Man’s mind is rapt by God to the contemplation of the divine truth in three ways:
- He contemplates it through certain imaginary pictures.
- He contemplates the divine truth through its intelligible effects.
- He contemplates it in its essence.
Now when man’s intellect is uplifted to the sublime vision of God’s essence, it is necessary that his mind’s whole attention should be summoned to that purpose in such a way that he understands nothing else by phantasms, and is absorbed entirely in God.
~ Mary of Agreda, Mystical City of God
Mary of Agreda has given us the three stages of Hermetic contemplation, which are related to their Yoga counterparts in the following table:
| Hermetism | Yoga | Theophan | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Concentration | dharana | Spoken prayer | Visualization |
| Meditation | dhyana | Mental prayer | Mental Prayer |
| Contemplation | samadhi | Unceasing prayer | Prayer of the Heart |