Discussing the spiritual life in terms of degrees or stages has always been popular in Christianity. Whether we consider St. Bernard's twelve degrees of humility, the mystical ascent of St. John of the Cross, or the three conversions spoken of by Garrigou-Lagrange, something about the way we wind our way towards God lends itself to consideration as a process with discernible stages, each with its own unique characteristics and experiences. While the particular stages are as varied as the spiritual writers who discuss them, there seems to be a unanimity that spiritual progress is incremental, "here a little there a little," (cf. Is. 28:10), like ascending rungs on a latter.
The First Degree of Contemplation
The first degree of contemplation, according to Hilton, is defined by knowledge. Hilton considers the hallmark of the first degree to be "a knowledge of God and spiritual things, acquired by reason through men's teaching and the study of Holy Writ" (Book I, Chap. 4). This type of contemplation is deeply intellectual, consisting of an academic grasp of the principles of the spiritual life, but lacking the requisite internal charity that vivifies it and makes it fruitful. It is "a knowledge without spiritual affection and that interior savour which is experienced by a special gift of the Holy Spirit" (ibid). Hilton says this type of contemplation is often found in "certain learned men and great scholars" who, through the exercise of their natural faculties for study, become well-versed in the principles of the contemplative life. It is an understanding of the "letter" of the contemplative life without the "spirit."
Despite its deficiencies, Hilton does not say this type of contemplation is bad in and of itself. "This knowledge is good," he says, "and it may be called a degree of contemplation, in as much as it is a vision of truth and a knowledge of spiritual things" (ibid). Even so, it is inferior, "the mere similitude and shadow of true contemplation, for it does not bring the spiritual savour of God, nor the interior sweetness of love which no man may feel unless he be in great love" (ibid). Hilton notes that, since this type of contemplation is primarily acquired through the intellect, it "is common to good men and to bad, for it can be obtained without God's love...and very often, heretics and hypocrites and men devoted to carnality have more of such knowledge than many true Christians, and yet these have not the love of God" (ibid). This is why Hilton calls it a "similitude" or "shadow" of contemplation, since it does not require any special spiritual graces or even the virtue of faith to possess. Even though it is good, it is capable of being possessed by the wicked, and as such really does not take us into the realm of authentic contemplation in the Holy Spirit.
Essentially, then, the first degree consists of knowledge detached from affection and is considered only an approximation of true contemplation.
The Second Degree of Contemplation
If the first degree is knowledge without affection, the second is the inverse. "The second degree of contemplation consists chiefly in affection without understanding of spiritual things" (Chap. 5). This is where we actually move up into contemplation proper, for the person who has affection for God will begin to have an experiential relationship with divine grace. "A man or a woman will be meditating upon God, and will feel great confidence in God's goodness and mercy, in the forgiveness of his sins and God's great gifts of grace...in prayer, perhaps, he will feel his heart's intention drawn upward, away from all earthly things, and mounting with the full concentration of all its power into our Lord by fervent desire and with spiritual delight" (ibid).
Since the second stage is affection without knowledge, there is a childlike simplicity to this degree of contemplation. Hilton says "this [degree] is often found in simple and uneducated people who give themselves up entirely to devotion—and it is felt in this way" (ibid). The second stage, essentially, is your pious old women saying the Rosary before Mass, persons who might have never read a theology text in their lives but who nurture a deep love for God and prayer.
This second degree is much more praiseworthy than the first since it is animated by true love of God. Nevertheless, because it lacks knowledge, there is a true ignorance of what is happening in the spiritual realm. Despite this person's pious prayers, "he will not receieve a clear vision of contemplation of particular spiritual matters, of mysteries of faith, or of Holy Writ...he cannot explain properly what [the experience] is, though he knows very well that he feels it" (ibid). Even so, Hilton characterizes this second degree as an experience of deep love, longing, and hatred for sin, which is a great grace. Hilton believes the person who gets to the second stage will generally persevere. "I believe the man who obtains it [i.e., the second stage] to have the love of God at that time, and this love cannot be lost or diminished, even though the fervor may die away, unless love be lost through mortal sin—and to know this is a great consolation" (ibid).
The second stage of contemplation, then, is a deep, affective piety but without understanding of the principles behind it.
Subdivisions of the Second Degree
Hilton will go on to subdivide the second degree into "lower" and "higher" stages. What distinguishes the lower from the higher in the second degree is whether the spiritual peace is abiding or intermittent. In the lower stage of the second degree, spiritual consolations come and go. Hilton says this is generally the case with "men who live the active life" (Chap. 6), whose busyness makes it difficult to cultivate the regimented life for which contemplation is most suited. For such men, Hilton anticipates the advice of St. Ignatius Loyola, advising them to not be dismayed in times of spiritual dryness, but to remain firm in one's resolutions and practices, waiting patiently for God's sweet consolations to return.
The higher stage of the second degree is when the spiritual consolations are more or less continual, when persons "by long spiritual effort feel peace of heart and purity of conscience" (Chap. 7) that abides with them. These persons have typically cultivated a rich interior life through a love of quiet, peace, and stillness, making an abiding home for the Spirit of Christ within their soul. This stage, obviously, is more suited to those who are in the religious life, or otherwise have the leisure time to devote themselves to spiritual practices. To one who has attained the higher stage of the second degree, Hilton advises him to "keep himself in humility," that is, just be thankful and keep quiet about it.
The Third Degree of Contemplation
If the first degree is knowledge without affection, and the second affection without knowledge, then the third degree is contemplation that "consists in both cognition and affection" (Chap. 8). Hilton says this wedding of intellect and affectation is "as perfect as it can be in this life," both "knowing God and loving Him perfectly. The knowledge of the third degree is no mere academic knowledge, however. Rather, it is a knowledge gifted by God after the soul has separated itself "from all earthly and carnal affections, from empty thoughts and idle speculations about all physical matters, and he is, as it were, ravished out of his bodily senses, and then by the grace of the Holy Spirit he is illumined, to see through understanding that truth which is God, and also to see spiritual things, with a soft, sweet, burning love which is so perfect in him that by the power of this love to ravish him the soul is united and made comformable to the image of the Trinity" (ibid). Hilton says that while the beginnings of this degree may be experienced in this life, "its perfection is reserved for the joy of Heaven" (ibid).
Hilton's comments here are a prime example of the traditional notion that knowledge vivified by the love of God is never merely informative, but transformative. Enraptured by the understanding made possible by the Spirit, this kind of supernatural knowledge facilitates spiritual union with the Trinity. To "know" God in this way is to love Him, and to love Him is to know Him, for God is love. This type of contemplation is nothing other than "a marriage...between God and the soul which shall never be dissolved" (ibid).
Hilton takes pains to point out that, while the second degree is true contemplation, it is nevertheless a contemplation that is "sweeter to our bodily senses" while the third degree is "sweeter to our spiritual senses, for it is more inward, more spiritual, more precious, and more wonderful" (Chap. 9).
Scale of Perfection Online
Hilton's Scale of Perfection is widely available online. Internet Archive has a 1923 version edited by Evelyn Underhill. CCEL has a PDF version of the 1870 translation by Dom Serenus Cressy, O.S.B. If you'd like a physical copy, there's a 1988 edition from Penguin, but I personally prefer the abridged version found in Eric Colledge's collection The Mediaeval Mystics of England (1961), which has the pertinent passages from Hilton but also has selections from St. Aelred of Rivaulx, Richard Rolle, St. Edmund Rich, and Margery Kempe.
14th century manuscript of the Scale of Perfection. Worcester Cathedral Library
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