The active life is lower, the contemplative higher, and both have two stages, also a lower and a higher.2 These two lives are complementary and so bound together that, although each is quite distinct, neither can exist without the other. The higher stage of the active life is also the lower stage of the contemplative life. That’s why you can’t be truly active unless you participate in the contemplative life, and you can’t be fully contemplative unless you participate in the active life.
