Guigo II's Definition of Contemplation

Ladder of Monks and Twelve Meditations

Contemplation is when the mind is in some sort lifted up to God and held above itself, so that it tastes the joys of everlasting sweetness.

— Guigo II, The Ladder of Monks

The most commonly taught method of lectio divina — involving reading the Bible or some other sacred text, reflecting on the text, responding to it in prayer, and then resting in God's presence in contemplative silence — comes from a short essay called "the Ladder of Monks" written in the ...