In order to see this we have to note first that the notion of 'successful cognitive apprehension' referred to above cannot just be an act of cognition that leads to a successful action, as many of our cognitions (and many of the beliefs subsequently acquired) are never acted upon.
He went from analysis of the Trinitarian structure of the simple act of cognition to ascertainment of the Trinitarian structure both of human self-consciousness and of the act of religious contemplation in which people recognize themselves as the image of God.
On his view, an act of cognition in itself represents the object that is perceived.
Rather than treat mental representations as something separate from an act of cognition, Olivi proposes identifying the two.
This act is pure activity of knowing that creates its objects in the very act of cognition by giving them a form.
In a three-fold act of cognition, this intelligence produces a triad of heavenly intellect, sphere-soul and heavenly body, and this process is repeated until the sphere of the moon to which the active intellect belongs.
