The act of faith, a humiliation of the intellect, transforms the power of the intellect. This intuition in Saint Thomas's understanding of contemplation can be had by an unbeliever, whereas the Carmelite notion is always done in grace. We do find towards the end of the II-II, the treatise on the active and the contemplative life. It will not satisfy us if we are looking for an explanation of contemplative prayer. Saint Thomas does not seem to see a great sense in the difference between the active and the contemplative life.
Contemplative life means the supreme level of the academic life, the search for truth.
So the division refers to two different intellectual dispositions. Some people are more academic, others more practical. This theoretical approach is not for all people. In 182,1, Saint Thomas writes about the superiority of the vita contemplativa, but he means something different by the term and he recognizes that there are situations where and when it is more important to be active. It can be, he says, that the vita contemplativa can inhibit the spiritual life.