Ladder of Monks and Twelve Meditations Author:Edmund Colledge, James Walsh Translated by Edmund Colledge and James Walsh 'My thoughts on the spiritual exercises proper to cloistered monks'; the ninth prior of La Grande Chartreuse, Guigo II, (†1180) articulates the monastic contemplative tradition in distinctively western terms. '...reading, meditation, prayer and contemplation. These make a ladder for monks by w... more »hich they are lifted up from earth to heaven. It has few rungs, yet its length is immense and wonderful, for its lower end rests upon the earth, but its top pierces the clouds and seeks heavenly secrets.'« less