Considerations; the second part of the meditation.
After the action of the imagination comes the action of the understanding, which we call meditation, and which consists in making one or more considerations capable of raising our heart to God, and of giving us a taste for holy and divine things. Now, in this does meditation differ greatly from study, for the end of study is to become learned, skilled in writing or disputation; whereas the end of meditation is to acquire virtue and the holy love of God. After, therefore, you have enclosed your mind within the subject of meditation, either by the imagination, if the subject is sensible, or by the mere presentation of it, if it is not, as I have said above, you will begin to make some considerations upon this subject, such as you will find examples of in the meditations I have given you. But if your mind finds sufficient relish, light, and fruit in one of these considerations, you must dwell upon it, without going further, doing therein as the bees, which do not leave a flower so long as they find honey there to gather. But if you find no nourishment in one of these considerations, after having tried it for some time, you will pass on to another; and this simply, without haste or disquiet.
After the action of the imagination comes the action of the understanding, which we call meditation, and which consists in making one or more considerations capable of raising our heart to God, and of giving us a taste for holy and divine things. Now, in this does meditation differ greatly from study, for the end of study is to become learned, skilled in writing or disputation; whereas the end of meditation is to acquire virtue and the holy love of God. After, therefore, you have enclosed your mind within the subject of meditation, either by the imagination, if the subject is sensible, or by the mere presentation of it, if it is not, as I have said above, you will begin to make some considerations upon this subject, such as you will find examples of in the meditations I have given you. But if your mind finds sufficient relish, light, and fruit in one of these considerations, you must dwell upon it, without going further, doing therein as the bees, which do not leave a flower so long as they find honey there to gather. But if you find no nourishment in one of these considerations, after having tried it for some time, you will pass on to another; and this simply, without haste or disquiet.