e we are more perfect than when at work."[105]

But this preparatory state of surrendered quiet must at once be
qualified by the second point: _Attention_. It is based upon the right
use of the will, and is not a limp yielding to anything or nothing. It
has an ordained deliberate aim, is a behaviour-cycle directed to an end;
and this it is that marks out the real and fruitful quiet of the
contemplative from the non-directed surrender of mere quietism.
"Nothing," says St. Teresa, "is learnt without a little pains. For the
love of God, sisters, account that care well employed that ye shall
bestow on this thing."[106]

The quieted mind must receive and hold, yet without discursive thought,
the idea which it desires to realize; and this idea must interest and be
real for it, so that attention is concentrated on it spontaneously. The
more completely the idea absorbs us, the greater its transforming power:
when interest wavers, the suggestion begins to lose ground. In spite of
her subsequent relapse into quietism Madame Guyon accurately described
true quiet when she said, "Our activity should consist in endeavouring
to acquire and maintain such a state as may be most susceptible of
divine impressions, most flexible to all the operations of the Eternal
Word."[107] Such concentration can be improved by practice; hence the
value of regular meditation and contemplation to those who are in
earnest about the spiritual life, the quiet and steady holding in the
mind of the thought which it is desired to realize.

Psycho-therapists tell us that, having achieved quiescence, we should
rapidly and rythmically, but with intention, repeat the suggestion that
we wish to realize; and that the shorter, simpler and more general this
verbal formula, the more effective it will be.[108] The spiritual aspect
of this law was well understood by the mediaeval mystics. Thus the author
of "The Cloud of Unknowing" says to his disciple, "Fill thy spirit with
ghostly meaning of this word Sin, and without any special beholding unto
any kind of sin, whether it be venial or deadly. And cry thus ghostly
ever upon one: Sin! Sin! Sin! out! out! out! This ghostly cry is better
learned of God by the proof than of any man by word. For it is best when
it is in pure spirit, without special thought or any pronouncing of
word. On the same manner shalt thou do with this little word God: and
mean God all, and all God, so that nought work in thy wit and in thy
will but