
| an exercise of the outward sense | concerned with the inward understanding | concerned with desire | outstrips every faculty |
| proper to beginners | proper to proficients | proper to devotees | proper to the blessed |
| without meditation is sterile | without reading is liable to error; without prayer is unfruitful | without meditation is lukewarm | won by fervent prayer |
| ‘Seek and you shall find: knock and the door will be opened for you’ | |||
| all that read and may hear in books that ought to be read, is unsavoury, unless the heart understands it. | |||
[Source: Guigo II the Chartusian (1114 – c. 1193), The Ladder of Monks]
