meditation, and thought. But these all seem to belong to the
contemplative life.

But _thought_, according to Richard of S. Victor, seems to
signify the consideration of many things from which a man
intends to gather some single truth. Consequently, under the
term _thought_ may be comprised perceptions by the senses,
whereby we know certain effects--imaginations, too, as well as
investigation of different phenomena by the reason; in a word,
all those things which conduce to a knowledge of the truth we
are in search of. At the same time, according to S.
Augustine,[340] every operation of the intellect may be termed
_thought_. _Meditation_, again, seems to refer to the process of
reasoning from principles which have to do with the truth we
desire to contemplate. And _contemplation_, according to S.
Bernard,[341] means the same thing, although, according to the
Philosopher,[342] every operation of the intellect may be termed
"consideration." But _contemplation_ is concerned with the
simple dwelling upon the truth itself. Hence Richard of S.
Victor says[343]: "_Contemplation_ is the soul's clear, free,
and attentive dwelling upon the truth to be perceived;
_meditation_ is the outlook of the soul occupied in searching
for the truth; _thought _ is the soul's glance, ever prone to
distraction."

2. Further, the Apostle says: _But we all, beholding the glory of the
Lord with open face, are transformed into the same image from glory to
glory._[344] But this refers to the contemplative life; therefore,
besides the three things already mentioned--namely, contemplation,
meditation and thought,--_speculation_, too, enters into the
contemplative life.

But _speculation_, as S. Augustine's Gloss has it,[345] "is
derived from _speculum_, a 'mirror,' not from _specula_, a
'watch-tower.'" To see a thing in a mirror, however, is to see a
cause by an effect in which its likeness is shown; thus
_speculation_ seems reducible to _meditation_.

3. Again, S. Bernard says[346]: "The first and chiefest contemplation is
the marvelling at God's Majesty." But to "marvel" is, according to S.
John Damascene,[347] a species of fear. Consequently it seems that many
acts belong to contemplation.

But wonderment is a species of fear arising from our learning
something which it is beyond our powers to understand. Hence
wonderment is a