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...