The Scale (or Ladder) of Perfection - Softcover

THE SCALE (OR LADDER) OF PERFECTION is a guide to the contemplative life in which the soul is reformed to the image and likeness of God. Book One provides an overview of contemplation and its prerequisites, a discussion of prayer and meditation, and a path for dealing with sins, both obvious and hidden, through self-awareness, humility, and the love of God. By these means one passes through the darkness known to another English mystic as "the cloud of unknowing." Book Two distinguishes between the reform of the soul that is in faith only and the reform that is in both faith and feeling. Loving Jesus is the way through the initial darkness that one sees after withdrawal from the world of the senses, and God gives light to those who persevere in this work. The spiritual eye is opened in a way that cannot be arrived at by mere intellectual study, nor by individual effort. Contemplation is given by God. After further progress, the soul knows itself as it is, and Jesus speaks directly to her.