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Oh, how we like to have it all laid out for us. In order to (insert objective here) step one is ....

This stepwise means to attain a goal is nothing new. St. Bernard uses the method frequently.

The following is from his short book, The Steps of Humility & Pride.*

p. 34.6

There are three degrees in the perception of truth…. We must look for truth in ourselves: in our neighbors; in itself. We look for truth in ourselves when we judge ourselves;[50] in our neighbors when we have sympathy for their sufferings;[51] in itself when we contemplate it with a clean heart.[52]

p.47.19

These are the three steps of truth. We climb to the first through the toil of humility, to the second by a deep feeling of compassion, and to the third by the ecstasy of contemplation. On the first step we experience the severity of truth, on the second its tenderness, on the third its purity. Reason brings us to the first as we judge ourselves; compassion brings us to the second when we have mercy on others; on the third the purity of truth sweeps us up to the sight of things invisible.

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[50] 1 Cor 11:31   [51] 1 Cor 12:26   [52] Mt 5:7-8

*THE STEPS OF HUMILITY AND PRIDE, CISTERTIAN PUBLICATIONS INC., 1973