Treats of how the soul may prepare itself in order to attain in a short time to Divine union. Gives very profitable counsels and instruction, both to beginners and to proficients, that they may know how to disencumber themselves of all that is temporal and not to encumber themselves with the spiritual, and to remain in complete detachment and liberty of spirit, as is necessary for Divine union.
ALL the doctrine whereof I intend to treat in this Ascent of Mount Carmel is included in the following stanzas, and in them is also described the manner of ascending to the summit of the Mount, which is the high estate of perfection which we here call union of the soul with God. And because I must continually base upon them that which I shall say, I have desired to set them down here together, to the end that all the substance of that which is to be written may be seen and comprehended together; although it will be fitting to set down each stanza separately before expounding it, and likewise the lines of each stanza, according as the matter and the exposition require. The poem, then, runs as follows: [65]
Wherein the soul sings of the happy chance which it had in passing through the dark night of faith, in detachment and purgation of itself, to union with the Beloved.
Wherein is described the nature of dark night and how necessary it is to pass through it to Divine union; and in particular this book describes the dark night of sense, and desire, and the evils which these work in the soul. [73]
Sets down the first stanza. Describes two different nights through which spiritual persons pass, according to the two parts of man, the lower and the higher. Expounds the stanza which follows.
On a dark night, Kindled in love with yearnings — oh, happy chance! —
I went forth without being observed, My house being now at rest.
Explains the nature of this dark night through which the soul says that it has passed on the road to union.
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[80] [More exactly, this `passage' or `transition' (transito).]
[81] [Lit., `in negation of them.']
[82] [By `the mean' is meant the middle, or main part, of the journey.]
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CHAPTER III
Speaks of the first cause of this night, which is that of the privation
of the desire in all things, and gives the reason for which it is
called night.
We here describe as night the privation of every kind of pleasure which
belongs to the desire; for, even as night is naught but the privation
of light, and, consequently, of all objects that can be seen by means
of light, whereby the visual faculty remains unoccupied [83] and in
darkness, even so likewise the mortification of desire may be called
night to the soul. For, when the soul is deprived of the pleasure of
its desire in all things, it remains, as it were, unoccupied and in
darkness. For even as the visual faculty, by means of light, is
nourished and fed by objects which can be seen, and which, when the
light is quenched, are not seen, even so, by means of the desire, the
soul is nourished and fed by all things wherein it can take pleasure
according to its faculties; and, when this also is quenched, or rather,
mortified, the soul ceases to feed upon the pleasure of all things, and
thus, with respect to its desire, it remains unoccupied and in
darkness.
2. Let us take an example from each of the faculties. When the soul
deprives its desire of the pleasure of all that can delight the sense
of hearing, the soul remains unoccupied and in darkness with respect to
this faculty. And, when it deprives itself of the pleasure of all that
can please the sense of sight, it remains unoccupied and in darkness
with respect to this faculty also. And, when it deprives itself of the
pleasure of all the sweetness of perfumes which can give it pleasure
through the sense of smell, it remains equally unoccupied and in
darkness according to this faculty. And, if it also denies itself the
pleasure of all food that can satisfy the palate, the soul likewise
remains unoccupied and in darkness. And finally, when the soul
mortifies itself with respect to all the delights and pleasures that it
can receive from the sense of touch, it remains, in the same way,
unoccupied and in darkness with respect to this faculty. So that the
soul that has denied and thrust away from itself the pleasures which
come from all these things, and has mortified its desire with respect
to them, may be said to be, as it were, in the darkness of night, which
is naught else than an emptiness within itself of all things.
3. The reason for this is that, as the philosophers say, the soul, as
soon as God infuses it into the body, is like a smooth, blank board
[84] upon which nothing is painted; and, save for that which it
experiences through the senses, nothing is communicated to it, in the
course of nature, from any other source. And thus, for as long as it is
in the body, it is like one who is in a dark prison and who knows
nothing, save what he is able to see through the windows of the said
prison; and, if he saw nothing through them, he would see nothing in
any other way. And thus the soul, save for that which is communicated
to it through the senses, which are the windows of its prison, could
acquire nothing, in the course of nature, in any other way.
4. Wherefore, if the soul rejects and denies that which it can receive
through the senses, we can quite well say that it remains, as it were,
in darkness and empty; since, as appears from what has been said, no
light can enter it, in the course of nature, by any other means of
illumination than those aforementioned. For, although it is true that
the soul cannot help hearing and seeing and smelling and tasting and
touching, this is of no greater import, nor, if the soul denies and
rejects the object, is it hindered more than if it saw it not, heard it
not, etc. Just so a man who desires to shut his eyes will remain in
darkness, like the blind man who has not the faculty of sight. And to
this purpose David says these words: Pauper sum ego, et in laboribus a
indenture mea. [85] Which signifies: I am poor and in labours from my
youth. He calls himself poor, although it is clear that he was rich,
because his will was not set upon riches, and thus it was as though he
were really poor. But if he had not been really poor and had not been
so in his will, he would not have been truly poor, for his soul, as far
as its desire was concerned, would have been rich and replete. For that
reason we call this detachment night to the soul, for we are not
treating here of the lack of things, since this implies no detachment
on the part of the soul if it has a desire for them; but we are
treating of the detachment from them of the taste and desire, for it is
this that leaves the soul free and void of them, although it may have
them; for it is not the things of this world that either occupy the
soul or cause it harm, since they enter it not, but rather the will and
desire for them, for it is these that dwell within it.
5. This first kind of night, as we shall say hereafter, belongs to the
soul according to its sensual part, which is one of the two parts,
whereof we spoke above, through which the soul must pass in order to
attain to union.
6. Let us now say how meet it is for the soul to go forth from its
house into this dark night of sense, in order to travel to union with
God.
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[83] [Lit., `without anything (sc. to do).']
[84] [`Blank board': Sp., tabla rasa; Lat., tabula rasa.]
[85] Psalm lxxxvii, 16 [A.V., lxxxviii, 15].
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CHAPTER IV
Wherein is declared how necessary it is for the soul truly to pass
through this dark night of sense, which is mortification of desire, in
order that it may journey to union with God.
The reason for which it is necessary for the soul, in order to attain
to Divine union with God, to pass through this dark night of
mortification of the desires and denial of pleasures in all things, is
because all the affections which it has for creatures are pure darkness
in the eyes of God, and, when the soul is clothed in these affections,
it has no capacity for being enlightened and possessed by the pure and
simple light of God, if it first cast them not from it; for light
cannot agree with darkness; since, as Saint John says: Tenebroe eam non
comprehenderunt. [86] That is: The darkness could not receive the
light.
2. The reason is that two contraries (even as philosophy teaches us)
cannot coexist in one person; and that darkness, which is affection set
upon the creatures, and light, which is God, are contrary to each
other, and have no likeness or accord between one another, even as
Saint Paul taught the Corinthians, saying: Quoe conventio luci ad
tenebras? [87] That is to say: What communion can there be between
light and darkness? Hence it is that the light of Divine union cannot
dwell in the soul if these affections first flee not away from it.
3. In order that we may the better prove what has been said, it must be
known that the affection and attachment which the soul has for
creatures renders the soul like to these creatures; and, the greater is
its affection, the closer is the equality and likeness between them;
for love creates a likeness between that which loves and that which is
loved. For which reason David, speaking of those who set their
affections upon idols, said thus: Similes illis fiant qui faciunt ea:
et omnes qui confidunt in eis. [88] Which signifies: Let them that set
their heart upon them be like to them. And thus, he that loves a
creature becomes as low as that creature, and, in some ways, lower; for
love not only makes the lover equal to the object of his love, but even
subjects him to it. Hence in the same way it comes to pass that the
soul that loves anything else becomes incapable of pure union with God
and transformation in Him. For the low estate of the creature is much
less capable of union with the high estate of the Creator than is
darkness with light. For all things of earth and heaven, compared with
God, are nothing, as Jeremias says in these words: Aspexi terram, et
ecce vacua erat, et nihil; et coelos, et non erat lux in eis. [89] `I
beheld the earth,' he says, `and it was void, and it was nothing; and
the heavens, and saw that they had no light.' In saying that he beheld
the earth void, he means that all its creatures were nothing, and that
the earth was nothing likewise. And, in saying that he beheld the
heavens and saw no light in them, he says that all the luminaries of
heaven, compared with God, are pure darkness. So that in this way all
the creatures are nothing; and their affections, we may say, are less
than nothing, since they are an impediment to transformation in God and
the privation thereof, even as darkness is not only nothing, but less
than nothing, since it is privation of light. And even as he that is in
darkness comprehends not the light, so the soul that sets its affection
upon creatures will be unable to comprehend God; and, until it be
purged, it will neither be able to possess Him here below, through pure
transformation of love, nor yonder in clear vision. And, for greater
clarity, we will now speak in greater detail.
4. All the being of creation, then, compared with the infinite Being of
God, is nothing. And therefore the soul that sets its affection upon
the being of creation is likewise nothing in the eyes of God, and less
than nothing; for, as we have said, love makes equality and similitude,
and even sets the lover below the object of his love. And therefore
such a soul will in no wise be able to attain to union with the
infinite Being of God; for that which is not can have no communion with
that which is. And, coming down in detail to some examples, all the
beauty of the creatures, compared with the infinite beauty of God, is
the height of deformity [90] even as Solomon says in the Proverbs:
Fallax gratia, et vana est pulchritudo. [91] `Favour is deceitful and
beauty is vain.' And thus the soul that is affectioned to the beauty of
any creature is the height of deformity in the eyes of God. And
therefore this soul that is deformed will be unable to become
transformed in beauty, which is God, since deformity cannot attain to
beauty; and all the grace and beauty of the creatures, compared with
the grace of God, is the height of misery [92] and of uncomeliness.
Wherefore the soul that is ravished by the graces and beauties of the
creatures has only supreme [93] misery and unattractiveness in the eyes
of God; and thus it cannot be capable of the infinite grace and
loveliness of God; for that which has no grace is far removed from that
which is infinitely gracious; and all the goodness of the creatures of
the world, in comparison with the infinite goodness of God, may be
described as wickedness. `For there is naught good, save only God.'
[94] And therefore the soul that sets its heart upon the good things of
the world is supremely evil in the eyes of God. And, even as wickedness
comprehends not goodness, even so such a soul cannot be united with
God, Who is supreme goodness.
5. All the wisdom of the world and all human ability, compared with the
infinite wisdom of God, are pure and supreme ignorance, even as Saint
Paul writes ad Corinthios, saying: Sapientia hujus mundi stultitia est
apud Deum. [95] `The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.'
Wherefore any soul that makes account of all its knowledge and ability
in order to come to union with the wisdom of God is supremely ignorant
in the eyes of God and will remain far removed from that wisdom; for
ignorance knows not what wisdom is, even as Saint Paul says that this
wisdom seems foolishness to God; since, in the eyes of God, those who
consider themselves to be persons with a certain amount of knowledge
are very ignorant, so that the Apostle, writing to the Romans, says of
them: Dicentes enim se esse sapientes, stulti facti sunt. That is:
Professing themselves to be wise, they became foolish. [96] And those
alone acquire wisdom of God who are like ignorant children, and, laying
aside their knowledge, walk in His service with love. This manner of
wisdom Saint Paul taught likewise ad Corinthios: Si quis videtur inter
vos sapiens esse in hoc soeculo, stultus fiat ut sit sapiens. Sapientia
enim hujus mundi stultitia est apud Deum. [97] That is: If any man
among you seem to be wise, let him become ignorant that he may be wise;
for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. So that, in order
to come to union with the wisdom of God, the soul has to proceed rather
by unknowing than by knowing; and all the dominion and liberty of the
world, compared with the liberty and dominion of the Spirit of God, is
the most abject [98] slavery, affliction and captivity.
6. Wherefore the soul that is enamoured of prelacy, [99] or of any
other such office, and longs for liberty of desire, is considered and
treated, in the sight of God, not as a son, but as a base slave and
captive, since it has not been willing to accept His holy doctrine,
wherein He teaches us that whoso would be greater must be less, and
whoso would be less must be greater. And therefore such a soul will be
unable to attain to that true liberty of spirit which is attained in
His Divine union. For slavery can have no part with liberty; and
liberty cannot dwell in a heart that is subject to desires, for this is
the heart of a slave; but it dwells in the free man, because he has the
heart of a son. It was for this cause that Sara bade her husband
Abraham cast out the bondwoman and her son, saying that the son of the
bondwoman should not be heir with the son of the free woman. [100]
7. And all the delights and pleasures of the will in all the things of
the world, in comparison with all those delights which are God, are
supreme affliction, torment and bitterness. And thus he that sets his
heart upon them is considered, in the sight of God, as worthy of
supreme affliction, torment and bitterness; and thus he will be unable
to attain to the delights of the embrace of union with God, since he is
worthy of affliction and bitterness. All the wealth and glory of all
creation, in comparison with the wealth which is God, is supreme
poverty and wretchedness. Thus the soul that loves and possesses
creature wealth is supremely poor and wretched in the sight of God, and
for that reason will be unable to attain to that wealth and glory which
is the state of transformation in God; for that which is miserable and
poor is supremely far removed from that which is supremely rich and
glorious.
8. And therefore Divine Wisdom, grieving for such as these, who make
themselves vile, low, miserable and poor, because they love the things
in this world which seem to them so rich and beautiful, addresses an
exclamation to them in the Proverbs, saying: O viri, ad vos clamito, et
vox mea ad filios hominum. Intelligite, parvuli, astutiam, et
insipientes, animadvertite. Audite quia de rebus magnis locutura sum.
And farther on he continues: Mecum sunt divitiae, et gloria, opes
superbae et justicia. Melior est fructus meus auro, et lapide pretioso,
et genimina mea argento electo. In viis justitiae ambulo, in medio
semitarum judicii, ut ditem diligentes me, et thesauros eorum repleam.
[101] Which signifies: O ye men, to you I call, and my voice is to the
sons of men. Attend, little ones, to subtlety and sagacity; ye that are
foolish, take notice. Hear, for I have to speak of great things. With
me are riches and glory, high riches and justice. Better is the fruit
that ye will find in me than gold and precious stones; and my
generation — namely, that which ye will engender of me in your souls
— is better than choice silver. I walk in the ways of justice, in the
midst of the paths of judgment, that I may enrich those that love me
and fill their treasures perfectly. — Herein Divine Wisdom speaks to
all those that set their hearts and affections upon anything of the
world, according as we have already said. And she calls them `little
ones,' because they make themselves like to that which they love, which
is little. And therefore she tells them to be subtle and to take note
that she is treating of great things and not of things that are little
like themselves. That the great riches and the glory that they love are
with her and in her, and not where they think. And that high riches and
justice dwell in her; for, although they think the things of this world
to be all this, she tells them to take note that her things are better,
saying that the fruit that they will find in them will be better for
them than gold and precious stones; and that which she engenders in
souls is better than the choice silver which they love; by which is
understood any kind of affection that can be possessed in this life.
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[86] St. John i, 5.
[87] 2 Corinthians vi, 14.
[88] Psalm cxiv, 9 [A.V., cxv, 8].
[89] Jeremias iv, 23.
[90] [The words often translated `deformity,' `deformed,' or
`vileness,' `vile,' are the ordinary contraries of `beauty,'
`beautiful,' and might be rendered, more literally but less elegantly,
`ugliness,' `ugly.']
[91] Proverbs xxxi, 30.
[92] [For `grace . . . misery' the Spanish has gracia . . . desgracia.
The latter word, however, does not, as might be supposed, correspond to
English `disgrace.']
[93] E.p. omits 'supreme'; the Spanish word [having a more literally
superlative force than the English] can hardly be applied, save in a
restricted sense, to what is finite.
[94] St. Luke xviii, 19.
[95] 1 Corinthians iii, 19.
[96] Romans i, 22.
[97] 1 Corinthians iii, 18-19.
[98] [Lit., `is supreme.']
[99] [The word is applicable to any kind of preferential position.]
[100] Genesis xxi, 10.
[101] Proverbs viii, 4-6, 18-21.
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CHAPTER V
Wherein the aforementioned subject is treated and continued, and it is
shown by passages and figures from Holy Scripture how necessary it is
for the soul to journey to God through this dark night of the
mortification of desire in all things.
From what has been said it may be seen in some measure how great a
distance there is between all that the creatures are in themselves and
that which God is in Himself, and how souls that set their affections
upon any of these creatures are at as great a distance as they from
God; for, as we have said, love produces equality and likeness. This
distance was clearly realized by Saint Augustine, who said in the
Sololoquies, speaking with God: `Miserable man that I am, when will my
littleness and imperfection be able to have fellowship with Thy
uprightness? Thou indeed art good, and I am evil; Thou art merciful,
and I am impious; Thou art holy, I am miserable; Thou art just, I am
unjust; Thou art light, I am blind; Thou, life, I, death; Thou,
medicine, I, sick; Thou, supreme truth, I, utter vanity.' All this is
said by this Saint. [102]
2. Wherefore, it is supreme ignorance for the soul to think that it
will be able to pass to this high estate of union with God if first it
void not the desire of all things, natural and supernatural, which may
hinder it, according as we shall explain hereafter; [103] for there is
the greatest possible distance between these things and that which
comes to pass in this estate, which is naught else than transformation
in God. For this reason Our Lord, when showing us this path, said
through Saint Luke: Qui non renuntiat omnibus quae possidet, non potest
meus esse discipulus. [104] This signifies: He that renounces not all
things that he possesses with his will cannot be My disciple. And this
is evident; for the doctrine that the Son of God came to teach was
contempt for all things, whereby a man might receive as a reward the
Spirit of God in himself. For, as long as the soul rejects not all
things, it has no capacity to receive the Spirit of God in pure
transformation.
3. Of this we have a figure in Exodus, wherein we read that God gave
not the children of Israel the food from Heaven, which was manna, until
the flour which they had brought from Egypt failed them. By this is
signified that first of all it is meet to renounce all things, for this
angels' food is not fitting for the palate that would find delight in
the food of men. And not only does the soul become incapable of
receiving the Divine Spirit when it stays and pastures on other strange
pleasures, but those souls greatly offend the Divine Majesty who desire
spiritual food and are not content with God alone, but desire rather to
intermingle desire and affection for other things. This can likewise be
seen in the same book of Holy Scripture, [105] wherein it is said that,
not content with that simplest of food, they desired and craved fleshly
food. [106] And that Our Lord was greatly wroth that they should desire
to intermingle a food that was so base and so coarse with one that was
so noble [107] and so simple; which, though it was so, had within
itself the sweetness and substance of all foods. [108] Wherefore, while
they yet had the morsels in their mouths, as David says likewise: Ira
Dei descendit super eos. [109] The wrath of God came down upon them,
sending fire from Heaven and consuming many thousands of them; for God
held it an unworthy thing that they should have a desire for other food
when He had given them food from Heaven.
4. Oh, did spiritual persons but know how much good and what great
abundance of spirit they lose through not seeking to raise up their
desires above childish things, and how in this simple spiritual food
they would find the sweetness of all things, if they desired not to
taste those things! But such food gives them no pleasure, for the
reason why the children of Israel received not the sweetness of all
foods that was contained in the manna was that they would not reserve
their desire for it alone. So that they failed to find in the manna all
the sweetness and strength that they could wish, not because it was not
contained in the manna, but because they desired some other thing. Thus
he that will love some other thing together with God of a certainty
makes little account of God, for he weighs in the balance against God
that which, as we have said, is at the greatest possible distance from
God.
5. It is well known by experience that, when the will of a man is
affectioned to one thing, he prizes it more than any other; although
some other thing may be much better, he takes less pleasure in it. And
if he wishes to enjoy both, he is bound to wrong the more important,
because he makes an equality between them. Wherefore, since there is
naught that equals God, the soul that loves some other thing together
with Him, or clings to it, does Him a grievous wrong. And if this is
so, what would it be doing if it loved anything more than God?
6. It is this, too, that was denoted by the command of God to Moses
that he should ascend the Mount to speak with Him: He commanded him not
only to ascend it alone, leaving the children of Israel below, but not
even to allow the beasts to feed over against the Mount. [110] By this
He signified that the soul that is to ascend this mount of perfection,
to commune with God, must not only renounce all things and leave them
below, but must not even allow the desires, which are the beasts, to
pasture over against this mount — that is, upon other things which are
not purely God, in Whom — that is, in the state of perfection — every
desire ceases. So he that journeys on the road and makes the ascent to
God must needs be habitually careful to quell and mortify the desires;
and the greater the speed wherewith a soul does this, the sooner will
it reach the end of its journey. Until these be quelled, it cannot
reach the end, however much it practise the virtues, since it is unable
to attain to perfection in them; for this perfection consists in
voiding and stripping and purifying the soul of every desire. Of this
we have another very striking figure in Genesis, where we read that,
when the patriarch Jacob desired to ascend Mount Bethel, in order to
build an altar there to God whereon he should offer Him sacrifice, he
first commanded all his people to do three things: one was that they
should cast away from them all strange gods; the second, that they
should purify themselves; the third, that they should change their
garments. [111]
7. By these three things it is signified that any soul that will ascend
this mount in order to make of itself an altar whereon it may offer to
God the sacrifice of pure love and praise and pure reverence, must,
before ascending to the summit of the mount, have done these three
things aforementioned perfectly. First, it must cast away all strange
gods — namely, all strange affections and attachments; secondly, it
must purify itself of the remnants which the desires aforementioned
have left in the soul, by means of the dark night of sense whereof we
are speaking, habitually denying them and repenting itself of them; and
thirdly, in order to reach the summit of this high mount, it must have
changed its garments, which, through its observance of the first two
things, God will change for it, from old to new, by giving it a new
understanding of God in God, the old human understanding being cast
aside; and a new love of God in God, the will being now stripped of all
its old desires and human pleasures, and the soul being brought into a
new state of knowledge and profound delight, all other old images and
forms of knowledge having been cast away, and all that belongs to the
old man, which is the aptitude of the natural self, quelled, and the
soul clothed with a new supernatural aptitude with respect to all its
faculties. So that its operation, which before was human, has become
Divine, which is that that is attained in the state of union, wherein
the soul becomes naught else than an altar whereon God is adored in
praise and love, and God alone is upon it. For this cause God commanded
that the altar whereon the Ark of the Covenant was to be laid should be
hollow within; [112] so that the soul may understand how completely
empty of all things God desires it to be, that it may be an altar
worthy of the presence of His Majesty. On this altar it was likewise
forbidden that there should be any strange fire, or that its own fire
should ever fail; and so essential was this that, because Nadab and
Abiu, who were the sons of the High Priest Aaron, offered strange fire
upon His Altar, Our Lord was wroth and slew them there before the
altar. [113] By this we are to understand that the love of God must
never fail in the soul, so that the soul may be a worthy altar, and so
that no other love must be mingled with it.
8. God permits not that any other thing should dwell together with Him.
Wherefore we read in the First Book the Kings that, when the
Philistines put the Ark of the Covenant into the temple where their
idol was, the idol was cast down upon the ground at the dawn of each
day, and broken to pieces. [114] And He permits and wills that there
should be only one desire where He is, which is to keep the law of God
perfectly, and to bear upon oneself the Cross of Christ. And thus
naught else is said in the Divine Scripture to have been commanded by
God to be put in the Ark, where the manna was, save the book of the
Law, [115] and the rod Moses, [116] which signifies the Cross. For the
soul that aspires naught else than the keeping of the law of the Lord
perfectly and the bearing of the Cross of Christ will be a true Ark,
containing within itself the true manna, which is God, when that soul
attains to a perfect possession within itself of this law and this rod,
without any other thing soever.
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[102] Soliloq., chap. ii (Migne: Patr. lat., Vol. XL, p. 866).
[103] So Alc. The other authorities have merely: `which may pertain to
it,' and e.p. adds to this: `through self-love.' Even when softened by
Diego de Pesus this phrase of the Saint did not escape denunciation,
and it was the first of the `propositions' condemned in his writings
(cf. General Introduction, VI, above). It was defended by P. Basilio
Ponce de Leon in his Reply (p. lx), and more extensively by P. Nicolas
de Jesus Maria (Elucidatio, Pt. II, Chap i, pp. 125-40). In reality,
little defence is needed other than that contained in the last chapters
of the Ascent of Mount Carmel, which clearly show the harm caused by
supernatural favours, when these are abused, to the memory, the
understanding and the will. Who, after all, can doubt that we may abuse
`things supernatural' and by such abuse hinder the soul from attaining
union with God?
[104] St. Luke xiv, 33.
[105] E.p. alters this to: `in the same Scripture.' [It does not, in
fact, occur in the same book.]
[106] Numbers xi, 4.
[107] [Lit., 'so high.']
[108] [Wisdom xvi, 20.]
[109] Psalm lxxvii, 31 [A.V., lxxviii, 31].
[110] [Exodus xxxiv, 2-3.] E.p.: `within sight of the Mount.' A, B:
`near the Mount.'
[111] Gen. xxxv, 2.
[112] Exodus xxvii, 8.
[113] Leviticus x, 1-2.
[114] 1 Kings [A.V., 1 Samuel] v, 3-5.
[115] Deut. xxxi, 26.
[116] Numbers xvii, 10. [More properly, `the rod of Aaron.']
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CHAPTER VI
Wherein are treated two serious evils caused in the soul by the
desires, the one evil being privative and the other positive.
In order that what we have said may be the more clearly and fully
understood, it will be well to set down here and state how these
desires are the cause of two serious evils in the soul: the one is that
they deprive it of the Spirit of God, and the other is that the soul
wherein they dwell is wearied, tormented, darkened, defiled and
weakened, according to that which is said in Jeremias, Chapter II: Duo
mala fecit Populus meus: dereliquerunt fontem aquae vivae, ut foderunt
sibi cisternas, dissipatas, quae continere non valent aquas. Which
signifies: They have forsaken Me, Who am the fountain of living water,
and they have hewed them out broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
[117] Those two evils — namely, the privative and the positive — may
be caused by any disordered act of the desire. And, speaking first of
all, of the privative, it is clear from the very fact that the soul
becomes affectioned to a thing which comes under the head of creature,
that the more the desire for that thing fills the soul, [118] the less
capacity has the soul for God; inasmuch as two contraries, according to
the philosophers, cannot coexist in one person; and further, since, as
we said in the fourth chapter, affection for God and affection for
creatures are contraries, there cannot be contained within one will
affection for creatures and affection for God. For what has the
creature to do with the Creator? What has sensual to do with spiritual?
Visible with invisible? Temporal with eternal? Food that is heavenly,
spiritual and pure with food that is of sense alone and is purely
sensual? Christlike poverty of spirit with attachment to aught soever?
2. Wherefore, as in natural generation no form can be introduced unless
the preceding, contrary form is first expelled from the subject, which
form, while present, is an impediment to the other by reason of the
contrariety which the two have between each other; even so, for as long
as the soul is subjected to the sensual spirit, the spirit which is
pure and spiritual cannot enter it. Wherefore our Saviour said through
Saint Matthew: Non est bonum sumere panem filiorum, et mittere canibus.
[119] That is: It is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast
it to the dogs. And elsewhere, too, he says through the same
Evangelist: Nolite sanctum dare canibus. [120] Which signifies: Give
not that which is holy to the dogs. In these passages Our Lord compares
those who renounce their creature-desires, and prepare themselves to
receive the Spirit of God in purity, to the children of God; and those
who would have their desire feed upon the creatures, to dogs. For it is
given to children to eat with their father at table and from his dish,
which is to feed upon His Spirit, and to dogs are given the crumbs
which fall from the table.
3. From this we are to learn that all created things are crumbs that
have fallen from the table of God. Wherefore he that feeds ever upon
[121] the creatures is rightly called a dog, and therefore the bread is
taken from the children, because they desire not to rise above feeding
upon the crumbs, which are created things, to the Uncreated Spirit of
their Father. Therefore, like dogs, they are ever hungering, and justly
so, because the crumbs serve to whet their appetite rather than to
satisfy their hunger. And thus David says of them: Famem patientur ut
canes, et circuibunt civitatem. Si vero non fuerint saturati, et
murmurabunt. [122] Which signifies: They shall suffer hunger like dogs
and shall go round about the city, and, if they find not enough to fill
them, they shall murmur. For this is the nature of one that has
desires, that he is ever discontented and dissatisfied, like one that
suffers hunger; for what has the hunger which all the creatures suffer
to do with the fullness which is caused by the Spirit of God? Wherefore
this fullness that is uncreated cannot enter the soul, if there be not
first cast out that other created hunger which belongs to the desire of
the soul; for, as we have said two contraries cannot dwell in one
person, the which contraries in this case are hunger and fullness.
4. From what has been said it will be seen how much greater is the work
of God [123] in the cleansing and the purging of a soul from these
contrarieties than in the creating of that soul from nothing. For thee
contrarieties, these contrary desires and affections, are more
completely opposed to God and offer Him greater resistance than does
nothingness; for nothingness resists not at all. And let this suffice
with respect to the first of the important evils which are inflicted
upon the soul by the desires — namely, resistance to the Spirit of God
— since much has been said of this above.
5. Let us now speak of the second effect which they cause in the soul.
This is of many kinds, because the desires weary the soul and torment
and darken it, and defile it and weaken it. Of these five things we
shall speak separately, in their turn.
6. With regard to the first, it is clear that the desires weary and
fatigue the soul; for they are like restless and discontented children,
who are ever demanding this or that from their mother, and are never
contented. And even as one that digs because he covets a treasure is
wearied and fatigued, even so is the soul weary and fatigued in order
to attain that which its desires demand of it; and although in the end
it may attain it, it is still weary, because it is never satisfied;
for, after all, the cisterns which it is digging are broken, and cannot
hold water to satisfy thirst. And thus, as Isaias says: Lassus adhuc
sitit, et anima ejus vacua est. [124] Which signifies: His desire is
empty. And the soul that has desires is wearied and fatigued; for it is
like a man that is sick of a fever, who finds himself no better until
the fever leaves him, and whose thirst increases with every moment.
For, as is said in the Book of Job: Cum satiatus fuerit, artabitur,
aestuabit, et omnis dolor inruet super eum. [125] Which signifies: When
he has satisfied his desire, he will be the more oppressed and
straitened; the heat of desire hath increased in his soul and thus
every sorrow will fall upon him. The soul is wearied and fatigued by
its desires, because it is wounded and moved and disturbed by them as
is water by the winds; in just the same way they disturb it, allowing
it not to rest in any place or in any thing soever. And of such a soul
says Isaias: Cor impii quasi mare fervens. [126] `The heart of the
wicked man is like the sea when it rages.' And he is a wicked man that
conquers not his desires. The soul that would fain satisfy its desires
grows wearied and fatigued; for it is like one that, being an hungered,
opens his mouth that he may sate himself with wind, whereupon, instead
of being satisfied, his craving becomes greater, for the wind is no
food for him. To this purpose said Jeremias: In desiderio animae sum
attraxit ventum amoris sui. [127] As though he were to say: In the
desire of his will he snuffed up the wind of his affection. And he then
tries to describe the aridity wherein such a soul remains, and warns
it, saying: Prohibe pedem tuum a nuditate, et guttur tuum a siti. [128]
Which signifies: Keep thy foot (that is, thy thought) from being bare
and thy throat from thirst (that is to say, thy will from the
indulgence of the desire which causes greater dryness); and, even as
the lover is wearied and fatigued upon the day of his hopes, when his
attempt has proved to be vain, so the soul is wearied and fatigued by
all its desires and by indulgence in them, since they all cause it
greater emptiness and hunger; for, as is often said, desire is like the
fire, which increases as wood is thrown upon it, and which, when it has
consumed the wood, must needs die.
7. And in this regard it is still worse with desire; for the fire goes
down when the wood is consumed, but desire, though it increases when
fuel is added to it, decreases not correspondingly when the fuel is
consumed; on the contrary, instead of going down, as does the fire when
its fuel is consumed, it grows weak through weariness, for its hunger
is increased and its food diminished. And of this Isaias speaks,
saying: Declinabit ad dexteram, et esuriet: et comedet ad sinistram, et
non saturabitur. [129] This signifies: He shall turn to the right hand,
and shall be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and shall not
be filled. For they that mortify not their desires, when they `turn,'
justly see the fullness of the sweetness of spirit of those who are at
the right hand of God, which fullness is not granted to themselves; and
justly, too, when they eat on the left hand, [130] by which is meant
the satisfaction of their desire with some creature comfort, they are
not filled, for, leaving aside that which alone can satisfy, they feed
on that which causes them greater hunger. It is clear, then, that the
desires weary and fatigue the soul.
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[117] Jeremias ii, 13.
[118] [Lit., `the greater the bulk that that desire has in the soul.']
[119] St. Matthew xv, 26.
[120] St. Matthew vii, 6.
[121] [Lit., `he that goes feeding upon.']
[122] Psalm lviii, 15-16 [A.V., lix, 14-15].
[123] [Lit., `how much more God does.']
[124] Isaias xxix, 8. The editions supply the translation of the first
part of the Latin text, which the Saint and the Codices omitted: `After
being wearied and fatigued, he yet thirsteth,' etc.
[125] Job xx, 22.
[126] Isaias lvii, 20.
[127] Jeremias ii, 24.
[128] Jeremias ii, 25.
[129] Isaias ix, 20.
[130] Thus Alc. [with `run' for `eat']. A, B, e.p. read: `. . . when
they turn from the way of God (which is the right hand) are justly
hungered, for they merit not the fullness of the sweetness of spirit.
And justly, too, when they eat on the left hand,' etc. [While agreeing
with P. Silverio that Alc. gives the better reading, I prefer `eat' to
`run': it is nearer the Scriptural passage and the two Spanish words,
comen and corren, could easily be confused in MS.]
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER VII
Wherein is shown how the desires torment the soul. This is proved
likewise by comparison and quotations.
The second kind of positive evil which the desires cause the soul is in
their tormenting and afflicting of it, after the manner of one who is
in torment through being bound with cords from which he has no relief
until he be freed. And of these David says: Funes peccatorum
circumplexi sunt me. [131] The cords of my sins, which are my desires,
have constrained me round about. And, even as one that lies naked upon
thorns and briars is tormented and afflicted, even so is the soul
tormented and afflicted when it rests upon its desires. For they take
hold upon it and distress it and cause it pain, even as do thorns. Of
these David says likewise: Circumdederunt me sicut apes: et exarserunt
sicut ignis in spinis. [132] Which signifies: They compassed me about
like bees, wounding me with their stings, and they were enkindled
against me, like fire among thorns; for in the desires, which are the
thorns, increases the fire of anguish and torment. And even as the
husbandman, coveting the harvest for which he hopes, afflicts and
torments the ox in the plough, even so does concupiscence afflict a
soul that is subject to its desire to attain that for which it longs.
This can be clearly seen in that desire which Dalila had to know whence
Samson derived his strength that was so great, for the Scripture says
that it fatigued and tormented her so much that it caused her to swoon,
almost to the point of death, and she said: Defecit anima ejus, et ad
mortem usque lassata est. [133]
2. The more intense is the desire, the greater is the torment which it
causes the soul. So that the torment increases with the desire; and the
greater are the desires which possess the soul, the greater are its
torments; for in such a soul is fulfilled, even in this life, that
which is said in the Apocalypse concerning Babylon, in these words:
Quantum glorificavit se, et in deliciis fuit, tantum date illi
tormentum, et luctum. [134] That is: As much as she has wished to exalt
and fulfil her desires, so much give ye to her torment and anguish. And
even as one that falls into the hands of his enemies is tormented and
afflicted, even so is the soul tormented and afflicted that is led away
by its desires. Of this there is a figure in the Book of the Judges,
wherein it may be read that that strong man, Samson, who at one time
was strong and free and a judge of Israel, fell into the power of his
enemies, and they took his strength from him, and put out his eyes, and
bound him in a mill, to grind corn, [135] wherein they tormented and
afflicted him greatly; [136] and thus it happens to the soul in which
these its enemies, the desires, live and rule; for the first thing that
they do is to weaken the soul and blind it, as we shall say below; and
then they afflict and torment it, binding it to the mill of
concupiscence; and the bonds with which it is bound are its own
desires.
3. Wherefore God, having compassion on these that with such great
labour, and at such cost to themselves, go about endeavouring to
satisfy the hunger and thirst of their desire in the creatures, says to
them through Isaias: Omnes sitientes, venite ad aquas; et qui non
habetis argentum, properate, emite, el comedite: venite, emite absque
argento vinum et lac. Quare appenditis argentum non in panibus, et
laborem vestrum non in saturitate? [137] As though He were to say: All
ye that have thirst of desire, come to the waters, and all ye that have
no silver of your own will and desires, make haste; buy from Me and
eat; come and buy from Me wine and milk (that is, spiritual sweetness
and peace) without the silver of your own will, and without giving Me
any labour in exchange for it, as ye give for your desires. Wherefore
do ye give the silver of your will for that which is not bread —
namely, that of the Divine Spirit — and set the labour of your desires
upon that which cannot satisfy you? Come, hearkening to Me, and ye
shall eat the good that ye desire and your soul shall delight itself in
fatness.
4. This attaining to fatness is a going forth from all pleasures of the
creatures; for the creatures torment, but the Spirit of God refreshes.
And thus He calls us through Saint Matthew, saying: Venite ad me omnes,
qui laboratis et onerati estis, et ego reficiam vos, et invenietis
requiem animabus vestris. [138] As though He were to say: All ye that
go about tormented, afflicted and burdened with the burden of your
cares and desires, go forth from them, come to Me, and I will refresh
you and ye shall find for your souls the rest which your desires take
from you, wherefore they are a heavy burden, for David says of them:
Sicut onus grave gravatae sunt super me. [139] Psalm xxxvii, 5 [A.V.,
xxxviii, 4].
__________________________________________________________________
[131] Psalm cxviii, 61 [A.V., cxix, 61].
[132] Psalm cxvii, 12 [A.V., cxviii, 12].
[133] Judges xvi, 16. [Actually it was Samson, not Dalila, who was
`wearied even until death.']
[134] Apocalypse xviii, 7.
[135] [Lit., `bound him to grind in a mill.']
[136] Judges xvi, 21.
[137] Isaias lv, 1-2.
[138] St. Matthew xi, 28-9.
[139]
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CHAPTER VIII
Wherein is shown how the desires darken and blind the soul.
The third evil that the desires cause in the soul is that they blind
and darken it. Even as vapours darken the air and allow not the bright
sun to shine; or as a mirror that is clouded over cannot receive within
itself a clear image; or as water defiled by mud reflects not the
visage of one that looks therein; even so the soul that is clouded by
the desires is darkened in the understanding and allows neither [140]
the sun of natural reason nor that of the supernatural Wisdom of God to
shine upon it and illumine it clearly. And thus David, speaking to this
purpose, says: Comprehenderunt me iniquitates meae, et non potui, ut
viderem. [141] Which signifies: Mine iniquities have taken hold upon
me, and I could have no power to see.
2. And, at this same time, when the soul is darkened in the
understanding, it is benumbed also in the will, and the memory becomes
dull and disordered in its due operation. For, as these faculties in
their operations depend upon the understanding, it is clear that, when
the understanding is impeded, they will become disordered and troubled.
And thus David says: Anima mea turbata est valde. [142] That is: My
soul is sorely troubled. Which is as much as to say, `disordered in its
faculties.' For, as we say, the understanding has no more capacity for
receiving enlightenment from the wisdom of God than has the air, when
it is dark, for receiving enlightenment from the sun; neither has the
will any power to embrace God within itself in pure love, even as the
mirror that is clouded with vapour has no power to reflect clearly
within itself any visage, [143] and even less power has the memory
which is clouded by the darkness of desire to take clearly upon itself
the form of the image of God, just as the muddled water cannot show
forth clearly the visage of one that looks at himself therein.
3. Desire blinds and darkens the soul; for desire, as such, is blind,
since of itself it has no understanding in itself, the reason being to
it always, as it were, a child leading a blind man. And hence it comes
to pass that, whensoever the soul is guided by its desire, it becomes
blind; for this is as if one that sees were guided by one that sees
not, which is, as it were, for both to be blind. And that which follows
from this is that which Our Lord says through Saint Matthew: Si caecus
caeco ducatum praestet, ambo in foveam cadunt. [144] `If the blind lead
the blind, both fall into the pit.' Of little use are its eyes to a
moth, since desire for the beauty of the light dazzles it and leads it
into the flame. [145] And even so we may say that one who feeds upon
desire is like a fish that is dazzled, upon which the light acts rather
as darkness, preventing it from seeing the snares which the fishermen
are preparing for it. This is very well expressed by David himself,
where he says of such persons: Supercecidit ignis, et non viderunt
solem. [146] Which signifies: There came upon them the fire, which
burns with its heat and dazzles with its light. And it is this that
desire does to the soul, enkindling its concupiscence and dazzling its
understanding so that it cannot see its light. For the cause of its
being thus dazzled is that when another light of a different kind is
set before the eye, the visual faculty is attracted by that which is
interposed so that it sees not the other; and, as the desire is set so
near to the soul as to be within the soul itself, the soul meets this
first light and is attracted by it; and thus it is unable to see the
light of clear understanding, neither will see it until the dazzling
power of desire is taken away from it.
4. For this reason one must greatly lament the ignorance of certain
men, who burden themselves with extraordinary penances and with many
other voluntary practices, and think that this practice or that will
suffice to bring them to the union of Divine Wisdom; but such will not
be the case if they endeavour not diligently to mortify their desires.
If they were careful to bestow half of that labour on this, they would
profit more in a month than they profit by all the other practices in
many years. For, just as it is necessary to till the earth if it is to
bear fruit, and unless it be tilled it bears naught but weeds, just so
is mortification of the desires necessary if the soul is to profit.
Without this mortification, I make bold to say, the soul no more
achieves progress on the road to perfection and to the knowledge of God
of itself, however many efforts it may make, than the seed grows when
it is cast upon untilled ground. Wherefore the darkness and rudeness of
the soul will not be taken from it until the desires be quenched. For
these desires are like cataracts, or like motes in the eye, which
obstruct the sight until they be taken away.
5. And thus David, realizing how blind are these souls, and how
completely impeded from beholding the light of truth, and how wroth is
God with them, speaks to them, saying: Priusquam intelligerent spinae
vestrae rhamnum: sicut viventes, sic in ira absorber eos. [147] And
this is as though He had said: Before your thorns (that is, your
desires) harden and grow, changing from tender thorns into a thick
hedge and shutting out the sight of God even as oft-times the living
find their thread of life broken in the midst of its course, even so
will God swallow them up in His wrath. For the desires that are living
in the soul, so that it cannot understand Him, [148] will be swallowed
up by God by means of chastisement and correction, either in this life
or in the next, and this will come to pass through purgation. And He
says that He will swallow them up in wrath, because that which is
suffered in the mortification of the desires is punishment for the ruin
which they have wrought in the soul.
6. Oh, if men but knew how great is the blessing of Divine light
whereof they are deprived by this blindness which proceeds from their
affections and desires, and into what great hurts and evils these make
them to fall day after day, for so long as they mortify them not! For a
man must not rely upon a clear understanding, or upon gifts that he has
received from God, and think that he may indulge his affection or
desire, and will not be blinded and darkened, and fall gradually into a
worse estate. For who would have said that a man so perfect in wisdom
and the gifts of God as was Solomon would have been reduced to such
blindness and torpor of the will as to make altars to so many idols and
to worship them himself, when he was old? [149] Yet no more was needed
to bring him to this than the affection which he had for women and his
neglect to deny the desires and delights of his heart. For he himself
says concerning himself, in Ecclesiastes, that he denied not his heart
that which it demanded of him. [150] And this man was capable of being
so completely led away by his desires that, although it is true that at
the beginning he was cautious, nevertheless, because he denied them
not, they gradually blinded and darkened his understanding, so that in
the end they succeeded in quenching that great light of wisdom which
God had given him, and therefore in his old age he foresook God.
7. And if unmortified desires could do so much in this man who knew so
well the distance that lies between good and evil, what will they not
be capable of accomplishing by working upon our ignorance? For we, as
God said to the prophet Jonas concerning the Ninivites, cannot discern
between [151] our right hand and our left. [152] At every step we hold
evil to be good, and good, evil, and this arises from our own nature.
What, then, will come to pass if to our natural darkness is added the
hindrance of desire? [153] Naught but that which Isaias describes thus:
Palpavimus, sicut caeci parietem, et quasi absque oculis adtrectavimus:
impegimus meridie, quasi in tenebris. [154] The prophet is speaking
with those who love to follow these their desires. It is as if he had
said: We have groped for the wall as though we were blind, and we have
been groping as though we had no eyes, and our blindness has attained
to such a point that we have stumbled at midday as though it were in
the darkness. For he that is blinded by desire has this property, that,
when he is set in the midst of truth and of that which is good for him,
he can no more see them than if he were in darkness.
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[140] [Lit., `gives no occasion either for,' etc.]
[141] Psalm xxxix, 13 [A.V., xl, 12.]
[142] Psalm vi, 4 [A.V., vi, 3].
[143] [Lit., `the present visage.']
[144] St. Matthew xv, 14.
[145] [hoguera. More exactly: `fire,' `bonfire,' `blaze.']
[146] Psalm lvii, 9 [cf. A.V., lviii, 8].
[147] Psalm lvii, 10 [A.V., lviii, 9].
[148] [Lit., `before it can understand God.']
[149] 3 Kings [A.V., 1 Kings] xi, 4.
[150] Ecclesiastes ii, 10.
[151] [Lit., `we . . . know not what there is between.']
[152] Jonas iv, 11.
[153] [Lit., `is added desire.']
[154] Isaias lix, 10.
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER IX
Wherein is described how the desires defile the soul. This is proved by
comparisons and quotations from Holy Scripture.
The fourth evil which the desires cause in the soul is that they stain
and defile it, as is taught in Ecclesiasticus, in these words: Qui
tetigerit picem, inquinabitur ab ea. [155] This signifies: He that
toucheth pitch shall be defiled with it. And a man touches pitch when
he allows the desire of his will to be satisfied by any creature. Here
it is to be noted that the Wise Man compares the creatures to pitch;
for there is more difference between excellence of soul and the best of
the creatures [156] than there is between pure diamond, [157] or fine
gold, and pitch. And just as gold or diamond, if it were heated and
placed upon pitch, would become foul and be stained by it, inasmuch as
the heat would have cajoled and allured the pitch, even so the soul
that is hot with desire for any creature draws forth foulness from it
through the heat of its desire and is stained by it. And there is more
difference between the soul and other corporeal creatures than between
a liquid that is highly clarified and mud that is most foul. Wherefore,
even as such a liquid would be defiled if it were mingled with mud, so
is the soul defiled that clings to creatures, since by doing this it
becomes like to the said creatures. And in the same way that traces of
soot would defile a face that is very lovely and perfect, even in this
way do disordered desires befoul and defile the soul that has them, the
which soul is in itself a most lovely and perfect image of God.
2. Wherefore Jeremias, lamenting the ravages of foulness which these
disordered affections cause in the soul, speaks first of its beauty,
and then of its foulness, saying: Candidiores sunt Nazaraei ejus nive,
nitidiores lacte, rubicundiores ebore antiquo, sapphiro pulchriores.
Denigrata est super carbones facies eorum, et non sunt cogniti in
plateis. [158] Which signifies: Its hair — that is to say, that of the
soul — is more excellent in whiteness than the snow, clearer [159]
than milk, and ruddier than old ivory, and lovelier than the sapphire
stone. Their face has now become blacker than coal and they are not
known in the streets. [160] By the hair we here understand the
affections and thoughts of the soul, which, ordered as God orders them
— that is, in God Himself — are whiter than snow, and clearer [161]
than milk, and ruddier than ivory, and lovelier than the sapphire. By
these four things is understood every kind of beauty and excellence of
corporeal creatures, higher than which, says the writer, are the soul
and its operations, which are the Nazarites or the hair aforementioned;
the which Nazarites, being unruly, [162] with their lives ordered in a
way that God ordered not — that is, being set upon the creatures —
have their face (says Jeremias) made and turned blacker than coal.
3. All this harm, and more, is done to the beauty of the soul by its
unruly desires for the things of this world; so much so that, if we set
out to speak of the foul and vile appearance that the desires can give
the soul, we should find nothing, however full of cobwebs and worms it
might be, not even the corruption of a dead body, nor aught else that
is impure and vile, nor aught that can exist and be imagined in this
life, to which we could compare it. For, although it is true that the
unruly soul, in its natural being, is as perfect as when God created
it, yet, in its reasonable being, it is vile, abominable, foul, black
and full of all the evils that are here being described, and many more.
For, as we shall afterwards say, a single unruly desire, although there
be in it no matter of mortal sin, suffices to bring a soul into such
bondage, foulness and vileness that it can in no wise come to accord
with God in union [163] until the desire be purified. What, then, will
be the vileness of the soul that is completely unrestrained with
respect to its own passions and given up to its desires, and how far
removed will it be from God and from His purity?
4. It is impossible to explain in words, or to cause to be understood
by the understanding, what variety of impurity is caused in the soul by
a variety of desires. For, if it could be expressed and understood, it
would be a wondrous thing, and one also which would fill us with pity,
to see how each desire, in accordance with its quality and degree, be
it greater or smaller, leaves in the soul its mark and deposit of
impurity and vileness, and how one single disorder of the reason can be
the source of innumerable different impurities, some greater, some
less, each one after its kind. For, even as the soul of the righteous
man has in one single perfection, which is uprightness of soul,
innumerable gifts of the greatest richness, and many virtues of the
greatest loveliness, each one different and full of grace after its
kind according to the multitude and the diversity of the affections of
love which it has had in God, even so the unruly soul, according to the
variety of the desires which it has for the creatures, has in itself a
miserable variety of impurities and meannesses, wherewith it is endowed
[164] by the said desires.
5. The variety of these desires is well illustrated in the Book of
Ezechiel, where it is written that God showed this Prophet, in the
interior of the Temple, painted around its walls, all likenesses of
creeping things which crawl on the ground, and all the abomination of
unclean beasts. [165] And then God said to Ezechiel: `Son of man, hast
thou not indeed seen the abominations that these do, each one in the
secrecy of his chamber?' [166] And God commanded the Prophet to go in
farther and he would see greater abominations; and he says that he
there saw women seated, weeping for Adonis, the god of love. [167] And
God commanded him to go in farther still, and he would see yet greater
abominations, and he says that he saw there five-and-twenty old men
whose backs were turned toward the Temple. [168]
6. The diversity of creeping things and unclean beasts that were
painted in the first chamber of the Temple are the thoughts and
conceptions which the understanding fashions from the lowly things of
earth, and from all the creatures, which are painted, just as they are,
in the temple of the soul, when the soul embarrasses its understanding
with them, which is the soul's first habitation. The women that were
farther within, in the second habitation, weeping for the god Adonis,
are the desires that are in the second faculty of the soul, which is
the will; the which are, as it were, weeping, inasmuch as they covet
that to which the will is affectioned, which are the creeping things
painted in the understandings. And the men that were in the third
habitation are the images and representations of the creatures, which
the third part of the soul — namely memory — keeps and reflects upon
[169] within itself. Of these it is said that their backs are turned
toward the Temple because when the soul, according to these three
faculties, completely and perfectly embraces anything that is of the
earth, it can be said to have its back turned toward the Temple of God,
which is the right reason of the soul, which admits within itself
nothing that is of creatures.
7. And let this now suffice for the understanding of this foul disorder
of the soul with respect to its desires. For if we had to treat in
detail of the lesser foulness which these imperfections and their
variety make and cause in the soul, and that which is caused by venial
sins, which is still greater than that of the imperfections, and their
great variety, and likewise that which is caused by the desires for
mortal sin, which is complete foulness of the soul, and its great
variety, according to the variety and multitude of all these three
things, we should never end, nor would the understanding of angels
suffice to understand it. That which I say, and that which is to the
point for my purpose, is that any desire, although it be for but the
smallest imperfection, stains and defiles the soul.
__________________________________________________________________
[155] Ecclesiasticus xiii, 1.
[156] [More literally: `and all the best that is of the creatures.'
`Best' is neuter and refers to qualities, appurtenances, etc.]
[157] [Lit., `bright diamond.']
[158] Lamentations iv, 7-8.
[159] [Lit., mas resplandecientes, `more brilliant,' `more luminous.']
[160] [Lit., plazas (derived from the Latin plateas), which now,
however, has the meaning of 'squares,' `(market) places.']
[161] [`Clearer' here is mas claros; the adjective is rendered `bright'
elsewhere.]
[162] [The words translated `unruly,' `disordered,' here and elsewhere,
and occasionally `unrestrained,' are the same in the original:
desordenado.]
[163] [The Spanish of the text reads literally: `in a union.']
[164] [The verb is pintar, `paint': perhaps `corrupt' is intended. The
same verb occurs in the following sentence.]
[165] Ezechiel viii, 10.
[166] [Ezechiel viii, 12.]
[167] Ezechiel viii, 14.
[168] Ezechiel viii, 16.
[169] [Lit., `revolves'--`turns over in its mind' in our common idiom.]
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CHAPTER X
Wherein is described how the desires weaken the soul in virtue and make
it lukewarm.
The fifth way in which the desires harm the soul is by making it
lukewarm and weak, so that it has no strength to follow after virtue
and to persevere therein. For as the strength of the desire, when it is
set upon various aims, is less than if it were set wholly on one thing
alone, and as, the more are the aims whereon it is set, the less of it
there is for each of them, for this cause philosophers say that virtue
in union is stronger than if it be dispersed. Wherefore it is clear
that, if the desire of the will be dispersed among other things than
virtue, it must be weaker as regards virtue. And thus the soul whose
will is set upon various trifles is like water, which, having a place
below wherein to empty itself, never rises; and such a soul has no
profit. For this cause the patriarch Jacob compared his son Ruben to
water poured out, because in a certain sin he had given rein to his
desires. And he said: `Thou art poured out like water; grow thou not.'
[170] As though he had said: Since thou art poured out like water as to
the desires, thou shalt not grow in virtue. And thus, as hot water,
when uncovered, readily loses heat, and as aromatic spices, when they
are unwrapped, gradually lose the fragrance and strength of their
perfume, even so the soul that is not recollected in one single desire
for God loses heat and vigour in its virtue. This was well understood
by David, when he said, speaking with God: I will keep my strength for
Thee. [171] That is, concentrating the strength of my desires upon Thee
alone.
2. And the desires weaken the virtue of the soul, because they are to
it like the shoots that grow about a tree, and take away its virtue so
that it cannot bring forth so much fruit. And of such souls as these
says the Lord: Vae praegnantibus, et nutrientibus in illis diebus.
[172] That is: Woe to them that in those days are with child and to
them that give suck. This being with child and giving suck is
understood with respect to the desires; which, if they be not pruned,
will ever be taking more virtue from the soul, and will grow to the
harm of the soul, like the shoots upon the tree. Wherefore Our Lord
counsels us, saying: Have your loins girt about [173] — the loins
signifying here the desires. And indeed, they are also like leeches,
which are ever sucking the blood from the veins, for thus the Preacher
terms them when he says: The leeches are the daughters — that is, the
desires — saying ever: Daca, daca. [174]
3. From this it is clear that the desires bring no good to the soul but
rather take from it that which it has; and, if it mortify them not,
they will not cease till they have wrought in it that which the
children of the viper are said to work in their mother; who, as they
are growing within her womb, consume her and kill her, and they
themselves remain alive at her cost. Just so the desires that are not
mortified grow to such a point that they kill the soul with respect to
God because it has not first killed them. And they alone live in it.
Wherefore the Preacher says: Aufer a me Domine ventris concupiscentias.
[175]
4. And, even though they reach not this point, it is very piteous to
consider how the desires that live in this poor soul treat it, how
unhappy it is with regard to itself, how dry with respect to its
neighbours, and how weary and slothful with respect to the things of
God. For there is no evil humour that makes it as wearisome and
difficult for a sick man to walk, or gives him a distaste for eating
comparable to the weariness and distaste for following virtue which is
given to a soul by desire for creatures. And thus the reason why many
souls have no diligence and eagerness to gain virtue is, as a rule,
that they have desires and affections which are not pure and are not
fixed upon God. [176]
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[170] Genesis xlix, 4.
[171] Psalm lviii, 10 [A.V., lix, 9].
[172] St. Matthew xxix, 19.
[173] St. Luke xii, 35.
[174] Proverbs xxx, 15.
[175] Ecclesiasticus xxiii, 6. [In the original the last two sentences
are transposed.]
[176] [Lit., `not pure on (or `in') God.']
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER XI
Wherein it is proved necessary that the soul that would attain to
Divine union should be free from desires, however slight they be.
I expect that for a long time the reader has been wishing to ask
whether it be necessary, in order to attain to this high estate of
perfection, to undergo first of all total mortification in all the
desires, great and small, or if it will suffice to mortify some of them
and to leave others, those at least which seem of little moment. For it
appears to be a severe and most difficult thing for the soul to be able
to attain to such purity and detachment that it has no will and
affection for anything.
2. To this I reply: first, that it is true that all the desires are not
equally hurtful, nor do they all equally embarrass the soul. I am
speaking of those that are voluntary, for the natural desires hinder
the soul little, if at all, from attaining to union, when they are not
consented to nor pass beyond the first movements (I mean, [177] all
those wherein the rational will has had no part, whether at first or
afterward); and to take away these — that is, to mortify them wholly
in this life — is impossible. And these hinder not the soul in such a
way as to prevent its attainment to Divine union, even though they be
not, as I say, wholly mortified; for the natural man may well have
them, and yet the soul may be quite free from them according to the
rational spirit. For it will sometimes come to pass that the soul will
be in the full [178] union of the prayer of quiet in the will at the
very time when these desires are dwelling in the sensual part of the
soul, and yet the higher part, which is in prayer, will have nothing to
do with them. But all the other voluntary desires, whether they be of
mortal sin, which are the gravest, or of venial sin, which are less
grave, or whether they be only of imperfections, which are the least
grave of all, must be driven away every one, and the soul must be free
from them all, howsoever slight they be, if it is to come to this
complete union; and the reason is that the state of this Divine union
consists in the soul's total transformation, according to the will, in
the will of God, so that, there may be naught in the soul that is
contrary to the will of God, but that, in all and through all, its
movement may be that of the will of God alone.
3. It is for this reason that we say of this state that it is the
making of two wills into one — namely, into the will of God, which
will of God is likewise the will of the soul. For if this soul desired
any imperfection that God wills not, there would not be made one will
of God, since the soul would have a will for that which God has not. It
is clear, then, that for the soul to come to unite itself perfectly
with God through love and will, it must first be free from all desire
of the will, howsoever slight. That is, that it must not intentionally
and knowingly consent with the will to imperfections, and it must have
power and liberty to be able not so to consent intentionally. I say
knowingly, because, unintentionally and unknowingly, or without having
the power to do otherwise, it may well fall into imperfections and
venial sins, and into the natural desires whereof we have spoken; for
of such sins as these which are not voluntary and surreptitious it is
written that the just man shall fall seven times in the day and shall
rise up again. [179] But of the voluntary desires, which, though they
be for very small things, are, as I have said, intentional venial sins,
any one that is not conquered suffices to impede union. [180] I mean,
if this habit be not mortified; for sometimes certain acts of different
desires have not as much power when the habits are mortified. Still,
the soul will attain to the stage of not having even these, for they
likewise proceed from a habit of imperfection. But some habits of
voluntary imperfections, which are never completely conquered, prevent
not only the attainment of Divine union, but also progress in
perfection.
4. These habitual imperfections are, for example, a common custom of
much speaking, or some slight attachment which we never quite wish to
conquer — such as that to a person, a garment, a book, a cell, a
particular kind of food, tittle-tattle, fancies for tasting, knowing or
hearing certain things, and suchlike. Any one of these imperfections,
if the soul has become attached and habituated to it, is of as great
harm to its growth and progress in virtue as though it were to fall
daily into many other imperfections and usual venial sins which proceed
not from a habitual indulgence in any habitual and harmful attachment,
and will not hinder it so much as when it has attachment to anything.
For as long as it has this there is no possibility that it will make
progress in perfection, even though the imperfection be extremely
slight. For it comes to the same thing whether a bird be held by a
slender cord or by a stout one; since, even if it be slender, the bird
will be well held as though it were stout, for so long as it breaks it
not and flies not away. It is true that the slender one is the easier
to break; still, easy though it be, the bird will not fly away if it be
not broken. And thus the soul that has attachment to anything, however
much virtue it possess, will not attain to the liberty of Divine union.
For the desire and the attachment of the soul have that power which the
sucking-fish [181] is said to have when it clings to a ship; for,
though but a very small fish, if it succeed in clinging to the ship, it
makes it incapable of reaching the port, or of sailing on at all. It is
sad to see certain souls in this plight; like rich vessels, they are
laden with wealth and good works and spiritual exercises, and with the
virtues and the favours that God grants them; and yet, because they
have not the resolution to break with some whim or attachment or
affection (which all come to the same thing), they never make progress
or reach the port of perfection, though they would need to do no more
than make one good flight and thus to snap that cord of desire right
off, or to rid themselves of that sucking-fish of desire which clings
to them.
5. It is greatly to be lamented that, when God has granted them
strength to break other and stouter cords [182] — namely, affections
for sins and vanities — they should fail to attain to such blessing
because they have not shaken off some childish thing which God had
bidden them conquer for love of Him, and which is nothing more than a
thread or a hair. [183] And, what is worse, not only do they make no
progress, but because of this attachment they fall back, lose that
which they have gained, and retrace that part of the road along which
they have travelled at the cost of so much time and labour; for it is
well known that, on this road, not to go forward is to turn back, and
not to be gaining is to be losing. This Our Lord desired to teach us
when He said: `He that is not with Me is against Me; and he that
gathereth not with Me scattereth.' [184] He that takes not the trouble
to repair the vessel, however slight be the crack in it, is likely to
spill all the liquid that is within it. The Preacher taught us this
clearly when he said: He that contemneth small things shall fall by
little and little. [185] For, as he himself says, a great fire cometh
from a single spark. [186] And thus one imperfection is sufficient to
lead to another; and these lead to yet more; wherefore you will hardly
ever see a soul that is negligent in conquering one desire, and that
has not many more arising from the same weakness and imperfection that
this desire causes. In this way they are continually filling; we have
seen many persons to whom God has been granting the favour of leading
them a long way, into a state of great detachment and liberty, yet who,
merely through beginning to indulge some slight attachment, under the
pretext of doing good, or in the guise of conversation and friendship,
often lose their spirituality and desire for God and holy solitude,
fall from the joy and wholehearted devotion which they had in their
spiritual exercises, and cease not until they have lost everything; and
this because they broke not with that beginning of sensual desire and
pleasure and kept not themselves in solitude for God.
6. Upon this road we must ever journey in order to attain our goal;
which means that we must ever be mortifying our desires and not
indulging them; and if they are not all completely mortified we shall
not completely attain. For even as a log of wood may fail to be
transformed in the fire because a single degree of heat is wanting to
it, even so the soul will not be transformed in God if it have but one
imperfection, although it be something less than voluntary desire; for,
as we shall say hereafter concerning the night of faith, the soul has
only one will, and that will, if it be embarrassed by aught and set
upon by aught, is not free, solitary, and pure, as is necessary for
Divine transformation.
7. Of this that has been said we have a figure in the Book of the
Judges, where it is related that the angel came to the children of
Israel and said to them that, because they had not destroyed that
forward people, but had made a league with some of them, they would
therefore be left among them as enemies, that they might be to them an
occasion of stumbling and perdition. [187] And just so does God deal
with certain souls: though He has taken them out of the world, and
slain the giants, their sins, and destroyed the multitude of their
enemies, which are the occasions of sin that they encountered in the
world, solely that they may enter this Promised Land of Divine union
with greater liberty, yet they harbour friendship and make alliance
with the insignificant peoples [188] — that is, with imperfections —
and mortify them not completely; therefore Our Lord is angry, and
allows them to fall into their desires and go from bad to worse.
8. In the Book of Josue, again, we have a figure of what has just been
said — where we read that God commanded Josue, at the time that he had
to enter into possession of the Promised Land, to destroy all things
that were in the city of Jericho, in such wise as to leave therein
nothing alive, man or woman, young or old, and to slay all the beasts,
and to take naught, neither to covet aught, of all the spoils. [189]
This He said that we may understand how, if a man is to enter this
Divine union, all that lives in his soul must die, both little and
much, small and great, and that the soul must be without desire for all
this, and detached from it, even as though it existed not for the soul,
neither the soul for it. This Saint Paul teaches us clearly in his
epistle ad Corinthios, saying: `This I say to you, brethren, that the
time is short; it remains, and it behoves you, that they that have
wives should be as if they had none; and they that weep for the things
of this world, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as if
they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and
they that use this world, as if they used it not.' [190] This the
Apostle says to us in order to teach us how complete must be the
detachment of our soul from all things if it is to journey to God.
__________________________________________________________________
[177] [The original has no such explanatory phrase.]
[178] [That is, will be enjoying all the union that the prayer of quiet
gives.]
[179] Proverbs xxiv, 16.
[180] [The original omits `union.']
[181] [Or `remora.']
[182] [cordeles: a stronger word than that used above (hilo), which, if
the context would permit, might better be translated 'string' — its
equivalent in modern speech. Below, hilo is translated `thread.']
[183] [Hilo, rendered `thread,' as explained in n. 4 above, can also be
taken in the stronger sense of `cord.']
[184] St. Matthew xii, 30.
[185] Ecclesiasticus xix, 1.
[186] [Lit., `the fire is increased by a single spark.'] Ecclesiasticus
xi, 34 [A.V., xi, 32].
[187] Judges ii, 3.
[188] [The original phrase (gente menuda) means `little folk.' It is
used of children and sometimes also of insects and other small
creatures. There is a marked antithesis between the `giants,' or sins,
and the `little folk,' or imperfections.]
[189] Josue vi, 21.
[190] 1 Corinthians vii, 29-31.
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CHAPTER XII
Which treats of the answer to another question, explaining what the
desires are that suffice to cause the evils aforementioned in the soul.
We might write at greater length upon this matter of the night of
sense, saying all that there is to say concerning the harm which is
caused by the desires, not only in the ways aforementioned, but in many
others. But for our purpose that which has been said suffices; for we
believe we have made it clear in what way the mortification of these
desires is called night, and how it behoves us to enter this night in
order to journey to God. The only thing that remains, before we treat
of the manner of entrance therein, in order to bring this part to a
close, is a question concerning what has been said which might occur to
the reader.
2. It may first be asked if any desire can be sufficient to work and
produce in the soul the two evils aforementioned — namely, the
privative, which consists in depriving the soul of the grace of God,
and the positive, which consists in producing within it the five
serious evils whereof we have spoken. Secondly, it may be asked if any
desire, however slight it be and of whatever kind, suffices to produce
all these together, or if some desires produce some and others produce
others. If, for example, some produce torment; others, weariness;
others, darkness, etc.
3. Answering this question, I say, first of all, that with respect to
the privative evil — which consists in the soul's being deprived of
God — this is wrought wholly, and can only be wrought, by the
voluntary desires, which are of the matter of mortal sin; for they
deprive the soul of grace in this life, and of glory, which is the
possession of God, in the next. In the second place, I say that both
those desires which are of the matter of mortal sin, and the voluntary
desires, which are of the matter of venial sin, and those that are of
the matter of imperfection, are each sufficient to produce in the soul
all these positive evils together; the which evils, although in a
certain way they are privative, we here call positive, since they
correspond to a turning towards the creature, even as the privative
evils correspond to a turning away from God. But there is this
difference, that the desires which are of mortal sin produce total
blindness, torment, impurity, weakness, etc. Those others, however,
which are of the matter of venial sin or imperfection, produce not
these evils in a complete and supreme degree, since they deprive not
the soul of grace, upon the loss of which depends the possession of
them, since the death of the soul is their life; but they produce them
in the soul remissly, proportionately to the remission of grace which
these desires produce in the soul. [191] So that desire which most
weakens grace will produce the most abundant torment, blindness and
defilement.
4. It should be noted, however, that, although each desire produces all
these evils, which we here term positive, there are some which,
principally and directly, produce some of them, and others which
produce others, and the remainder are produced consequently upon these.
For, although it is true that one sensual desire produces all these
evils, yet its principal and proper effect is the defilement of soul
and body. And, although one avaricious desire produces them all, its
principal and direct result is to produce misery. And, although
similarly one vainglorious desire produces them all, its principal and
direct result is to produce darkness and blindness. And, although one
gluttonous desire produces them all, its principal result is to produce
lukewarmness in virtue. And even so is it with the rest.
5. And the reason why any act of voluntary desire produces in the soul
all these effects together lies in the direct contrariety which exists
between them and all the acts of virtue which produce the contrary
effects in the soul. For, even as an act of virtue produces and begets
in the soul sweetness, peace, consolation, light, cleanness and
fortitude altogether, even so an unruly desire causes torment, fatigue,
weariness, blindness and weakness. All the virtues grow through the
practice of any one of them, and all the vices grow through the
practice of any one of them likewise, and the remnants [192] of each
grow in the soul. And although all these evils are not evident at the
moment when the desire is indulged, since the resulting pleasure gives
no occasion for them, yet the evil remnants which they leave are
clearly perceived, whether before or afterwards. This is very well
illustrated by that book which the angel commanded Saint John to eat,
in the Apocalypse, the which book was sweetness to his mouth, and in
his belly bitterness. [193] For the desire, when it is carried into
effect, is sweet and appears to be good, but its bitter taste is felt
afterwards; the truth of this can be clearly proved by anyone who
allows himself to be led away by it. Yet I am not ignorant that there
are some men so blind and insensible as not to feel this, for, as they
do not walk in God, they are unable to perceive that which hinders them
from approaching Him.
6. I am not writing here of the other natural desires which are not
voluntary, and of thoughts that go not beyond the first movements, and
other temptations to which the soul is not consenting; for these
produce in the soul none of the evils aforementioned. For, although a
person who suffers from them may think that the passion and disturbance
which they then produce in him are defiling and blinding him, this is
not the case; rather they are bringing him the opposite advantages.
For, in so far as he resists them, he gains fortitude, purity, light
and consolation, and many blessings, even as Our Lord said to Saint
Paul: That virtue was made perfect in weakness. [194] But the voluntary
desires work all the evils aforementioned, and more. Wherefore the
principal care of spiritual masters is to mortify their disciples
immediately with respect to any desire soever, by causing them to
remain without the objects of their desires, in order to free them from
such great misery.
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[191] [The word here translated `remissness' is rendered `remission' in
the text, where it seems to have a slightly different meaning.]
[192] [The word translated `remnants' also means `after-taste.']
[193] Apocalypse x, 9.
[194] 2 Corinthians xii, 9. [`Virtue' had often, in the author's day,
much of the meaning of the modern word 'strength.']
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER XIII
Wherein is described the manner and way which the soul must follow in
order to enter this night of sense.
It now remains for me to give certain counsels whereby the soul may
know how to enter this night of sense and may be able so to do. To this
end it must be known that the soul habitually enters this night of
sense in two ways: the one is active; the other passive. The active way
consists in that which the soul can do, and does, of itself, in order
to enter therein, whereof we shall now treat in the counsels which
follow. The passive way is that wherein the soul does nothing, and God
works in it, and it remains, as it were, patient. Of this we shall
treat in the fourth book, where we shall be treating of beginners. And
because there, with the Divine favour, we shall give many counsels to
beginners, according to the many imperfections which they are apt to
have while on this road, I shall not spend time in giving many here.
And this, too, because it belongs not to this place to give them, as at
present we are treating only of the reasons for which this journey is
called a night, and of what kind it is, and how many parts it has. But,
as it seems that it would be incomplete, and less profitable than it
should be, if we gave no help or counsel here for walking in this night
of desires, I have thought well to set down briefly here the way which
is to be followed: and I shall do the same at the end of each of the
next two parts, or causes, of this night, whereof, with the help of the
Lord, I have to treat.
2. These counsels for the conquering of the desires, which now follow,
albeit brief and few, I believe to be as profitable and efficacious as
they are concise; so that one who sincerely desires to practice them
will need no others, but will find them all included in these.
3. First, let him have an habitual desire [195] to imitate Christ in
everything that he does, conforming himself to His life; upon which
life he must meditate so that he may know how to imitate it, and to
behave in all things as Christ would behave.
4. Secondly, in order that he may be able to do this well, every
pleasure that presents itself to the senses, if it be not purely for
the honour and glory of God, must be renounced and completely rejected
for the love of Jesus Christ, Who in this life had no other pleasure,
neither desired any, than to do the will of His Father, which He called
His meat and food. [196] I take this example. If there present itself
to a man the pleasure of listening to things that tend not to the
service and honour of God, let him not desire that pleasure, nor desire
to listen to them; and if there present itself the pleasure of looking
at things that help him not Godward, let him not desire the pleasure or
look at these things; and if in conversation or in aught else soever
such pleasure present itself, let him act likewise. And similarly with
respect to all the senses, in so far as he can fairly avoid the
pleasure in question; if he cannot, it suffices that, although these
things may be present to his senses, he desires not to have this
pleasure. And in this wise he will be able to mortify and void his
senses of such pleasure, as though they were in darkness. If he takes
care to do this, he will soon reap great profit.
5. For the mortifying and calming of the four natural passions, which
are joy, hope, fear and grief, from the concord and pacification
whereof come these and other blessings, the counsels here following are
of the greatest help, and of great merit, and the source of great
virtues.
6. Strive always to prefer, not that which is easiest, but that which
is most difficult;
Not that which is most delectable, but that which is most unpleasing;
Not that which gives most pleasure, but rather that which gives least;
Not that which is restful, but that which is wearisome;
Not that which is consolation, but rather that which is
disconsolateness;
Not that which is greatest, but that which is least;
Not that which is loftiest and most precious, but that which is lowest
and most despised;
Not that which is [197] a desire for anything, but that which is a
desire for nothing;
Strive to go about seeking not the best of temporal things, but the
worst.
Strive thus to desire to enter into complete detachment and emptiness
and poverty, with respect to everything that is in the world, for
Christ's sake.
7. And it is meet that the soul embrace these acts with all its heart
and strive to subdue its will thereto. For, if it perform them with its
heart, it will very quickly come to find in them great delight and
consolation, and to act with order and discretion.
8. These things that have been said, if they be faithfully put into
practice, are quite sufficient for entrance into the night of sense;
but, for greater completeness, we shall describe another kind of
exercise which teaches us to mortify the concupiscence of the flesh and
the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which, says Saint
John, [198] are the things that reign in the world, from which all the
other desires proceed.
9. First, let the soul strive to work in its own despite, and desire
all to do so. Secondly, let it strive to speak in its own despite and
desire all to do so. Third, let it strive to think humbly of itself, in
its own despite, and desire all to do so.
10. To conclude these counsels and rules, it will be fitting to set
down here those lines which are written in the Ascent of the Mount,
which is the figure that is at the beginning of this book; the which
lines are instructions for ascending to it, and thus reaching the
summit of union. For, although it is true that that which is there
spoken of is spiritual and interior, there is reference likewise to the
spirit of imperfection according to sensual and exterior things, as may
be seen by the two roads which are on either side of the path of
perfection. It is in this way and according to this sense that we shall
understand them here; that is to say, according to that which is
sensual. Afterwards, in the second part of this night, they will be
understood according to that which is spiritual. [199]
11. The lines are these:
In order to arrive at having pleasure in everything,
Desire to have pleasure in nothing.
In order to arrive at possessing everything,
Desire to possess nothing.
In order to arrive at being everything,
Desire to be nothing.
In order to arrive at knowing everything,
Desire to know nothing. [200]
In order to arrive at that wherein thou hast no pleasure,
Thou must go by a way wherein thou hast no pleasure.
In order to arrive at that which thou knowest not,
Thou must go by a way that thou knowest not.
In order to arrive at that which thou possessest not,
Thou must go by a way that thou possessest not.
In order to arrive at that which thou art not,
Thou must go through that which thou art not.
12. When thy mind dwells upon anything,
Thou art ceasing to cast thyself upon the All. For, in order to pass
from the all to the All, Thou hast to deny thyself wholly [201] in
all. And, when thou comest to possess it wholly, Thou must possess
it without desiring anything. For, if thou wilt have anything in
having all, [202] Thou hast not thy treasure purely in God.
13. In this detachment the spiritual soul finds its quiet and repose;
for, since it covets nothing, nothing wearies it when it is lifted up,
and nothing oppresses it when it is cast down, because it is in the
centre of its humility; but when it covets anything, at that very
moment it becomes wearied.
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[195] [The word used for desire is apetito, which has been used in the
past chapters for desires of sense (cf. chap. I, above).]
[196] [St. John iv, 34.]
[197] Lit., `Not that which is to desire anything, etc.']
[198] [1 St. John ii, 16.]
[199] The Saint does not, however, allude to these lines again. The
order followed below is that of Alc., which differs somewhat from that
followed in the diagram.
[200] [This line, like ll. 6, 8 of the paragraph, reads more literally:
`Desire not to possess (be, know) anything in anything.' It is more
emphatic than l. 2.]
[201] [There is a repetition here which could only be indicated by
translating `all-ly.' So, too, in the next couplet.]
[202] [Lit. `anything in all.']
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CHAPTER XIV
Wherein is expounded the second line of the stanza.
Kindled in love with yearnings.
Now that we have expounded the first line of this stanza, which treats
of the night of sense, explaining what this night of sense is, and why
it is called night; and now that we have likewise described the order
and manner which are to be followed for a soul to enter therein
actively, the next thing to be treated in due sequence is its
properties and effects, which are wonderful, and are described in the
next lines of the stanza aforementioned, upon which I will briefly
touch for the sake of expounding the said lines, as I promised in the
Prologue; [203] and I will then pass on at once to the second book,
treating of the other part of this night, which is the spiritual.
2. The soul, then, says that, `kindled in love with yearnings,' it
passed through this dark night of sense and came out thence to the
union of the Beloved. For, in order to conquer all the desires and to
deny itself the pleasures which it has in everything, and for which its
love and affection are wont to enkindle the will that it may enjoy
them, it would need to experience another and a greater enkindling by
an other and a better love, which is that of its Spouse; to the end
that, having its pleasure set upon Him and deriving from Him its
strength, it should have courage and constancy to deny itself all other
things with ease. And, in order to conquer the strength of the desires
of sense, it would need, not only to have love for its Spouse, but also
to be enkindled by love and to have yearnings. For it comes to pass,
and so it is, that with such yearnings of desire the sensual nature is
moved and attracted toward sensual things, so that, if the spiritual
part be not enkindled with other and greater yearnings for that which
is spiritual, it will be unable to throw off the yoke of nature [204]
or to enter this night of sense, neither will it have courage to remain
in darkness as to all things, depriving itself of desire for them all.
3. And the nature and all the varieties of these yearnings of love
which souls experience in the early stages of this road to union; and
the diligent means and contrivances which they employ in order to leave
their house, which is self-will, during the night of the mortification
of their senses; and how easy, and even sweet and delectable, these
yearnings for the Spouse make all the trials and perils of this night
to appear to them, this is not the place to describe, neither is such
description possible; for it is better to know and meditate upon these
things than to write of them. And so we shall pass on to expound the
remaining lines in the next chapter.
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[203] This confirms our point (Bk. I, chap. ii, 6, above) that the
Saint considers the Argument as part of the Prologue.
[204] Lit., `to conquer the natural yoke.']
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CHAPTER XV
Wherein are expounded the remaining lines of the aforementioned stanza.
. . . oh, happy chance! —
I went forth without being observed, My house being now at rest.
These lines take as a metaphor the miserable estate of captivity, a
man's deliverance from which, when none of the gaolers' hinder his
release, he considers a `happy chance.' For the soul, on account of
[205] original sin, is truly as it were a captive in this mortal body,
subject to the passions and desires of nature, from bondage and
subjection to which it considers its having gone forth without being
observed as a `happy chance' — having gone forth, that is, without
being impeded or engulfed [206] by any of them.
2. For to this end the soul profited by going forth upon a `dark night'
— that is, in the privation of all pleasures and mortification of all
desires, after the manner whereof we have spoken. And by its `house
being now at rest' is meant the sensual part, which is the house of all
the desires, and is now at rest because they have all been overcome and
lulled to sleep. For until the desires are lulled to sleep through the
mortification of the sensual nature, and until at last the sensual
nature itself is at rest from them, so that they make not war upon the
spirit, the soul goes not forth to true liberty and to the fruition of
union with its Beloved.
END OF THE FIRST BOOK
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[205] [Lit., `after.']
[206] [Lit., `comprehended.']
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__________________________________________________________________
BOOK THE SECOND
OF THE `ASCENT OF MT. CARMEL'
Wherein is treated the proximate means of ascending to union with God,
which is faith; and wherein therefore is described the second part of
this night, which, as we said, belongs to the spirit, and is contained
in the second stanza, which is as follows.
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STANZA THE SECOND
CHAPTER I
In darkness and secure, By the secret ladder, disguised — oh, happy
chance! —
In darkness and in concealment, My house being now at rest.
In this second stanza the soul sings of the happy chance which it
experienced in stripping the spirit of all spiritual imperfections and
desires for the possession of spiritual things. This was a much greater
happiness to, by reason of the greater difficulty that there is in
putting to rest this house of the spiritual part, and of being able to
enter this interior darkness, which is spiritual detachment from all
things, whether sensual or spiritual, and leaning on pure faith alone
and an ascent thereby to God. The soul here calls this a `ladder,' and
'secret,' because all the rungs and parts of it [207] are secret and
hidden from all sense and understanding. And thus the soul has remained
in darkness as to all light of sense and understanding, going forth
beyond all limits of nature and reason in order to ascend by this
Divine ladder of faith, which attains [208] and penetrates even to the
heights [209] of God. The soul says that it was travelling `disguised,'
because the garments and vesture which it wears and its natural
condition are changed into the Divine, as it ascends by faith. And it
was because of this disguise that it was not recognized or impeded,
either by time or by reason or by the devil; for none of these things
can harm one that journeys in faith. And not only so, but the soul
travels in such wise concealed and hidden and is so far from all the
deceits of the devil that in truth it journeys (as it also says here)
`in darkness and in concealment' — that is to say, hidden from the
devil, to whom the light of faith is more than darkness.
2. And thus the soul that journeys through this night, we may say,
journeys in concealment and in hiding from the devil, as will be more
clearly seen hereafter. Wherefore the soul says that it went forth `in
darkness and secure'; for one that has such happiness as to be able to
journey through the darkness of faith, taking faith for his guide, like
to one that is blind, [210] and leaving behind all natural imaginings
and spiritual reasonings, journeys very securely, as we have said. And
so the soul says furthermore that it went forth through this spiritual
night, its `house being now at rest' — that is to say, its spiritual
and rational parts. When, therefore, the soul attains to union which is
of God, its natural faculties are at rest, as are likewise its impulses
and yearnings of the senses, in its spiritual part. For this cause the
soul says not here that it went forth with yearnings, as in the first
night of sense. For, in order to journey in the night of sense, and to
strip itself of that which is of sense, it needed yearnings of
sense-love so that it might go forth perfectly; but, in order to put to
rest the house of its spirit, it needs no more than denial [211] of all
faculties and pleasures and desires of the spirit in pure faith. This
attained, the soul is united with the Beloved in a union of simplicity
and purity and love and similitude.
3. And it must be remembered that the first stanza, speaking of the
sensual part, says that the soul went forth upon `a dark night,' and
here, speaking of the spiritual part, it says that it went forth `in
darkness.' For the darkness of the spiritual part is by far the
greater, even as darkness is a greater obscurity than that of night.
For, however dark a night may be, something can always be seen, but in
true darkness nothing can be seen; and thus in the night of sense there
still remains some light, for the understanding and reason remain, and
are not blinded. But this spiritual night, which is faith, deprives the
soul of everything, both as to understanding and as to sense. And for
this cause the soul in this night says that it was journeying `in
darkness and secure,' which it said not in the other. For, the less the
soul works with its own ability, the more securely it journeys, because
it journeys more in faith. And this will be expounded at length in the
course of this second book, wherein it will be necessary for the devout
reader to proceed attentively, because there will be said herein things
of great importance to the person that is truly spiritual. [212] And,
although they are somewhat obscure, some of them will pave the way to
others, so that I believe they will all be quite clearly understood.
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[207] [Lit., `all the steps and articles that it has.']
[208] [Lit., `climbs': the verb (escala) is identical with the noun
`ladder' (escala).]
[209] [Lit., `to the depths.']
[210] [The literal translation is shorter, viz. `taking faith for a
blind man's guide.']
[211] [Lit., `negation.'] This is the reading of Alc. `Affirmation' is
found in A, B, C, D, e.p. Though the two words are antithetical, they
express the same underlying concept. [The affirmation, or
establishment, of all the powers and desires of the spirit upon pure
faith, so that they may be ruled by pure faith alone, is equivalent to
the denial, or negation, of those powers and desires in so far as they
are not ruled by pure faith.]
[212] [Lit., `to true spirit.']
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CHAPTER II
Which begins to treat of the second part or cause of this night, which
is faith. Proves by two arguments how it is darker than the first and
than the third.
We now go on to treat of the second part of this night, which is faith;
this is the wondrous means which, as we said, leads to the goal, which
is God, Who, as we said, [213] is also to the soul, naturally, the
third cause or part of this night. For faith, which is the means, [214]
is compared with midnight. And thus we may say that it is darker for
the soul either than the first part or, in a way, than the third; for
the first part, which is that of sense, is compared to the beginning of
night, or the time when sensible objects can no longer be seen, and
thus it is not so far removed from light as is midnight. The third
part, which is the period preceding the dawn, is quite close to the
light of day, and it, too, therefore, is not so dark as midnight; for
it is now close to the enlightenment and illumination of the light of
day, which is compared with God. For, although it is true, if we speak
after a natural manner, that God is as dark a night to the soul as is
faith, still, when these three parts of the night are over, which are
naturally night to the soul, God begins to illumine the soul by
supernatural means with the ray of His Divine light; which is the
beginning of the perfect union that follows, when the third night is
past, and it can thus be said to be less dark.
2. It is likewise darker than the first night, for this belongs to the
lower part of man, which is the sensual part, and, consequently, the
more exterior; and this second part, which is of faith, belongs to the
higher part of man, which is the rational part, and, in consequence,
more interior and more obscure, since it deprives it of the light of
reason, or, to speak more clearly, blinds it; [215] and thus it is
aptly compared to midnight, which is the depth of night and the darkest
part thereof.
3. We have now to prove how this second part, which is faith, is night
to the spirit, even as the first part is night to sense. And we shall
then also describe the things that are contrary to it, and how the soul
must prepare itself actively to enter it. For, concerning the passive
part, which is that which God works in it, when He brings it into that
night, we shall speak in its place, which I intend shall be the third
book.
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[213] [I, ii, above.]
[214] [Cf. I, ii, above.]
[215] This was another of the propositions which were cited by those
who denounced the writings of St. John of the Cross to the Holy Office.
It is interpretable, nevertheless, in a sense that is perfectly true
and completely in conformity with Catholic doctrine. The Saint does
not, in these words, affirm that faith destroys nature or quenches the
light of human reason (St. Thomas, Summa, Pt. 1, q. 1, a. 8, et alibi);
what he endeavors to show is that the coming of knowledge through faith
excludes a simultaneous coming of natural knowledge through reason. It
is only in this way that, in the act of faith, the soul is deprived of
the light of reason, and left, as it were, in blindness, so that it may
be raised to another nobler and sublimer kind of knowledge, which, far
from destroying reason, gives it dignity and perfection. Philosophy
teaches that the proper and connatural object of the understanding, in
this life, is things visible, material and corporeal. By his nature,
man inclines to knowledge of this kind, but cannot lay claim to such
knowledge as regards the things which belong to faith. For, to quote a
famous verse of Scripture: Fides est sperandarum substantia rerum,
argumentum non apparientium (Hebrews xi, 1). This line of thought is
not confined to St. John of the Cross, but is followed by all the
mystics and is completely in agreement with theological doctrine. Cf.
Respuesta [Reply] of P. Basilio Ponce de Leon and Dilucidatio, Pt. II,
Chap. ii, and also the following chapter in this present book.
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER III
How faith is dark night to the soul. This is proved with arguments and
quotations and figures from Scripture.
Faith, say the theologians, is a habit of the soul, certain and
obscure. And the reason for its being an obscure habit is that it makes
us believe truths revealed by God Himself, which transcend all natural
light, and exceed all human understanding, beyond all proportion. Hence
it follows that, for the soul, this excessive light of faith which is
given to it is thick darkness, for it overwhelms greater things and
does away with small things, even as the light of the sun overwhelms
all other lights whatsoever, so that when it shines and disables our
visual faculty they appear not to be lights at all. So that it blinds
it and deprives it of the sight that has been given to it, inasmuch as
its light is great beyond all proportion and transcends the faculty of
vision. Even so the light of faith, by its excessive greatness,
oppresses and disables that of the understanding; for the latter, of
its own power, extends only to natural knowledge, although it has a
faculty [216] for the supernatural, whenever Our Lord is pleased to
give it supernatural activity.
2. Wherefore a man can know nothing by himself, save after a natural
manner, [217] which is only that which he attains by means of the
senses. For this cause he must have the phantasms and the forms of
objects present in themselves and in their likenesses; otherwise it
cannot be, for, as philosophers say: Ab objecto et potentia paritur
notitia. That is: From the object that is present and from the faculty,
knowledge is born in the soul. Wherefore, if one should speak to a man
of things which he has never been able to understand, and whose
likeness he has never seen, he would have no more illumination from
them whatever than if naught had been said of them to him. I take an
example. If one should say to a man that on a certain island there is
an animal which he has never seen, and give him no idea of the likeness
of that animal, that he may compare it with others that he has seen, he
will have no more knowledge of it, or idea of its form, than he had
before, however much is being said to him about it. And this will be
better understood by another and a more apt example. If one should
describe to a man that was born blind, and has never seen any colour,
what is meant by a white colour or by a yellow, he would understand it
but indifferently, however fully one might describe it to him; for, as
he has never seen such colours or anything like them by which he may
judge them, only their names would remain with him; for these he would
be able to comprehend through the ear, but not their forms or figures,
since he has never seen them.
3. Even so is faith with respect to the soul; it tells us of things
which we have never seen or understood, nor have we seen or understood
aught that resembles them, since there is naught that resembles them at
all. And thus we have no light of natural knowledge concerning them,
since that which we are told of them bears no relation to any sense of
ours; we know it by the ear alone, believing that which we are taught,
bringing our natural light into subjection and treating it as if it
were not. [218] For, as Saint Paul says, Fides ex auditu. [219] As
though he were to say: Faith is not knowledge which enters by any of
the senses, but is only the consent given by the soul to that which
enters through the ear.
4. And faith far transcends even that which is indicated by the
examples given above. For not only does it give no information and
knowledge, but, as we have said, it deprives us of all other
information and knowledge, and blinds us to them, so that they cannot
judge it well. For other knowledge can be acquired by the light of the
understanding; but the knowledge that is of faith is acquired without
the illumination of the understanding, which is rejected for faith; and
in its own light, if that light be not darkened, it is lost. Wherefore
Isaias said: Si non credideritis, non intelligetis. [220] That is: If
ye believe not, ye shall not understand. It is clear, then, that faith
is dark night for the soul, and it is in this way that it gives it
light; and the more the soul is darkened, the greater is the light that
comes to it. For it is by blinding that it gives light, according to
this saying of Isaias. For if ye believe not, ye shall not (he says)
have light. [221] And thus faith was foreshadowed by that cloud which
divided the children of Israel and the Egyptians when the former were
about to enter the Red Sea, whereof Scripture says: Erat nubes
tenebrosa, et illuminans noctem. [222] This is to say that that cloud
was full of darkness and gave light to the night.
5. A wondrous thing it is that, though it was dark, it should give
light to the night. This was said to show that faith, which is a black
and dark cloud to the soul (and likewise is night, since in the
presence of faith the soul is deprived of its natural light and is
blinded), can with its darkness give light and illumination to the
darkness of the soul, for it was fitting that the disciples should thus
be like the master. For man, who is in darkness, could not fittingly be
enlightened save by other darkness, even as David teaches us, saying:
Dies diei eructat verbum et nox nocti indicat scientiam. [223] Which
signifies: Day unto day uttereth and aboundeth in speech, and night
unto night showeth knowledge. Which, to speak more clearly, signifies:
The day, which is God in bliss, where it is day to the blessed angels
and souls who are now day, communicates and reveals to them the Word,
which is His Son, that they may know Him and enjoy Him. And the night,
which is faith in the Church Militant, where it is still night, shows
knowledge is night to the Church, and consequently to every soul, which
knowledge is night to it, since it is without clear beatific wisdom;
and, in the presence of faith, it is blind as to its natural light.
6. So that which is to be inferred from this that faith, because it is
dark night, gives light to the soul, which is in darkness, that there
may come to be fulfilled that which David likewise says to this
purpose, in these works: Et nox illuminatio mea in deliciis meis. [224]
Which signifies: the night will be illumination in my delights. Which
is as much as to say: In the delights of my pure contemplation and
union with God, the night of faith shall be my guide. Wherein he gives
it clearly to be understood that the soul must be in darkness in order
to have light for this road.
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[216] E .p.: `an obediential faculty' [potencia obediencial]: this
phrase is borrowed from the Schoolmen. Among the various divisions of
the faculty are two, natural and obediential. The first is that which
is directed towards an act within the sphere of nature, such as the
cooling action of water and the heating action of fire; the second is
directed towards an act which exceeds these powers, brought about by
God, Who is outside the laws of nature and can therefore work outside
the natural domain. This obediential faculty (called also `receptive'
or `passive') frequently figures in mystical theology, since it is this
that disposes the faculties of the soul for the supernatural reception
of the gifts of grace, all of which exceed natural capacity.
[217] E.p.: `a natural manner which has its beginning in the senses.'
Here the Saint expounds a principle of scholastic philosophy summarized
in the axiom: Nihil est in intellectu quin prius non fuerit in sensu.
This principle, like many other great philosophical questions, has
continually been debated. St. John of the Cross will be found as a rule
to follow the philosophy most favored by the Church and is always
rigidly orthodox.
[218] [Lit., 'subjecting and blinding our natural light.']
[219] Romans x, 17.
[220] Isaias vii, 9. So Alc. The passage seems to be taken from the
Septuagint. [The Vulgate has non permanebitis.]
[221] [Lit., `If ye believe not, that is, ye shall not have light.']
[222] Exodus xiv, 20.
[223] Psalm xviii, 3 [A.V., xix, 2].
[224] Psalm cxxxviii, 11 [A.V., cxxxix, 11].
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CHAPTER IV
Treats in general of how the soul likewise must be in darkness, in so
far as this rests with itself, to the end that it may be effectively
guided by faith to the highest contemplation.
It is now, I think, becoming clear how faith is dark night to the soul,
and how the soul likewise must be dark, or in darkness as to its own
light so that it may allow itself to be guided by faith to this high
goal of union. But, in order that the soul may be able to do this, it
will now be well to continue describing, in somewhat greater detail,
this darkness which it must have, in order that it may enter into this
abyss of faith. And thus in this chapter I shall speak of it in a
general way; and hereafter, with the Divine favour, I shall continue to
describe more minutely the way in which the soul is to conduct itself
that it may neither stray therein nor impede this guide.
2. I say, then, that the soul, in order to be effectively guided to
this state by faith, must not only be in darkness with respect to that
part that concerns the creatures and temporal things, which is the
sensual and the lower part (whereof we have already treated), but that
likewise it must be blinded and darkened according to the part which
has respect to God and to spiritual things, which is the rational and
higher part, whereof we are now treating. For, in order that one may
attain supernatural transformation, it is clear that he must be plunged
into darkness and carried far away from all contained in his nature
that is sensual and rational. For the word supernatural means that
which soars above the natural self; the natural self, therefore,
remains beneath it. For, although this transformation and union is
something that cannot be comprehended by human ability and sense, the
soul must completely and voluntarily void itself of all that can enter
into it, whether from above or from below — I mean according to the
affection and will — so far as this rests with itself. For who shall
prevent God from doing that which He will in the soul that is resigned,
annihilated and detached? But the soul must be voided of all such
things as can enter its capacity, so that, however many supernatural
experiences it may have, it will ever remain as it were detached from
them and in darkness. It must be like to a blind man, leaning upon dark
faith, taking it for guide and light, and leaning upon none of the
things that he understands, experiences, feels and imagines. For all
these are darkness, which will cause him to stray; and faith is above
all that he understands and experiences and feels and imagines. And, if
he be not blinded as to this, and remain not in total darkness, he
attains not to that which is greater — namely, that which is taught by
faith.
3. A blind man, if he be not quite blind, refuses to be led by a guide;
and, since he sees a little, he thinks it better to go in whatever
happens to be the direction which he can distinguish, because he sees
none better; and thus he can lead astray a guide who sees more than he,
for after all it is for him to say where he shall go rather than for
the guide. In the same way a soul may lean upon any knowledge of its
own, or any feeling or experience of God, yet, however great this may
be, it is very little and far different from what God is; and, in going
along this road, a soul is easily led astray, or brought to a
standstill, because it will not remain in faith like one that is blind,
and faith is its true guide.
4. It is this that was meant by Saint Paul when he said: Accedentem ad
Deum oportet credere quod est. [225] Which signifies: He that would
journey towards union with God must needs believe in His Being. As
though he had said: He that would attain to being joined in a union
with God must not walk by understanding, neither lean upon experience
or feeling or imagination, but he must believe in His being, which is
not perceptible to the understanding, neither to the desire nor to the
imagination nor to any other sense, neither can it be known in this
life at all. Yea, in this life, the highest thing that can be felt and
experienced concerning God is infinitely remote from God and from the
pure possession of Him. Isaias and Saint Paul say: Nec oculus vidit,
nec auris audivit, nec in cor hominis ascendit, qua praeparavit Deus
iis, qui diligunt illum. [226] Which signifies: That which God hath
prepared for them that love Him neither eye hath seen, nor ear heard,
neither hath it entered into the heart or thought of man. So, however
much the soul aspires to be perfectly united through grace in this life
with that to which it will be united through glory in the next (which,
as Saint Paul here says, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath
it entered into the heart of man in the flesh), it is clear that, in
order perfectly to attain to union in this life through grace and
through love, a soul must be in darkness with respect to all that can
enter through the eye, and to all that can be received through the ear,
and can be imagined with the fancy, and understood with the heart,
which here signifies the soul. And thus a soul is greatly impeded from
reaching this high estate of union with God when it clings to any
understanding or feeling or imagination or appearance or will or manner
of its own, or to any other act or to anything of its own, and cannot
detach and strip itself of all these. For, as we say, the goal which it
seeks lies beyond all this, yea, beyond even the highest thing that can
be known or experienced; and thus a soul must pass beyond everything to
unknowing.
5. Wherefore, upon this road, to enter upon the road is to leave the
road; or, to express it better, it is to pass on to the goal and to
leave one's own way, [227] and to enter upon that which has no way,
which is God. For the soul that attains to this state has no longer any
ways or methods, still less is it attached to ways and methods, or is
capable of being attached to them. I mean ways of understanding, or of
perception, or of feeling. Nevertheless it has within itself all ways,
after the way of one that possesses nothing, yet possesses all things.
[228] For, if it have courage to pass beyond its natural limitations,
both interiorly and exteriorly, it enters within the limits of the
supernatural, which has no way, yet in substance has all ways. Hence
for the soul to arrive at these limits is for it to leave these limits,
in each case going forth out of itself a great way, from this lowly
state to that which is high above all others.
6. Wherefore, passing beyond all that can be known and understood, both
spiritually and naturally, the soul will desire with all desire to come
to that which in this life cannot be known, neither can enter into its
heart. And, leaving behind all that it experiences and feels, both
temporally and spiritually, and all that it is able to experience and
feel in this life, it will desire with all desire to come to that which
surpasses all feeling and experience. And, in order to be free and void
to that end, it must in no wise lay hold upon that which it receives,
either spiritually or sensually, within itself [229] (as we shall
explain presently, when we treat this in detail), considering it all to
be of much less account. For the more emphasis the soul lays upon what
it understands, experiences and imagines, and the more it esteems this,
whether it be spiritual or no, the more it loses of the supreme good,
and the more it is hindered from attaining thereto. And the less it
thinks of what it may have, however much this be, in comparison with
the highest good, the more it dwells upon that good and esteems it,
and, consequently, the more nearly it approaches it. And in this wise
the soul approaches a great way towards union, in darkness, by means of
faith, which is likewise dark, and in this wise faith wondrously
illumines it. It is certain that, if the soul should desire to see, it
would be in darkness much more quickly, with respect to God, than would
one who opens his eyes to look upon the great brightness of the sun.
7. Wherefore, by blinding itself in its faculties upon this road, the
soul will see the light, even as the Saviour says in the Gospel, in
this wise: In judicium veni in hunc mundum: ut qui non vident, videant,
et qui vident, caeci fiant. [230] That is: I am come into this world
for judgment; that they which see not may see, and that they which see
may become blind. This, as it will be supposed, is to be understood of
this spiritual road, where the soul that is in darkness, and is blinded
as regards all its natural and proper lights, will see supernaturally;
and the soul that would depend upon any light of its own will become
the blinder and will halt upon the road to union.
8. And, that we may proceed with less confusion, I think it will be
necessary to describe, in the following chapter, the nature of this
that we call union of the soul with God; for, when this is understood,
that which we shall say hereafter will become much clearer. And so I
think the treatment of this union comes well at this point, as in its
proper place. For, although the thread of that which we are expounding
is interrupted thereby, this is not done without a reason, since it
serves to illustrate in this place the very thing that is being
described. The chapter which follows, then, will be a parenthetical
one, placed, as it were, between the two terms of an enthymeme, since
we shall afterwards have to treat in detail of the three faculties of
the soul, with respect to the three logical virtues, in relation to
this second night.
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[225] Hebrews xi, 6.
[226] Isaias lxiv, 4; 1 Corinthians ii, 9.
[227] [The word translated `way' is modo, which, in the language of
scholastic philosophy, would rather be translated `mode.']
[228] [2 Corinthians vi, 10.]
[229] [Lit., `either spiritually or sensually, in its soul.']
[230] St. John ix, 39.
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CHAPTER V
Wherein is described what is meant by union of the soul with God. A
comparison is given. [231]
From what has been said above it becomes clear to some extent what we
mean by union of the soul with God; what we now say about it,
therefore, will be the better understood. It is not my intention here
to treat of the divisions of this union, nor of its parts, for I should
never end if I were to begin now to explain what is the nature of union
of the understanding, and what is that of union according to the will,
and likewise according to the memory; and likewise what is transitory
and what permanent in the union of the said faculties; and then what is
meant by total union, transitory and permanent, with regard to the said
faculties all together. All this we shall treat gradually in our
discourse — speaking first of one and then of another. But here this
is not to the point in order to describe what we have to say concerning
them; it will be explained much more fittingly in its place, when we
shall again be treating the same matter, and shall have a striking
illustration to add to the present explanation, so that everything will
then be considered and explained and we shall judge of it better.
2. Here I treat only of this permanent and total union according to the
substance of the soul and its faculties with respect to the obscure
habit of union: for with respect to the act, we shall explain later,
with the Divine favour, how there can be no permanent union in the
faculties, in this life, but a transitory union only.
3. In order, then, to understand what is meant by this union whereof we
are treating, it must be known that God dwells and is present
substantially in every soul, even in that of the greatest sinner in the
world. And this kind of union is ever wrought between God and all the
creatures, for in it He is preserving their being: if union of this
kind were to fail them, they would at once become annihilated and would
cease to be. And so, when we speak of union of the soul with God, we
speak not of this substantial union which is continually being wrought,
but of the union and transformation of the soul with God, which is not
being wrought continually, but only when there is produced that
likeness that comes from love; we shall therefore term this the union
of likeness, even as that other union is called substantial or
essential. The former is natural, the latter supernatural. And the
latter comes to pass when the two wills — namely that of the soul and
that of God — are conformed together in one, and there is naught in
the one that repugnant to the other. And thus, when the soul rids
itself totally of that which is repugnant to the Divine will and
conforms not with it, it is transformed in God through love.
4. This is to be understood of that which is repugnant, not only in
action, but likewise in habit, so that not only must the voluntary acts
of imperfection cease, but the habits of any such imperfections must be
annihilated. And since no creature whatsoever, and none of its actions
or abilities, can conform or can attain to that which is God, therefore
must the soul be stripped of all things created, and of its own actions
and abilities — namely, of its understanding, perception and feeling
— so that, when all that is unlike God and unconformed to Him is cast
out, the soul may receive the likeness of God; and nothing will then
remain in it that is not the will of God and it will thus be
transformed in God. Wherefore, although it is true that, as we have
said, God is ever in the soul, giving it, and through His presence
conserving within it, its natural being, yet He does not always
communicate supernatural being to it. For this is communicated only by
love and grace, which not all souls possess; and all those that possess
it have it not in the same degree; for some have attained more degrees
of love and others fewer. Wherefore God communicates Himself most to
that soul that has progressed farthest in love; namely, that has its
will in closest conformity with the will of God. And the soul that has
attained complete conformity and likeness of will is totally united and
transformed in God supernaturally. Wherefore, as has already been
explained, the more completely a soul is wrapped up in [232] the
creatures and in its own abilities, by habit and affection, the less
preparation it has for such union; for it gives not God a complete
opportunity to transform it supernaturally. The soul, then, needs only
to strip itself of these natural dissimilarities and contrarieties, so
that God, Who is communicating Himself naturally to it, according to
the course of nature, may communicate Himself to it supernaturally, by
means of grace.
5. And it is this that Saint John desired to explain when he said: Qui
non ex sanguinibus, neque ex voluntate carnis, neque ex voluntate viri,
sed ex Deo nati sunt. [233] As though he had said: He gave power to be
sons of God — that is, to be transformed in God — only to those who
are born, not of blood — that is, not of natural constitution and
temperament — neither of the will of the flesh — that is, of the free
will of natural capacity and ability — still less of the will of man
— wherein is included every way and manner of judging and
comprehending with the understanding. He gave power to none of these to
become sons of God, but only to those that are born of God — that is,
to those who, being born again through grace, and dying first of all to
everything that is of the old man, are raised above themselves to the
supernatural, and receive from God this rebirth and adoption, which
transcends all that can be imagined. For, as Saint John himself says
elsewhere: Nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua, et Spiritu Sancto, non
potest videre regnum Dei. [234] This signifies: He that is not born
again in the Holy Spirit will not be able to see this kingdom of God,
which is the state of perfection; and to be born again in the Holy
Spirit in this life is to have a soul most like to God in purity,
having in itself no admixture of imperfection, so that pure
transformation can be wrought in it through participation of union,
albeit not essentially.
6. In order that both these things may be the better understood, let us
make a comparison. A ray of sunlight is striking a window. If the
window is in any way stained or misty, the sun's ray will be unable to
illumine it and transform it into its own light, totally, as it would
if it were clean of all these things, and pure; but it will illumine it
to a lesser degree, in proportion as it is less free from those mists
and stains; and will do so to a greater degree, in proportion as it is
cleaner from them, and this will not be because of the sun's ray, but
because of itself; so much so that, if it be wholly pure and clean, the
ray of sunlight will transform it and illumine it in such wise that it
will itself seem to be a ray and will give the same light as the ray.
Although in reality the window has a nature distinct from that of the
ray itself, however much it may resemble it, yet we may say that that
window is a ray of the sun or is light by participation. And the soul
is like this window, whereupon is ever beating (or, to express it
better, wherein is ever dwelling) this Divine light of the Being of God
according to nature, which we have described.
7. In thus allowing God to work in it, the soul (having rid itself of
every mist and stain of the creatures, which consists in having its
will perfectly united with that of God, for to love is to labour to
detach and strip itself for God's sake of all that is not God) is at
once illumined and transformed in God, and God communicates to it His
supernatural Being, in such wise that it appears to be God Himself, and
has all that God Himself has. And this union comes to pass when God
grants the soul this supernatural favour, that all the things of God
and the soul are one in participant transformation; and the soul seems
to be God rather than a soul, and is indeed God by participation;
although it is true that its natural being, though thus transformed, is
as distinct from the Being of God as it was before, even as the window
has likewise a nature distinct from that of the ray, though the ray
gives it brightness.
8. This makes it clearer that the preparation of the soul for this
union, as we said, is not that it should understand or perceive or feel
or imagine anything, concerning either God or aught else, but that it
should have purity and love — that is, perfect resignation and
detachment from everything for God's sake alone; and, as there can be
no perfect transformation if there be not perfect purity, and as the
enlightenment, illumination and union of the soul with God will be
according to the proportion of its purity, in greater or in less
degree; yet the soul will not be perfect, as I say, if it be not wholly
and perfectly [235] bright and clean.
9. This will likewise be understood by the following comparison. A
picture is truly perfect, with many and most sublime beauties and
delicate and subtle illuminations, and some of its beauties are so fine
and subtle that they cannot be completely realized, because of their
delicacy and excellence. Fewer beauties and less delicacy will be seen
in this picture by one whose vision is less clear and refined; and he
whose vision is somewhat more refined will be able to see in it more
beauties and perfections; and, if another person has a vision still
more refined, he will see still more perfection; and, finally, he who
has the clearest and purest faculties will see the most beauties and
perfections of all; for there is so much to see in the picture that,
however far one may attain, there will ever remain higher degrees of
attainment.
10. After the same manner we may describe the condition of the soul
with relation to God in this enlightenment or transformation. For,
although it is true that a soul, according to its greater or lesser
capacity, may have attained to union, yet not all do so in an equal
degree, for this depends upon what the Lord is pleased to grant to each
one. It is in this way that souls see God in Heaven; some more, some
less; but all see Him, and all are content, for their capacity is
satisfied.
11. Wherefore, although in this life here below we find certain souls
enjoying equal peace and tranquillity in the state of perfection, and
each one of them satisfied, yet some of them may be many degrees higher
than others. All, however, will be equally satisfied, because the
capacity of each one is satisfied. But the soul that attains not to
such a measure of purity as is in conformity with its capacity never
attains true peace and satisfaction, since it has not attained to the
possession of that detachment and emptiness in its faculties which is
required for simple union.
__________________________________________________________________
[231] As the Saint has explained above, this is a parenthetical chapter
necessary to an understanding of the following chapters on the active
purification of the three faculties of the soul; for, in order to make
an intelligent use of the means to an end, it is important to know what
that end is. St. John of the Cross begins by setting aside the numerous
divisions under which the mystics speak of union with God and deals
only with that which most usually concerns the soul, namely union which
is active, and acquired by our own efforts, together with the habitual
aid of grace. This is the kind of union which is most suitably
described in this treatise, which deals with the intense activity of
the soul as regards the purgation of the senses and faculties as a
necessary means for the loving transformation of the soul in God — the
end and goal of all the Saint's writings. In order to forestall any
grossly erroneous pantheistic interpretations, we point out, with the
author of the Medula Mistica (Trat. V, Chap. i, No. 2), that by union
the Saint understands `a linking and conjoining of two things which,
though united, are still different, each, as St. Thomas teaches (Pt.
III, q. 2, a. 1), keeping its own nature, for otherwise there would not
be union but identity. Union of the soul with God, therefore, will be a
linking and conjoining of the soul with God and of God with the soul,
for the one cannot be united with the other if the other be not united
with the one, so that the soul is still the soul and God is still God.
But just as, when two things are united, the one which has the most
power, virtue and activity communicates its properties to the other,
just so, since God has greater strength, virtue and activity than the
soul, He communicates His properties to it and makes it, as it were,
deific, and leaves it, as it were, divinized, to a greater or a lesser
degree, corresponding to the greater or the lesser degree of union
between the two.' This conception, which is a basic one in Christian
mysticism, is that of St. John of the Cross. Had all his commentators
understood that fact, some of them would have been saved from making
ridiculous comparisons of him with Gnostics, Illuminists or even the
Eastern seekers after Nirvana. Actually, this Saint and Doctor of the
Church applies the tenets of Catholic theology to the union of the soul
with God, presenting them in a condensed and vigorous form and keeping
also to strict psychological truth, as in general do the other Spanish
mystics. This is one of his greatest merits. In this chapter he is
speaking, not of essential union, which has nothing to do with his
subject, but (presupposing the union worked through sanctifying grace
received in the substance of the soul, which is the source of the
infused virtues, such as faith, hope and charity, and the gifts of the
Holy Spirit) of active actual union, after which we can and should
strive, so that we may will what God wills and abhor what He abhors.
Though not the only kind of union, it is this which chiefly concerns
the soul; and, when once this is attained, God readily grants all other
mystical gifts. Cf. St. Teresa's Interior Castle, V, iii [C.W.S.T.J.,
II, 259-60].
[232] [Lit., `is clothed with.']
[233] St. John i, 13.
[234] St. John iii, 5.
[235] [Lit., `wholly perfect and . . .']
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CHAPTER VI
Wherein is described how it is the three theological virtues that
perfect the three faculties of the soul, and how the said virtues
produce emptiness and darkness within them.
Having now to endeavour to show how [236] the three faculties of the
soul — understanding, memory and will — are brought into this
spiritual night, which is the means to Divine union, it is necessary
first of all to explain in this chapter how the three theological
virtues — faith, hope and charity — which have respect to the three
faculties aforesaid as their proper supernatural objects, and by means
whereof the soul is united with God according to its faculties, produce
the same emptiness and darkness, each one in its own faculty. Faith, in
the understanding; hope, in the memory; and charity, in the will. And
afterwards we shall go on to describe how the understanding is
perfected in the darkness of faith; and the memory in the emptiness of
hope; and likewise how the will must be buried by withdrawing and
detaching every affection so that the soul may journey to God. This
done, it will be clearly seen how necessary it is for the soul, if it
is to walk securely on this spiritual road, to travel through this dark
night, leaning upon these three virtues, which empty it of all things
and make it dark with respect to them. For, as we have said, the soul
is not united with God in this life through understanding, nor through
enjoyment, nor through the imagination, nor through any sense
whatsoever; but only through faith, according to the understanding; and
through hope, according to the memory; and through love, according to
the will.
2. These three virtues, as we have said, all cause emptiness in the
faculties: faith, in the understanding, causes an emptiness and
darkness with respect to understanding; hope, in the memory, causes
emptiness of all possessions; and charity causes emptiness in the will
and detachment from all affection and from rejoicing in all that is not
God. For, as we see, faith tells us what cannot be understood with the
understanding. Wherefore Saint Paul spoke of it ad Hebraeos after this
manner: Fides est sperandarum substantia rerum, argumentum non
apparentium. [237] This we interpret as meaning that faith is the
substance of things hoped for; and, although the understanding may be
firmly and certainly consenting to them, they are not things that are
revealed to the understanding, since, if they were revealed to it,
there would be no faith. So faith, although it brings certainty to the
understanding, brings it not clearness, but obscurity.
3. Then, as to hope, there is no doubt but that it renders the memory
empty and dark with respect both to things below and to things above.
For hope always relates to that which is not possessed; for, if it were
possessed, there would be no more hope. Wherefore Saint Paul says ad
Romanos: Spes, quae videtur, non est spes: nam quod videt quis, quid
sperat? [238] That is to say: Hope that is seen is not hope; for what a
man seeth — that is, what a man possesseth — how doth he hope for it?
This virtue, then, also produces emptiness, for it has to do with that
which is not possessed and not with that which is possessed.
4. Similarity, charity causes emptiness in the will with respect to all
things, since it obliges us to love God above them all; which cannot be
unless we withdraw our affection from them in order to set it wholly
upon God. Wherefore Christ says, through Saint Luke: Qui non renuntiat
omnibus quae possidet, non potest meus esse discipulus. [239] Which
signifies: He that renounces not all that he possesses with the will
cannot be My disciple. And thus all these three virtues set the soul in
obscurity and emptiness with respect to all things.
5. And here we must consider that parable which our Redeemer related in
the eleventh chapter of Saint Luke, wherein He said that a friend had
to go out at midnight in order to ask his friend for three loaves;
[240] the which loaves signify these three virtues. And he said that he
asked for them at midnight in order to signify that the soul that is in
darkness as to all things must acquire these three virtues according to
its faculties and must perfect itself in them in this night. In the
sixth chapter of Isaias we read that the two seraphim whom this Prophet
saw on either side of God had each six wings; with two they covered
their feet, which signified the blinding and quenching of the
affections of the will with respect to all things for the sake of God;
and with two they covered their face, which signified the darkness of
the understanding in the presence of God; and with the other two they
flew. [241] This is to signify the flight of hope to the things that
are not possessed, when it is raised above all that it can possess,
whether below or above, apart from God.
6. To these three virtues, then, we have to lead the three faculties of
the soul, informing each faculty by each one of them, and stripping it
and setting it in darkness concerning all things save only these three
virtues. And this is the spiritual night which just now we called
active; for the soul does that which in it lies in order to enter
therein. And even as, in the night of sense, we described a method of
voiding the faculties of sense of their sensible objects, with regard
to the desire, so that the soul might go forth from the beginning of
its course to the mean, [242] which is faith; even so, in this
spiritual night, with the favour of God, we shall describe a method
whereby the spiritual faculties are voided and purified of all that is
not God, and are set in darkness concerning these three virtues, which,
as we have said, are the means and preparation for the union of the
soul with God.
7. In this method is found all security against the crafts of the devil
and against the efficacy of self-love and its ramifications, which is
wont most subtly to deceive and hinder spiritual persons on their road,
when they know not how to become detached and to govern themselves
according to these three virtues; and thus they are never able to reach
the substance and purity of spiritual good, nor do they journey by so
straight and short a road as they might.
8. And it must be noted that I am now speaking particularly to those
who have begun to enter the state of contemplation, because as far as
this concerns beginners it must be described somewhat more amply, as we
shall note in the second book, God willing, when we treat of the
properties of these beginners.
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[236] [Lit., `to lead . . . into,' as at the beginning of 6, below.]
[237] Hebrews xi, 1.
[238] Romans viii, 24.
[239] St. Luke xiv, 33.
[240] Luke xi, 5.
[241] Isaias vi, 2.
[242] [Or `middle.' Cf. Bk. I, chap. ii, above.]
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CHAPTER VII
Wherein is described how strait is the way that leads to eternal life
and how completely detached and disencumbered must be those that will
walk in it. We begin to speak of the detachment of the understanding.
We have now to describe the detachment and purity of the three
faculties of the soul and for this are necessary a far greater
knowledge and spirituality than mine, in order to make clear to
spiritual persons how strait is this road which, said Our Saviour,
leads to life; so that, persuaded of this, they may not marvel at the
emptiness and detachment to which, in this night, we have to abandon
the faculties of the soul.
2. To this end must be carefully noted the words which Our Saviour
used, in the seventh chapter of Saint Matthew, concerning this road, as
follows: Quam angusta porta, et arcta via est, quae ducit ad vitam, et
pauci sunt, qui inveniunt eam. [243] This signifies: How strait is the
gate and how narrow the way that leadeth unto life, and few there are
that find it! In this passage we must carefully note the emphasis and
insistence which are contained in that word Quam. For it is as if He
had said: In truth the way is very strait, more so than you think. And
likewise it is to be noted that He says first that the gate is strait,
to make it clear that, in order for the soul to enter by this gate,
which is Christ, and which comes at the beginning of the road, the will
must first be straitened and detached in all things sensual and
temporal, and God must be loved above them all; which belongs to the
night of sense, as we have said.
3. He then says that the way is narrow — that is to say, the way of
perfection — in order to make it clear that, to travel upon the way of
perfection, the soul has not only to enter by the strait gate, emptying
itself of things of sense, but has also to straiten [244] itself,
freeing and disencumbering itself completely in that which pertains to
the spirit. And thus we can apply what He says of the strait gate to
the sensual part of man; and what He says of the narrow road we can
understand of the spiritual or the rational part; and, when He says
`Few there are that find it,' the reason of this must be noted, which
is that there are few who can enter, and desire to enter, into this
complete detachment and emptiness of spirit. For this path ascending
the high mountain of perfection leads upward, and is narrow, and
therefore requires travellers that have no burden weighing upon them
with respect to lower things, neither aught that embarrasses them with
respect to higher things: and, as this is a matter wherein we must seek
after and attain to God alone, God alone must be the object of our
search and attainment.
4. Hence it is clearly seen that the soul must not only be
disencumbered from that which belongs to the creatures, but likewise,
as it travels, must be annihilated and detached from all that belongs
to its spirit. Wherefore Our Lord, instructing us and leading us into
this road, gave, in the eighth chapter of St. Mark, that wonderful
teaching of which I think it may almost be said that, the more
necessary it is for spiritual persons, the less it is practised by
them. As this teaching is so important and so much to our purpose, I
shall reproduce it here in full, and expound it according to its
genuine, spiritual sense. He says, then, thus: Si quis vult me sequi,
deneget semetipsum: et tollat crucem suam, et sequatur me. Qui enim
voluerit animam suam salvam facere, perdet eam: qui autem perdiderit
animam suam propter me. . . salvam lacier eam. [245] This signifies: If
any man will follow My road, let him deny himself and take up his cross
and follow Me. For he that will save his soul shall lose it; but he
that loses it for My sake, shall gain it.
5. Oh, that one could show us how to understand, practise and
experience what this counsel is which our Saviour here gives us
concerning self-denial, [246] so that spiritual persons might see in
how different a way they should conduct themselves upon this road from
that which many of them think proper! For they believe that any kind of
retirement and reformation of life suffices; and others are content
with practising the virtues and continuing in prayer and pursuing
mortification; but they attain not to detachment and poverty or
selflessness [247] or spiritual purity (which are all one), which the
Lord here commends to us; for they prefer feeding and clothing their
natural selves with spiritual feelings and consolations, to stripping
themselves of all things, and denying themselves all things, for God's
sake. For they think that it suffices to deny themselves worldly things
without annihilating and purifying themselves of spiritual attachment.
Wherefore it comes to pass that, when there presents itself to them any
of this solid and perfect spirituality, consisting in the annihilation
of all sweetness in God, in aridity, distaste and trial, which is the
true spiritual cross, and the detachment of the spiritual poverty of
Christ, they flee from it as from death, and seek only sweetness and
delectable communion with God. This is not self-denial and detachment
of spirit, but spiritual gluttony. Herein, spiritually, they become
enemies of the Cross of Christ; for true spirituality seeks for God's
sake that which is distasteful rather than that which is delectable;
and inclines itself rather to suffering than to consolation; and
desires to go without all blessings for God's sake rather than to
possess them; and to endure aridities and afflictions rather than to
enjoy sweet communications, knowing that this is to follow Christ and
to deny oneself, and that the other is perchance to seek oneself in
God, which is clean contrary to love. For to seek oneself in God is to
seek the favours and refreshments of God; but to seek God in oneself is
not only to desire to be without both of these for God's sake, but to
be disposed to choose, for Christ's sake, all that is most distasteful,
whether in relation to God or to the world; and this is love of God.
6. Oh, that one could tell us how far Our Lord desires this self-denial
to be carried! It must certainly be like to death and annihilation,
temporal, natural and spiritual, in all things that the will esteems,
wherein consists all self-denial. And it is this that Our Lord meant
when He said: `He that will save his life, the same shall lose it.'
That is to say: He that will possess anything or seek anything for
himself, the same shall lose it; and he that loses his soul for My
sake, the same shall gain it. That is to say: He who for Christ's sake
renounces all that his will can desire and enjoy, and chooses that
which is most like to the Cross (which the Lord Himself, through Saint
John, describes as hating his soul [248] ), the same shall gain it. And
this His Majesty taught to those two disciples who went and begged Him
for a place on His right hand and on His left; when, giving no
countenance to their request for such glory, He offered them the
chalice which He had to drink, as a thing more precious and more secure
upon this earth than is fruition. [249]
7. This chalice is death to the natural self, a death attained through
the detachment and annihilation of that self, in order that the soul
may travel by this narrow path, with respect to all its connections
with sense, as we have said, and according to the spirit, as we shall
now say; that is, in its understanding and in its enjoyment and in its
feeling. And, as a result, not only has the soul made its renunciation
as regards both sense and spirit, but it is not hindered, even by that
which is spiritual, in taking the narrow way, on which there is room
only for self-denial (as the Saviour explains), and the Cross, which is
the staff wherewith one may reach one's goal, and whereby the road is
greatly lightened and made easy. Wherefore Our Lord said through Saint
Matthew: `My yoke is easy and My burden is light'; which burden is the
cross. For if a man resolve to submit himself to carrying this cross —
that is to say, if he resolve to desire in truth to meet trials and to
bear them in all things for God's sake, he will find in them all great
relief and sweetness wherewith he may travel upon this road, detached
from all things and desiring nothing. Yet, if he desire to possess
anything — whether it come from God or from any other source — with
any feeling of attachment, he has not stripped and denied himself in
all things; and thus he will be unable to walk along this narrow path
or to climb upward by it.
8. I would, then, that I could convince spiritual persons that this
road to God consists not in a multiplicity of meditations nor in ways
or methods of such, nor in consolations, although these things may in
their own way be necessary to beginners; but that it consists only in
the one thing that is needful, which is the ability to deny oneself
truly, according to that which is without and to that which is within,
giving oneself up to suffering for Christ's sake, and to total
annihilation. For the soul that practises this suffering and
annihilation will achieve all that those other exercises can achieve,
and that can be found in them, and even more. And if a soul be found
wanting in this exercise, which is the sum and root of the virtues, all
its other methods are so much beating about the bush, and profiting not
at all, although its meditations and communications may be as lofty as
those of the angels. For progress comes not save through the imitation
of Christ, Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no man comes to
the Father but by Him, even as He Himself says through Saint John.
[250] And elsewhere He says: `I am the door; by Me if any man enter he
shall be saved.' [251] Wherefore, as it seems to me, any spirituality
that would fain walk in sweetness and with ease, and flees from the
imitation of Christ, is worthless.
9. And, as I have said that Christ is the Way, and that this Way is
death to our natural selves, in things both of sense and of spirit, I
will now explain how we are to die, following the example of Christ,
for He is our example and light.
10. In the first place, it is certain that He died as to sense,
spiritually, in His life, besides dying naturally, at His death. For,
as He said, He had not in His life where to lay His head, and at His
death this was even truer.
11. In the second place, it is certain that, at the moment of His
death, He was likewise annihilated in His soul, and was deprived of any
relief and consolation, since His Father left Him in the most intense
aridity, according to the lower part of His nature. Wherefore He had
perforce to cry out, saying: `My God! My God! `Why hast Thou forsaken
Me?' [252] This was the greatest desolation, with respect to sense,
that He had suffered in His life. And thus He wrought herein the
greatest work that He had ever wrought, whether in miracles or in
mighty works, during the whole of His life, either upon earth or in
Heaven, which was the reconciliation and union of mankind, through
grace, with God. And this, as I say, was at the moment and the time
when this Lord was most completely annihilated in everything.
Annihilated, that is to say, with respect to human reputation; since,
when men saw Him die, they mocked Him rather than esteemed Him; and
also with respect to nature, since His nature was annihilated when He
died; and further with respect to the spiritual consolation and
protection of the Father, since at that time He forsook Him, that He
might pay the whole of man's debt and unite him with God, being thus
annihilated and reduced as it were to nothing. Wherefore David says
concerning Him: Ad nihilum redactus sum, et nescivi. [253] This he said
that the truly spiritual man may understand the mystery of the gate and
of the way of Christ, and so become united with God, and may know that,
the more completely he is annihilated for God's sake, according to
these two parts, the sensual and the spiritual, the more completely is
he united to God and the greater is the work which he accomplishes. And
when at last he is reduced to nothing, which will be the greatest
extreme of humility, spiritual union will be wrought between the soul
and God, which in this life is the greatest and the highest state
attainable. This consists not, then, in refreshment and in consolations
and spiritual feelings, but in a living death of the Cross, both as to
sense and as to spirit — that is, both inwardly and outwardly.
12. I will not pursue this subject farther, although I have no desire
to finish speaking of it, for I see that Christ is known very little by
those who consider themselves His friends: we see them seeking in Him
their own pleasures and consolations because of their great love for
themselves, but not loving His bitter trials and His death because of
their great love for Him. I am speaking now of those who consider
themselves His friends; for such as live far away, withdrawn from Him,
men of great learning and influence, and all others who live yonder,
with the world, and are eager about their ambitions and their
prelacies, may be said not to know Christ; and their end, however good,
will be very bitter. Of such I make no mention in these lines; but
mention will be made of them on the Day of Judgment, for to them it was
fitting to speak first this word of God, [254] as to those whom God set
up as a target for it, [255] by reason of their learning and their high
position.
13. But let us now address the understanding of the spiritual man, and
particularly that of the man to whom God has granted the favour of
leading him into the state of contemplation (for, as I have said, I am
now speaking to these in particular), and let us say how such a man
must direct himself toward God in faith, and purify himself from
contrary things, constraining himself that he may enter upon this
narrow path of obscure contemplation.
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[243] St. Matthew vii, 14.
[244] [The Spanish verb, used also at the end of the preceding
paragraph, is derived from the adjective.]
[245] St. Mark viii, 34-5.
[246] [Lit., `the denial of ourselves to our very selves.']
[247] [enagenacion, a word which to-day means `alienation,' `rapture,'
`derangement (of mind),' but in Covarrubias' dictionary (1611) is also
defined as `giving to another what is one's own.']
[248] St. John xii, 25.
[249] St. Matthew xx, 22.
[250] John xiv, 6.
[251] St. John x, 9.
[252] St. Matthew xxvii, 46.
[253] Psalm lxxii, 22 [A.V., lxxiii, 22].
[254] [The reference seems to be to Acts xiii, 46, the point of it
being in the second part of that verse. The Spanish will also bear the
interpretation: `for them it behoved first (i.e., before others) to
speak this word of God, as (being) those whom God set up as guides,
etc.']
[255] [By this vivid phrase the author seems to mean: `whom God held to
be suitable recipients of it.']
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CHAPTER VIII
Which describes in a general way how no creature and no knowledge that
can be comprehended by the understanding can serve as a proximate means
of Divine union with God.
Before we treat of the proper and fitting means of union with God,
which is faith, it behoves us to prove how no thing, created or
imagined, can serve the understanding as a proper means of union with
God; and how all that the understanding can attain serves it rather as
an impediment than as such a means, if it should desire to cling to it.
And now, in this chapter, we shall prove this in a general way, and
afterwards we shall begin to speak in detail, treating in turn of all
kinds of knowledge that the understanding may receive from any sense,
whether inward or outward, and of the inconveniences and evils that may
result from all these kinds of inward and outward knowledge, when it
clings not, as it progresses, to the proper means, which is faith.
2. It must be understood, then, that, according to a rule of
philosophy, all means must be proportioned to the end; that is to say,
they must have some connection and resemblance with the end, such as is
enough and sufficient for the desired end to be attained through them.
I take an example. A man desires to reach a city; he has of necessity
to travel by the road, which is the means that brings him to this same
city and connects [256] him with it. Another example. Fire is to be
combined and united with wood; it is necessary that heat, which is the
means, shall first prepare the wood, by conveying to it so many degrees
of warmth that it will have great resemblance and proportion to fire.
Now if one would prepare the wood by any other than the proper means —
namely, with heat — as, for example, with air or water or earth, it
would be impossible for the wood to be united with the fire, just as it
would be to reach the city without going by the road that leads to it.
Wherefore, in order that the understanding may be united with God in
this life, so far as is possible, it must of necessity employ that
means that unites it with Him and that bears the greatest resemblance
to Him.
3. Here it must be pointed out that, among all the creatures, the
highest or the lowest, there is none that comes near to God or bears
any resemblance to His Being. For, although it is true that all
creatures have, as theologians say, a certain relation to God, and bear
a Divine impress (some more and others less, according to the greater
or lesser excellence of their nature), yet there is no essential
resemblance or connection between them and God — on the contrary, the
distance between their being and His Divine Being is infinite.
Wherefore it is impossible for the understanding to attain to God by
means of the creatures, whether these be celestial or earthly, inasmuch
as there is no proportion or resemblance between them. Wherefore, when
David speaks of the heavenly creatures, he says: `There is none among
the gods like unto Thee, O Lord'; [257] meaning by the gods the angels
and holy souls. And elsewhere: `O God, Thy way is in the holy place.
What God is there so great as our God?' [258] As though he were to say:
The way of approach to Thee, O God, is a holy way — that is, the
purity of faith. For what God can there be so great? That is to say:
What angel will there be so exalted in his being, and what saint so
exalted in glory, as to be a proportionate and sufficient road by which
a man may come to Thee? And the same David, speaking likewise of
earthly and heavenly things both together, says: `The Lord is high and
looketh on lowly things, and the high things He knoweth afar off' [259]
As though he had said: Lofty in His own Being, He sees that the being
of things here below is very low in comparison with His lofty Being;
and the lofty things, which are the celestial creatures, He sees and
knows to be very far from His Being. All the creatures, then, cannot
serve as a proportionate means to the understanding whereby it may
reach God.
4. Just so all that the imagination can imagine and the understanding
can receive and understand in this life is not, nor can it be, a
proximate means of union with God. For, if we speak of natural things,
since understanding can understand naught save that which is contained
within, and comes under the category of, forms and imaginings of things
that are received through the bodily senses, the which things, we have
said, cannot serve as means, it can make no use of natural
intelligence. And, if we speak of the supernatural (in so far as is
possible in this life of our ordinary faculties), the understanding in
its bodily prison has no preparation or capacity for receiving the
clear knowledge of God; for such knowledge belongs not to this state,
and we must either die or remain without receiving it. Wherefore Moses,
when he entreated God for this clear knowledge, was told by God that he
would be unable to see Him, in these words: `No man shall see Me and
remain alive.' [260] Wherefore Saint John says: `No man hath seen God
at any time, [261] neither aught that is like to Him.' And Saint Paul
says, with Isaias: `Eye hath not seen Him, nor hath ear heard Him,
neither hath it entered into the heart of man.' [262] And it is for
this reason that, as is said in the Acts of the Apostles, [263] Moses,
in the bush, durst not consider for as long as God was present; for he
knew that his understanding could make no consideration that was
fitting concerning God, corresponding to the sense which he had of
God's presence. And of Elias, our father, it is said that he covered
his face on the Mount in the presence of God [264] — an action
signifying the blinding of his understanding, which he wrought there,
daring not to lay so base a hand upon that which was so high, and
seeing clearly that whatsoever he might consider or understand with any
precision would be very far from God and completely unlike Him.
5. Wherefore no supernatural apprehension or knowledge in this mortal
state can serve as a proximate means to the high union of love with
God. For all that can be understood by the understanding, that can be
tasted by the will, and that can be invented by the imagination is most
unlike to God and bears no proportion to Him, as we have said. All this
Isaias admirably explained in that most noteworthy passage, where he
says: `To what thing have ye been able to liken God? Or what image will
ye make that is like to Him? Will the workman in iron perchance be able
to make a graven image? Or will he that works gold be able to imitate
Him [265] with gold, or the silversmith with plates of silver?' [266]
By the workman in iron is signified the understanding, the office of
which is to form intelligences and strip them of the iron of species
and images. By the workman in gold is understood the will, which is
able to receive the figure and the form of pleasure, caused by the gold
of love. By the silversmith, who is spoken of as being unable to form
[267] Him with plates of silver, is understood the memory, with the
imagination, whereof it may be said with great propriety that its
knowledge and the imaginings that it can invent [268] and make are like
plates of silver. And thus it is as though he had said: Neither the
understanding with its intelligence will be able to understand aught
that is like Him, nor can the will taste pleasure and sweetness that
bears any resemblance to that which is God, neither can the memory set
in the imagination ideas and images that represent Him. It is clear,
then, that none of these kinds of knowledge can lead the understanding
direct to God; and that, in order to reach Him, a soul must rather
proceed by not understanding than by desiring to understand; and by
blinding itself and setting itself in darkness, rather than by opening
its eyes, in order the more nearly to approach the ray Divine.
6. And thus it is that contemplation, whereby the understanding has the
loftiest knowledge of God, is called mystical theology, which signifies
secret wisdom of God; for it is secret even to the understanding that
receives it. For that reason Saint Dionysius calls it a ray of
darkness. Of this the prophet Baruch says: `There is none that knoweth
its way, nor any that can think of its paths.' [269] It is clear, then,
that the understanding must be blind to all paths that are open to it
in order that it may be united with God. Aristotle says that, even as
are the eyes of the bat with regard to the sun, which is total darkness
to it, even so is our understanding to that which is greater light in
God, which is total darkness to us. And he says further that, the
loftier and clearer are the things of God in themselves, the more
completely unknown and obscure are they to us. This likewise the
Apostle affirms, saying: `The lofty things of God are the least known
unto men.' [270]
7. But we should never end if we continued at this rate to quote
authorities and arguments to prove and make clear that among all
created things, and things that can be apprehended by the
understanding, there is no ladder whereby the understanding can attain
to this high Lord. Rather it is necessary to know that, if the
understanding should seek to make use of all these things, or of any of
them, as a proximate means to such union, they would be not only a
hindrance, but even an occasion of numerous errors and delusions in the
ascent of this mount.
__________________________________________________________________
[256] [Lit., `unite.']
[257] Psalm lxxxv, 8 [A.V., lxxxvi, 8].
[258] Psalm lxxvi, 14 [A.V., lxxvii, 13] [lit., `in that which is
holy'].
[259] Psalm cxxxvii, 6 [A.V., cxxxviii, 6].
[260] Exodus xxxiii, 20.
[261] St. John i, 18.
[262] 1 Corinthians ii, 9; Isaias lxiv, 4.
[263] Acts vii, 32.
[264] 3 Kings [A.V., 1 Kings] xix, 13.
[265] [Lit., `feign Him.']
[266] Isaias xl, 18-19.
[267] [All authorities read `form' (or `figure') here. Cf. n. 7,
above.]
[268] [This is the word (fingir, `feign'), translated above as
`imitate.' Cf. n. 7, above.]
[269] Baruch iii, 23.
[270] [Possibly a further reference to 1 Corinthians ii, 9-10, quoted
above.]
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER IX
How faith is the proximate and proportionate means to the understanding
whereby the soul may attain to the Divine union of love. This is proved
by passages and figures from Divine Scripture.
From what has been said it is to be inferred that, in order for the
understanding to be prepared for this Divine union, it must be pure and
void of all that pertains to sense, and detached and freed from all
that can clearly be apprehended by the understanding, profoundly hushed
and put to silence, and leaning upon faith, which alone is the
proximate and proportionate means whereby the soul is united with God;
for such is the likeness between itself and God that there is no other
difference, save that which exists between seeing God and believing in
Him. For, even as God is infinite, so faith sets Him before us as
infinite; and, as He is Three and One, it sets Him before us as Three
and One; and, as God is darkness to our understanding, even so does
faith likewise blind and dazzle our understanding. And thus, by this
means alone, God manifests Himself to the soul in Divine light, which
passes all understanding. And therefore, the greater is the faith of
the soul, the more closely is it united with God. It is this that Saint
Paul meant in the passage which we quoted above, where he says: `He
that will be united with God must believe.' [271] That is, he must walk
by faith as he journeys to Him, the understanding being blind and in
darkness, walking in faith alone; for beneath this darkness the
understanding is united with God, and beneath it God is hidden, even as
David said in these words: `He set darkness under His feet. And He rose
upon the cherubim, and flew upon the wings of the wind. And He made
darkness, and the dark water, His hiding-place.' [272]
2. By his saying that He set darkness beneath His feet, and that He
took the darkness for a hiding-place, and that His tabernacle round
about Him was in the dark water, is denoted the obscurity of the faith
wherein He is concealed. And by his saying that He rose upon the
cherubim and flew upon the wings of the winds, is understood His
soaring above all understanding. For the cherubim denote those who
understand or contemplate. And the wings of the winds signify the
subtle and lofty ideas and conceptions of spirits, above all of which
is His Being, and to which none, by his own power, can attain.
3. This we learn from an illustration in the Scriptures. When Solomon
had completed the building of the Temple, God came down in darkness and
filled the Temple so that the children of Israel could not see;
whereupon Solomon spake and said: `The Lord hath promised that He will
dwell in darkness'. [273] Likewise He appeared in darkness to Moses on
the Mount, where God was concealed. And whensoever God communicated
Himself intimately, He appeared in darkness, as may be seen in Job,
where the Scripture says that God spoke with him from the darkness of
the air. [274] All these mentions of darkness signify the obscurity of
the faith wherein the Divinity is concealed, when It communicates
Itself to the soul; which will be ended when, as Saint Paul says, that
which is in part shall be ended, [275] which is this darkness of faith,
and that which is perfect shall come, which is the Divine light. Of
this we have a good illustration in the army of Gedeon, whereof it is
said all the soldiers had lamps in their hands, which they saw not,
because they had them concealed in the darkness of the pitchers; but,
when these pitchers were broken, the light was seen. [276] Just so does
faith, which is foreshadowed by those pitchers, contain within itself
Divine light; which, when it is ended and broken, at the ending and
breaking of this mortal life, will allow the glory and light of the
Divinity, which was contained in it, to appear.
4. It is clear, then, that, if the soul in this life is to attain to
union with God, and commune directly with Him, it must unite itself
with the darkness whereof Solomon spake, wherein God had promised to
dwell, and must draw near to the darkness of the air wherein God was
pleased to reveal His secrets to Job, and must take in its hands, in
darkness, the jars of Gedeon, that it may have in its hands (that is,
in the works of its will) the light, which is the union of love, though
it be in the darkness of faith, so that, when the pitchers of this life
are broken, which alone have kept from it the light of faith, it may
see God face to face in glory.
5. It now remains to describe in detail all the types of knowledge and
the apprehensions which the understanding can receive; the hindrance
and the harm which it can receive upon this road of faith; and the way
wherein the soul must conduct itself so that, whether they proceed from
the senses or from the spirit, they may cause it, not harm, but profit.
__________________________________________________________________
[271] Hebrews xi, 6.
[272] Psalm xvii, 10-12 [A.V., xviii, 9-11].
[273] 3 Kings [A.V., 1 Kings] viii, 12.
[274] Job xxxviii, 1; xl, 1.
[275] 1 Corinthians xiii, 10.
[276] Judges viii, 16.
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER X
Wherein distinction is made between all apprehensions and types of
knowledge which can be comprehended by the understanding.
In order to treat in detail of the profit and the harm which may come
to the soul, with respect to this means to Divine union which we have
described — namely, faith — through the ideas and apprehensions of
the understanding, it is necessary here to make a distinction between
all the apprehensions, whether natural or supernatural, that the soul
may receive, so that then, with regard to each of them in order, we may
direct the understanding with greater clearness into the night and
obscurity of faith. This will be done with all possible brevity.
2. It must be known, then, that the understanding can receive knowledge
and intelligence by two channels: the one natural and the other
supernatural. By the natural channel is meant all that the
understanding can understand, whether by means of the bodily senses or
by its own power. [277] The supernatural channel is all that is given
to the understanding over and above its natural ability and capacity.
3. Of these kinds of supernatural knowledge, some are corporeal and
some are spiritual. The corporeal are two in number: some are received
by means of the outward bodily senses; others, by means of the inward
bodily senses, wherein is comprehended all that the imagination can
comprehend, form and conceive.
4. The spiritual supernatural knowledge is likewise of two kinds: that
which is distinct and special in its nature, and that which is
confused, general and dark. Of the distinct and special kind there are
four manners of apprehension which are communicated to the spirit
without the aid of any bodily sense: these are visions, revelations,
locutions and spiritual feelings. The obscure and general type of
knowledge is of one kind alone, which is contemplation that is given in
faith. To this we have to lead the soul by bringing it thereto through
all these other means, beginning with the first and detaching it from
them.
__________________________________________________________________
[277] [Lit., `by itself.']
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER XI
Of the hindrance and harm that may be caused by apprehensions of the
understanding which proceed from that which is supernaturally
represented to the outward bodily senses; and how the soul is to
conduct itself therein.
The first kinds of knowledge whereof we have spoken in the preceding
chapter are those that belong to the understanding and come through
natural channels. Of these, since we have treated them already in the
first book, where we led the soul into the night of sense, we shall
here say not a word, for in that place we gave suitable instruction to
the soul concerning them. What we have to treat, therefore, in the
present chapter, will be solely those kinds of knowledge and those
apprehensions which belong to the understanding and come
supernaturally, by way of the outward bodily senses — namely, by
seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. With respect to all
these there may come, and there are wont to come, to spiritual persons
representations and objects of a supernatural kind. With respect to
sight, they are apt to picture figures and forms of persons belonging
to the life to come — the forms of certain saints, and representations
of angels, good and evil, and certain lights and brightnesses of an
extraordinary kind. And with the ears they hear certain extraordinary
words, sometimes spoken by those figures that they see, sometimes
without seeing the person who speaks them. As to the sense of smell,
they sometimes perceive the sweetest perfumes with the senses, without
knowing whence they proceed. Likewise, as to taste, it comes to pass
that they are conscious of the sweetest savours, and, as to touch, they
experience great delight — sometimes to such a degree that it is as
though all the bones and the marrow rejoice and sing [278] and are
bathed in delight; this is like that which we call spiritual unction,
which in pure souls proceeds from the spirit and flows into the very
members. And this sensible sweetness is a very ordinary thing with
spiritual persons, for it comes to them from their sensible affection
and devotion, [279] to a greater or a lesser degree, to each one after
his own manner.
2. And it must be known that, although all these things may happen to
the bodily senses in the way of God, we must never rely upon them or
accept them, but must always fly from them, without trying to ascertain
whether they be good or evil; for, the more completely exterior and
corporeal they are, the less certainly are they of God. For it is more
proper and habitual to God to communicate Himself to the spirit,
wherein there is more security and profit for the soul, than to sense,
wherein there is ordinarily much danger and deception; for bodily sense
judges and makes its estimate of spiritual things by thinking that they
are as it feels them to be, whereas they are as different as is the
body from the soul and sensuality [280] from reason. For the bodily
sense is as ignorant of spiritual things as is a beast of rational
things, and even more so.
3. So he that esteems such things errs greatly and exposes himself to
great peril of being deceived; in any case he will have within himself
a complete impediment to the attainment of spirituality. For, as we
have said, between spiritual things and all these bodily things there
exists no kind of proportion whatever. And thus it may always be
supposed that such things as these are more likely to be of the devil
than of God; for the devil has more influence in that which is exterior
and corporeal, and can deceive a soul more easily thereby than by that
which is more interior and spiritual.
4. And the more exterior are these corporeal forms and objects in
themselves, the less do they profit the interior and spiritual nature,
because of the great distance and the lack of proportion existing
between the corporeal and the spiritual. For, although there is
communicated by their means a certain degree of spirituality, as is
always the case with things that come from God, much less is
communicated than would be the case if the same things were more
interior and spiritual. And thus they very easily become the means
whereby error and presumption and vanity grow in the soul; since, as
they are so palpable and material, they stir the senses greatly, and it
appears to the judgment of the soul that they are of greater importance
because they are more readily felt. Thus the soul goes after them,
abandoning faith and thinking that the light which it receives from
them is the guide and means to its desired goal, which is union with
God. But the more attention it pays to such things, the farther it
strays from the true way and means, which are faith.
5. And, besides all this, when the soul sees that such extraordinary
things happen to it, it is often visited, insidiously and secretly by a
certain complacency, so that it thinks itself to be of some importance
in the eyes of God; which is contrary to humility. The devil, too,
knows how to insinuate into the soul a secret satisfaction with itself,
which at times becomes very evident; wherefore he frequently represents
these objects to the senses, setting before the eyes figures of saints
and most beauteous lights; and before the ears words very much
dissembled; and representing also sweetest perfumes, delicious tastes
[281] and things delectable to the touch; to the end that, by producing
desires for such things, he may lead the soul into much evil. These
representations and feelings, therefore, must always be rejected; for,
even though some of them be of God, He is not offended by their
rejection, nor is the effect and fruit which He desires to produce in
the soul by means of them any the less surely received because the soul
rejects them and desires them not.
6. The reason for this is that corporeal vision, or feeling in respect
to any of the other senses, or any other communication of the most
interior kind, if it be of God, produces its effect upon the spirit at
the very moment when it appears or is felt, without giving the soul
time or opportunity to deliberate whether it will accept or reject it.
For, even as God gives these things supernaturally, without effort on
the part of the soul, and independently of its capacity, even so
likewise, without respect to its effort or capacity, God produces in it
the effect that He desires by means of such things; for this is a thing
that is wrought and brought to pass in the spirit passively; and thus
its acceptance or non-acceptance consists not in the acceptance or the
rejection of it by the will. It is as though fire were applied to a
person's naked body: it would matter little whether or no he wished to
be burned; the fire would of necessity accomplish its work. Just so is
it with visions and representations that are good: even though the soul
desire it not, they work their effect upon it, chiefly and especially
in the soul, rather than in the body. And likewise those that come from
the devil (without the consent of the soul) cause it disturbance or
aridity or vanity or presumption in the spirit. Yet these are not so
effective to work evil as are those of God to work good; for those of
the devil can only set in action the first movements of the will, [282]
and move it no farther, unless the soul be consenting thereto; and such
trouble continues not long unless the soul's lack of courage and
prudence be the occasion of its continuance. But the visions that are
of God penetrate the soul and move the will to love, and produce their
effect, which the soul cannot resist even though it would, any more
than the window can resist the sun's rays when they strike
7. The soul, then, must never presume to desire to receive them, even
though, as I say, they be of God; for, if it desire to receive them,
there follow six inconveniences.
The first is that faith grows gradually less; for things that are
experienced by the senses derogate from faith; since faith, as we have
said, transcends every sense. And thus the soul withdraws itself from
the means of union with God when it closes not its eyes to all these
things of sense.
Secondly, if they be not rejected, they are a hindrance to the spirit,
for the soul rests in them and its spirit soars not to the invisible.
This was one of the reasons why the Lord said to His disciples that it
was needful for Him to go away that the Holy Spirit might come; so,
too, He forbade Mary Magdalene to touch His feet, after His
resurrection, that she might be grounded in faith.
Thirdly, the soul becomes attached to these things and advances not to
true resignation and detachment of spirit.
Fourthly, it begins to lose the effect of them and the inward
spirituality which they cause it, because it sets its eyes upon their
sensual aspect, which is the least important. And thus it receives not
so fully the spirituality which they cause, which is impressed and
preserved more securely when all things of sense are rejected, since
these are very different from pure spirit.
Fifthly, the soul begins to lose the favours of God, because it accepts
them as though they belonged to it and profits not by them as it
should. And to accept them in this way and not to profit by them is to
seek after them; but God gives them not that the soul may seek after
them; nor should the soul take upon itself to believe that they are of
God. [283]
Sixthly, a readiness to accept them opens the door to the devil that he
may deceive the soul by other things like to them, which he very well
knows how to dissimulate and disguise, so that they may appear to be
good; for, as the Apostle says, he can transform himself into an angel
of light. [284] Of this we shall treat hereafter, by the Divine favour,
in our third book, in the chapter upon spiritual gluttony.
8. It is always well, then, that the soul should reject these things,
and close its eyes to them, whencesoever they come. For, unless it does
so, it will prepare the way for those things that come from the devil,
and will give him such influence that, not only will his visions come
in place of God's, but his visions will begin to increase, and those of
God to cease, in such manner that the devil will have all the power and
God will have none. So it has happened to many incautious and ignorant
souls, who rely on these things to such an extent that many of them
have found it hard to return to God in purity of faith; and many have
been unable to return, so securely has the devil rooted himself in
them; for which reason it is well to resist and reject them all. For,
by the rejection of evil visions, the errors of the devil are avoided,
and by the rejection of good visions no hindrance is offered to faith
and the spirit harvests the fruit of them. And just as, when the soul
allows them entrance, God begins to withhold them because the soul is
becoming attached to them and is not profiting by them as it should,
while the devil insinuates and increases his own visions, where he
finds occasion and cause for them; just so, when the soul is resigned,
or even averse to them, the devil begins to desist, since he sees that
he is working it no harm; and contrariwise God begins to increase and
magnify His favours in a soul that is so humble and detached, making it
ruler over [285] many things, even as He made the servant who was
faithful in small things. [286]
9. In these favours, if the soul be faithful and humble, [287] the Lord
will not cease until He has raised it from one step to another, even to
Divine union and transformation. For Our Lord continues to prove the
soul and to raise it ever higher, so that He first gives it things that
are very unpretentious and exterior and in the order of sense, in
conformity with the smallness of its capacity; to the end that, when it
behaves as it should, and receives these first morsels with moderation
for its strength and sustenance, He may grant it further and better
food. If, then, the soul conquer the devil upon the first step, it will
pass to the second; and if upon the second likewise, it will pass to
the third; and so onward, through all seven mansions, [288] which are
the seven steps of love, until the Spouse shall bring it to the cellar
of wine of His perfect charity.
10. Happy the soul that can fight against that beast of the Apocalypse,
[289] which has seven heads, set over against these seven steps of
love, and which makes war therewith against each one, and strives
therewith against the soul in each of these mansions, wherein the soul
is being exercised and is mounting step by step in the love of God. And
undoubtedly if it strive faithfully against each of these heads, and
gain the victory, it will deserve to pass from one step to another, and
from one mansion to another, even unto the last, leaving the beast
vanquished after destroying its seven heads, wherewith it made so
furious a war upon it. So furious is this war that Saint John says in
that place [290] that it was given unto the beast to make war against
the saints and to be able to overcome them upon each one of these steps
of love, arraying against each one many weapons and munitions of war.
And it is therefore greatly to be lamented that many who engage in this
spiritual battle against the beast do not even destroy its first head
by denying themselves the sensual things of the world. And, though some
destroy and cut off this head, they destroy not the second head, which
is that of the visions of sense whereof we are speaking. But what is
most to be lamented is that some, having destroyed not only the first
and the second but even the third, which is that of the interior
senses, pass out of the state of meditation, and travel still farther
onward, and are overcome by this spiritual beast at the moment of their
entering into purity of spirit, for he rises up against them once more,
and even his first head comes to life again, and the last state of
those souls is worse than the first, since, when they fall back, the
beast brings with him seven other spirits worse then himself. [291]
11. The spiritual person, then, has to deny himself all the
apprehensions, and the temporal delights, that belong to the outward
senses, if he will destroy the first and the second head of this beast,
and enter into the first chamber of love, and the second, which is of
living faith, desiring neither to lay hold upon, nor to be embarrassed
by, that which is given to the senses, since it is this that derogates
most from faith.
12. It is clear, then, that these sensual apprehensions and visions
cannot be a means to union, since they bear no proportion to God; and
this was one of the reasons why Christ desired that the Magdalene and
Saint Thomas should not touch Him. And so the devil rejoices greatly
when a soul desires to receive revelations, and when he sees it
inclined to them, for he has then a great occasion and opportunity to
insinuate errors and, in so far as he is able, to derogate from faith;
for, as I have said, he renders the soul that desires them very gross,
and at times even leads it into many temptations and unseemly ways.
13. I have written at some length of these outward apprehensions in
order to throw and shed rather more light on the others, whereof we
have to treat shortly. There is so much to say on this part of my
subject that I could go on and never end. I believe, however, that I am
summarizing it sufficiently by merely saying that the soul must take
care never to receive these apprehensions, save occasionally on another
person's advice, which should very rarely be given, and even then it
must have no desire for them. I think that on this part of my subject
what I have said is sufficient.
__________________________________________________________________
[278] [Lit., `and blossom.']
[279] [Lit., `from the affection and devotion of the sensible spirit.']
[280] [P. Silverio remarks here that] we must understand [as frequently
elsewhere] 'sensibility' and not sensuality in the grosser sense.
[281] [Lit., `and sweetnesses in the mouth.']
[282] E.p.: `for those of the devil stop at the first movements and
cannot move the will.' This, no doubt, was the Saint's meaning, for the
Church teaches that the devil cannot influence the will directly,
though he may do so indirectly, principally through the senses and the
imagination.
[283] St. John of the Cross means that the soul should not rely upon
its own judgment in such matters but upon some discreet and learned
director.
[284] 2 Corinthians xi, 14.
[285] [Lit., `making it over.'] E.p. has: 'setting it and placing it
over.'
[286] [St. Matthew xxv, 21.]
[287] [Lit., `and retired.']
[288] [The phrase is suggestive of St. Teresa, though the Spanish word
is not moradas, but mansiones.]
[289] [Apocalypse xiii, 1.]
[290] [Apocalypse xiii, 7.]
[291] [St. Luke xi, 26.]
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CHAPTER XII
Which treats of natural imaginary apprehensions. Describes their nature
and proves that they cannot be a proportionate means of attainment to
union with God. Shows the harm which results from inability to detach
oneself from them.
Before we treat of the imaginary visions which are wont to occur
supernaturally to the interior sense, which is the imagination and the
fancy, it is fitting here, so that we may proceed in order, to treat of
the natural apprehensions of this same interior bodily sense, in order
that we may proceed from the lesser to the greater, and from the more
exterior to the more interior, until we reach the most interior [292]
recollection wherein the soul is united with God; this same order we
have followed up to this point. For we treated first of all the
detachment of the exterior senses from the natural apprehensions of
objects, and, in consequence, from the natural power of the desires —
this was contained in the first book, wherein we spoke of the night of
sense. We then began to detach these same senses from supernatural
exterior apprehensions (which, as we have just shown in the last
chapter, affect the exterior senses), in order to lead the soul into
the night of the spirit.
2. In this second book, the first thing that has now to be treated is
the interior bodily sense — namely, the imagination and the fancy;
this we must likewise void of all the imaginary apprehensions and forms
that may belong to it by nature, and we must prove how impossible it is
that the soul should attain to union with God until its operation cease
in them, since they cannot be the proper and proximate means of this
union.
3. It is to be known, then, that the senses whereof we are here
particularly speaking are two interior bodily senses which are called
imagination and fancy, which subserve each other in due order. For the
one sense reasons, as it were, by imagining, and the other forms the
imagination, or that which is imagined, by making use of the fancy.
[293] For our purpose the discussion of the one is equivalent to that
of the other, and, for this reason, when we name them not both, it must
be understood that we are speaking of either, as we have here
explained. All the things, then, that these senses can receive and
fashion are known as imaginations and fancies, which are forms that are
represented to these senses by bodily figures and images. This can
happen in two ways. The one way is supernatural, wherein representation
can be made, and is made, to these senses passively, without any effort
of their own; these we call imaginary visions, produced after a
supernatural manner, and of these we shall speak hereafter. The other
way is natural, wherein, through the ability of the soul, these things
can be actively fashioned in it through its operation, beneath forms,
figures and images. And thus to these two faculties belongs meditation,
which is a discursive action wrought by means of images, forms and
figures that are fashioned and imagined by the said senses, as when we
imagine Christ crucified, or bound to the column, or at another of the
stations; or when we imagine God seated upon a throne with great
majesty; or when we consider and imagine glory to be like a most
beauteous light, etc.; or when we imagine all kinds of other things,
whether Divine or human, that can belong to the imagination. All these
imaginings must be cast out from the Soul, which will remain in
darkness as far as this sense is concerned, that it may attain to
Divine union; for they can bear no proportion to proximate means of
union with God, any more than can the bodily imaginings, which serve as
objects to the five exterior senses.
4. The reason of this is that the imagination cannot fashion or imagine
anything whatsoever beyond that which it has experienced through its
exterior senses — namely, that which it has seen with the eyes, or
heard with the ears, etc. At most it can only compose likenesses of
those things that it has seen or heard or felt, which are of no more
consequence than those which have been received by the senses
aforementioned, nor are they even of as much consequence. For, although
a man imagines palaces of pearls and mountains of gold, because he has
seen gold and pearls, all this is in truth less than the essence of a
little gold or of a single pearl, although in the imagination it be
greater in quantity and in beauty. And since, as has already been said,
no created things can bear any proportion to the Being of God, it
follows that nothing that is imagined in their likeness can serve as
proximate means to union with Him, but, as we say, quite the contrary.
5. Wherefore those that imagine God beneath any of these figures, or as
a great fire or brightness, or in any other such form, and think that
anything like this will be like to Him, are very far from approaching
Him. For, although these considerations and forms and manners of
meditation are necessary to beginners, in order that they may gradually
feed and enkindle their souls with love by means of sense, as we shall
say hereafter, and although they thus serve them as remote means to
union with God, through which a soul has commonly to pass in order to
reach the goal and abode of spiritual repose, yet they must merely pass
through them, and not remain ever in them, for in such a manner they
would never reach their goal, which does not resemble these remote
means, neither has aught to do with them. The stairs of a staircase
have naught to do with the top of it and the abode to which it leads,
yet are means to the reaching of both; and if the climber left not
behind the stairs below him until there were no more to climb, but
desired to remain upon any one of them, he would never reach the top of
them nor would he mount to the pleasant [294] and peaceful room which
is the goal. And just so the soul that is to attain in this life to the
union of that supreme repose and blessing, by means of all these stairs
of meditations, forms and ideas, must pass though them and have done
with them, since they have no resemblance and bear no proportion to the
goal to which they lead, which is God. Wherefore Saint Paul says in the
Acts of the Apostles: Non debemus aestimare, auro, vel argento, aut
lapidi sculpturae artis, et cogitationis hominis, Divinum esse similem.
[295] Which signifies: We ought not to think of the Godhead by likening
Him to gold or to silver, neither to stone that is formed by art, nor
to aught that a man can fashion with his imagination.
6. Great, therefore, is the error of many spiritual persons who have
practised approaching God by means of images and forms and meditations,
as befits beginners. God would now lead them on to [296] further
spiritual blessings, which are interior and invisible, by taking from
them the pleasure and sweetness of discursive meditation; but they
cannot, or dare not, or know not how to detach themselves from those
palpable methods to which they have grown accustomed. They continually
labour to retain them, desiring to proceed, as before, by the way of
consideration and meditation upon forms, for they think that it must be
so with them always. They labour greatly to this end and find little
sweetness or none; rather the aridity and weariness and disquiet of
their souls are increased and grow, in proportion as they labour for
that earlier sweetness. They cannot find this in that earlier manner,
for the soul no longer enjoys that food of sense, as we have said; it
needs not this but another food, which is more delicate, more interior
and partaking less of the nature of sense; it consists not in labouring
with the imagination, but in setting the soul at rest, and allowing it
to remain in its quiet and repose, which is more spiritual. For, the
farther the soul progresses in spirituality, the more it ceases from
the operation of the faculties in particular acts, since it becomes
more and more occupied in one act that is general and pure; and thus
the faculties that were journeying to a place whither the soul has
arrived cease to work, even as the feet stop and cease to move when
their journey is over. For if all were motion, one would never arrive,
and if all were means, where or when would come the fruition of the end
and goal?
7. It is piteous, then, to see many a one who [297] though his soul
would fain tarry in this peace and rest of interior quiet, where it is
filled with the peace and refreshment of God, takes from it its
tranquillity, and leads it away to the most exterior things, and would
make it return and retrace the ground it has already traversed, to no
purpose, and abandon the end and goal wherein it is already reposing
for the means which led it to that repose, which are meditations. This
comes not to pass without great reluctance and repugnance of the soul,
which would fain be in that peace that it understands not, as in its
proper place; even as one who has arrived, with great labour, and is
now resting, suffers pain if he is made to return to his labour. And,
as such souls know not the mystery of this new experience, the idea
comes to them that they are being idle and doing nothing; and thus they
allow not themselves to be quiet, but endeavor to meditate and reason.
Hence they are filled with aridity and affliction, because they seek to
find sweetness where it is no longer to be found; we may even say of
them that the more they strive the less they profit, for, the more they
persist after this manner, the worse is the state wherein they find
themselves, because their soul is drawn farther away from spiritual
peace; and this is to leave the greater for the less, and to retrace
the ground already traversed, and to seek to do that which has been
done.
8. To such as these the advice must be given to learn to abide
attentively and wait lovingly upon God in that state of quiet, and to
pay no heed either to imagination or to its working; for here, as we
say, the faculties are at rest, and are working, not actively, but
passively, by receiving that which God works in them; and, if they work
at times, it is not with violence or with carefully elaborated
meditation, but with sweetness of love, moved less by the ability of
the soul itself than by God, as will be explained hereafter. But let
this now suffice to show how fitting and necessary it is for those who
aim at making further progress to be able to detach themselves from all
these methods and manners and works of the imagination at the time and
season when the profit of the state which they have reached demands and
requires it.
9. And, that it may be understood how this is to be, and at what
season, we shall give in the chapter following certain signs which the
spiritual person will see in himself and whereby he may know at what
time and season he may freely avail himself of the goal mentioned
above, and may cease from journeying by means of meditation and the
work of the imagination.
__________________________________________________________________
[292] [Lit., `the intimate'; but the superlative idea is clearly
present.]
[293] [Lit., `by fancying.']
[294] [Lit., `the level' — i.e., by contrast with the steep stairs.]
[295] Acts xvii, 29.
[296] [The verb, recoger, of which the derived noun is translated
`recollection,' has more accurately the meaning of `gather,' `take
inwards.']
[297] [Lit., `to see that there are many who.']
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER XIII
Wherein are set down the signs which the spiritual person will find in
himself whereby he may know at what season it behoves him to leave
meditation and reasoning and pass to the state of contemplation.
In order that there may be no confusion in this instruction it will be
meet in this chapter to explain at what time and season it behoves the
spiritual person to lay aside the task of discursive meditation as
carried on through the imaginations and forms and figures above
mentioned, in order that he may lay them aside neither sooner nor later
than when the Spirit bids him; for, although it is meet for him to lay
them aside at the proper time in order that he may journey to God and
not be hindered by them, it is no less needful for him not to lay aside
the said imaginative meditation before the proper time lest he should
turn backward. For, although the apprehensions of these faculties serve
not as proximate means of union to the proficient, they serve
nevertheless as remote means to beginners in order to dispose and
habituate the spirit to spirituality by means of sense, and in order to
void the sense, in the meantime, of all the other low forms and images,
temporal, worldly and natural. We shall therefore speak here of certain
signs and examples which the spiritual person will find in himself,
whereby he may know whether or not it will be meet for him to lay them
aside at this season.
2. The first sign is his realization that he can no longer meditate or
reason with his imagination, neither can take pleasure therein as he
was wont to do aforetime; he rather finds aridity in that which
aforetime was wont to captivate his senses and to bring him sweetness.
But, for as long as he finds sweetness in meditation, and is able to
reason, he should not abandon this, save when his soul is led into the
peace and quietness [298] which is described under the third head.
3. The second sign is a realization that he has no desire to fix his
mediation or his sense upon other particular objects, exterior or
interior. I do not mean that the imagination neither comes nor goes
(for even at times of deep [299] recollection it is apt to move
freely), but that the soul has no pleasure in fixing it of set purpose
upon other objects.
4. The third and surest sign is that the soul takes pleasure in being
alone, and waits with loving attentiveness upon God, without making any
particular meditation, in inward peace and quietness and rest, and
without acts and exercises of the faculties — memory, understanding
and will — at least, without discursive acts, that is, without passing
from one thing to another; the soul is alone, with an attentiveness and
a knowledge, general and loving, as we said, but without any particular
understanding, and adverting not to that which it is contemplating.
5. These three signs, at least, the spiritual person must observe in
himself, all together, before he can venture safely to abandon the
state of meditation and sense, [300] and to enter that of contemplation
and spirit.
6. And it suffices not for a man to have the first alone without the
second, for it might be that the reason for his being unable to imagine
and meditate upon the things of God, as he did aforetime, was
distraction on his part and lack of diligence; for the which cause he
must observe in himself the second likewise, which is the absence of
inclination or desire to think upon other things; for, when the
inability to fix the imagination and sense upon the things of God
proceeds from distraction or lukewarmness, the soul then has the desire
and inclination to fix it upon other and different things, which lead
it thence altogether. Neither does it suffice that he should observe in
himself the first and second signs, if he observe not likewise,
together with these, the third; for, although he observe his inability
to reason and think upon the things of God, and likewise his distaste
for thinking upon other and different things, this might proceed from
melancholy or from some other kind of humour in the brain or the heart,
which habitually produces a certain absorption and suspension of the
senses, causing the soul to think not at all, nor to desire or be
inclined to think, but rather to remain in that pleasant state of
reverie. [301] Against this must be set the third sign, which is loving
attentiveness and knowledge, in peace, etc., as we have said.
7. It is true, however, that, when this condition first begins, the
soul is hardly aware of this loving knowledge, and that for two
reasons. First, this loving knowledge is apt at the beginning to be
very subtle and delicate, and almost imperceptible to the senses.
Secondly, when the soul has been accustomed to that other exercise of
meditation, which is wholly perceptible, it is unaware, and hardly
conscious, of this other new and imperceptible condition, which is
purely spiritual; especially when, not understanding it, the soul
allows not itself to rest in it, but strives after the former, which is
more readily perceptible; so that abundant though the loving interior
peace may be, the soul has no opportunity of experiencing and enjoying
it. But the more accustomed the soul grows to this, by allowing itself
to rest, the more it will grow therein and the more conscious it will
become of that loving general knowledge of God, in which it has greater
enjoyment than in aught else, since this knowledge causes it peace,
rest, pleasure and delight without labour.
8. And, to the end that what has been said may be the clearer, we shall
give, in this chapter following, the causes and reasons why the three
signs aforementioned appear to be necessary for the soul that is
journeying to pure spirit. [302]
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[298] E.p. omits: `and quietness.' The Saint's description of this
first sign at which a soul should pass from meditation to contemplation
was denounced as disagreeing with Catholic doctrine, particularly the
phrase: `that he can no longer meditate or reason with his imagination,
neither can take pleasure therein as he was wont to do aforetime.' This
language, however, is common to mystics and theologians, not excluding
St. Thomas (2a 2ae, q. 180, a. 6) and Suarez (De Oratione, Bk. II,
Chap. x), as is proved, with eloquence and erudition, by P. Basilio
Ponce de Leon and the Elucidatio, in their refutations of the Saint's
critics. All agree that, in the act of contemplation of which St. John
of the Cross here speaks, the understanding must be stripped of forms
and species of the imagination and that the reasonings and reflections
of meditation must be set aside. This is to be understood, both of the
contemplation that transcends all human methods, and also of that which
is practised according to these human methods with the ordinary aid of
grace. But there is this important difference, that those who enjoy the
first kind of contemplation set aside all intellectual reasoning as
well as processes of the fancy and the imagination, whereas, for the
second kind, reasoning prior to the act of contemplation is normally
necessary, though it ceases at the act of contemplation, and there is
then substituted for it simple and loving intuition of eternal truth.
It should be clearly understood that this is not of habitual occurrence
in the contemplative soul, but occurs only during the act of
contemplation, which is commonly of short duration. St. Teresa makes
this clear in Chap. xxvii of her Life, and treats this same doctrinal
question in many other parts of her works--e.g., Life, Chaps. x, xii;
Way of Perfection, Chap. xxvi; Interior Castle, IV, Chap. iii, etc.
[299] [Lit., `much.']
[300] E.p. omits: `and sense.' Since sense plays so great a part in
meditation, St. John of the Cross places it in contradistinction to
contemplation, which, the more nearly it attains perfection, becomes
the more sublime and spiritual and the more completely freed from the
bonds of nature. Cf. Elucidatio, Pt. II, Chap. iii, p. 180.
[301] [embelesamiento, a word denoting a pleasurable condition
somewhere between a reverie and a swoon.]
[302] [Lit., `appear to be necessary in order to journey to spirit.']
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CHAPTER XIV
Wherein is proved the fitness of these signs, and the reason is given
why that which has been said in speaking of them is necessary to
progress.
With respect to the first sign whereof we are speaking — that is to
say, that the spiritual person who would enter upon the spiritual road
(which is that of contemplation) must leave the way of imagination and
of meditation through sense when he takes no more pleasure therein and
is unable to reason — there are two reasons why this should be done,
which may almost be comprised in one. The first is, that in one way the
soul has received all the spiritual good which it would be able to
derive from the things of God by the path of meditation and reasoning,
the sign whereof is that it can no longer meditate or reason as before,
and finds no new sweetness or pleasure therein as it found before,
because up to that time it had not progressed as far as the
spirituality which was in store for it; for, as a rule, whensoever the
soul receives some spiritual blessing, it receives it with pleasure, at
least in spirit, in that means whereby it receives it and profits by
it; otherwise it is astonishing if it profits by it, or finds in the
cause of it that help and that sweetness which it finds when it
receives it. For this is in agreement with a saying of the
philosophers, Quod sapit, nutrit. This is: That which is palatable
nourishes and fattens. Wherefore holy Job said: Numquid poterit comedi
insulsum, quod non est sale conditum? [303] Can that which is unsavory
perchance be eaten when it is not seasoned with salt? It is this cause
that the soul is unable to meditate or reason as before: the little
pleasure which the spirit finds therein and the little profit which it
gains.
2. The second reason is that the soul at this season has now both the
substance and the habit of the spirit of meditation. For it must be
known that the end of reasoning and meditation on the things of God is
the gaining of some knowledge and love of God, and each time that the
soul gains this through meditation, it is an act; and just as many
acts, of whatever kind, end by forming a habit in the soul, just so,
many of these acts of loving knowledge which the soul has been making
one after another from time to time come through repetition to be so
continuous in it that they become habitual. This end God is wont also
to effect in many souls without the intervention of these acts (or at
least without many such acts having preceded it), by setting them at
once in contemplation. And thus that which aforetime the soul was
gaining gradually through its labour of meditation upon particular
facts has now through practice, as we have been saying, become
converted and changed into a habit and substance of loving knowledge,
of a general kind, and not distinct or particular as before. Wherefore,
when it gives itself to prayer, the soul is now like one to whom water
has been brought, so that he drinks peacefully, without labour, and is
no longer forced to draw the water through the aqueducts of past
meditations and forms and figures [304] So that, as soon as the soul
comes before God, it makes an act of knowledge, confused, loving,
passive and tranquil, wherein it drinks of wisdom and love and delight.
3. And it is for this cause that the soul feels great weariness and
distaste, when, although it is in this condition of tranquillity, men
try to make it meditate and labour in particular acts of knowledge. For
it is like a child, which, while receiving the milk that has been
collected and brought together for it in the breast, is taken from the
breast and then forced to try to gain and collect food by its own
diligent squeezing and handling. Or it is like one who has removed the
rind from a fruit, and is tasting the substance of the fruit, when he
is forced to cease doing this and to try to begin removing the said
rind, which has been removed already. He finds no rind to remove, and
yet he is unable to enjoy the substance of the fruit which he already
had in his hand; herein he is like to one who leaves a prize [305]
which he holds for another which he holds not.
4. And many act thus when they begin to enter this state; they think
that the whole business consists in a continual reasoning and learning
to understand particular things by means of images and forms, which are
to the spirit as rind. When they find not these in that substantial and
loving quiet wherein their soul desires to remain, and wherein it
understands nothing clearly, they think that they are going astray and
wasting time, and they begin once more to seek the rind of their
imaginings and reasonings, but find it not, because it has already been
removed. And thus they neither enjoy the substance nor make progress in
meditation, and they become troubled by the thought that they are
turning backward and are losing themselves. They are indeed losing
themselves, though not in the way they think, for they are becoming
lost to their own senses and to their first manner of perception; and
this means gain in that spirituality which is being given them. The
less they understand, however, the farther they penetrate into the
night of the spirit, whereof we are treating in this book, through the
which night they must pass in order to be united with God, in a union
that transcends all knowledge.
5. With respect to the second sign, there is little to say, for it is
clear that at this season the soul cannot possibly take pleasure in
other and different objects of the imagination, which are of the world,
since, as we have said, and for the reasons already mentioned, it has
no pleasure in those which are in closest conformity with it — namely,
those of God. Only as has been noted above, the imaginative faculty in
this state of recollection is in the habit of coming and going and
varying of its own accord; but neither according to the pleasure nor at
the will of the soul, which is troubled thereby, because its peace and
joy are disturbed.
6. Nor do I think it necessary to say anything here concerning the
fitness and necessity of the third sign whereby the soul may know if it
is to leave the meditation aforementioned, which is a knowledge of God
or a general and loving attentiveness to Him. For something has been
said of this in treating of the first sign, and we shall treat of it
again hereafter, when we speak in its proper place of this confused and
general knowledge, which will come after our description of all the
particular apprehensions of the understanding. But we will speak of one
reason alone by which it may clearly be seen how, when the
contemplative has to turn aside from the way of meditation and
reasoning, he needs this general and loving attentiveness or knowledge
of God. The reason is that, if the soul at that time had not this
knowledge of God or this realization of His presence, the result would
be that it would do nothing and have nothing; for, having turned aside
from meditation (by means whereof the soul has been reasoning with its
faculties of sense), and being still without contemplation, which is
the general knowledge whereof we are speaking, wherein the soul makes
use of its spiritual faculties [306] — namely, memory, understanding
and will — these being united in this knowledge which is then wrought
and received in them, the soul would of necessity be without any
exercise in the things of God, since the soul can neither work, nor can
it receive that which has been worked in it, save only by way of these
two kinds of faculty, that of sense and that of spirit. For, as we have
said, by means of the faculties of sense it can reason and search out
and gain knowledge of things and by means of the spiritual faculties it
can have fruition of the knowledge which it has already received in
these faculties aforementioned, though the faculties themselves take no
part herein.
7. And thus the difference between the operation of these two kinds of
faculty in the soul is like the difference between working and enjoying
the fruit of work which has been done; or like that between the labour
of journeying and the rest and quiet which comes from arrival at the
goal; or, again, like that between preparing a meal and partaking and
tasting of it, when it has been both prepared and masticated, without
having any of the labour of cooking it, or it is like the difference
between receiving something and profiting by that which has been
received. Now if the soul be occupied neither with respect to the
operation of the faculties of sense, which is meditation and reasoning,
nor with respect to that which has already been received and effected
in the spiritual faculties, which is the contemplation and knowledge
whereof we have spoken, it will have no occupation, but will be wholly
idle, and there would be no way in which it could be said to be
employed. This knowledge, then, is needful for the abandonment of the
way of meditation and reasoning.
8. But here it must be made clear that this general knowledge whereof
we are speaking is at times so subtle and delicate, particularly when
it is most pure and simple and perfect, most spiritual and most
interior, that, although the soul be occupied therein, it can neither
realize it nor perceive it. This is most frequently the case when we
can say that it is in itself most clear, perfect and simple; and this
comes to pass when it penetrates a soul that is unusually pure and far
withdrawn from other particular kinds of knowledge and intelligence,
which the understanding or the senses might fasten upon. Such a soul,
since it no longer has those things wherein the understanding and the
senses have the habit and custom of occupying themselves, is not
conscious of them, inasmuch as it has not its accustomed powers of
sense. And it is for this reason that, when this knowledge is purest
and simplest and most perfect, the understanding is least conscious of
it and thinks of it as most obscure. And similarly, in contrary wise,
when it is in itself least pure and simple in the understanding, it
seems to the understanding to be clearest and of the greatest
importance, since it is clothed in, mingled with or involved in certain
intelligible forms which understanding or sense may seize upon. [307]
9. This will be clearly understood by the following comparison. If we
consider a ray of sunlight entering through a window, we see that, the
more the said ray is charged with atoms and particles of matter, the
more palpable, visible and bright it appears to the eye of sense; [308]
yet it is clear that the ray is in itself least pure, clear, simple and
perfect at that time, since it is full of so many particles and atoms.
And we see likewise that, when it is purest and freest from those
particles and atoms, the least palpable and the darkest does it appear
to the material eye; and the purer it is, the darker and less
apprehensible it appears to it. And if the ray were completely pure and
free from all these atoms and particles, even from the minutest specks
of dust, it would appear completely dark and invisible to the eye,
since everything that could be seen would be absent from it — namely,
the objects of sight. For the eye would find no objects whereon to
rest, since light is no proper object of vision, but the means whereby
that which is visible is seen; so that, if there be no visible objects
wherein the sun's ray or any light can be reflected, nothing will be
seen. Wherefore, if the ray of light entered by one window and went out
by another, without meeting anything that has material form, it would
not be seen at all; yet, notwithstanding, that ray of light would be
purer and clearer in itself than when it was more clearly seen and
perceived through being full of visible objects.
10. The same thing happens in the realm of spiritual light with respect
to the sight of the soul, which is the understanding, and which this
general and supernatural knowledge and light whereof we are speaking
strikes so purely and simply. So completely is it detached and removed
from all intelligible forms, which are objects of the understanding,
that it is neither perceived nor observed. Rather, at times (that is,
when it is purest), it becomes darkness, because it withdraws the
understanding from its accustomed lights, from forms and from fancies,
and then the darkness is more clearly felt and realized. But, when this
Divine light strikes the soul with less force, it neither perceives
darkness nor observes light, nor apprehends aught that it knows, from
whatever source; hence at times the soul remains as it were in a great
forgetfulness, so that it knows not where it has been or what it has
done, nor is it aware of the passage of time. Wherefore it may happen,
and does happen, that many hours are spent in this forgetfulness, and,
when the soul returns to itself, it believes that less than a moment
has passed, or no time at all.
11. The cause of this forgetfulness is the purity and simplicity of
this knowledge which occupies the soul and simplifies, purifies and
cleanses it from all apprehensions and forms of the senses and of the
memory, through which it acted when it was conscious of time, [309] and
thus leaves it in forgetfulness and without consciousness of time.
[310] This prayer, therefore, seems to the soul extremely brief,
although, as we say, it may last for a long period; for the soul has
been united in pure intelligence, which belongs not to time; and this
is the brief prayer which is said to pierce the heavens, because it is
brief and because it belongs not to time. [311] And it pierces the
heavens, because the soul is united in heavenly intelligence; and when
the soul awakens, this knowledge leaves in it the effects which it
created in it without its being conscious of them, which effects are
the lifting up of the spirit to the heavenly intelligence, and its
withdrawal and abstraction from all things and forms and figures and
memories thereof. It is this that David describes as having happened to
him when he returned to himself out of this same forgetfulness, saying:
Vigilavi, et factus sum sicut passer solitarius in tecto. [312] Which
signifies: I have watched and I have become like the lonely bird [313]
on the house-top. He uses the word `lonely' to indicate that he was
withdrawn and abstracted from all things. And by the house-top he means
the elevation of the spirit on high; so that the soul remains as though
ignorant of all things, for it knows God only, without knowing how.
Wherefore the Bride declares in the Songs that among the effects which
that sleep and forgetfulness of hers produced was this unknowing. She
says that she came down to the garden, saying: Nescivi. [314] That is:
I knew not whence. Although, as we have said, the soul in this state of
knowledge believes itself to be doing nothing, and to be entirely
unoccupied, because it is working neither with the senses nor with the
faculties, it should realize that it is not wasting time. For, although
the harmony of the faculties of the soul may cease, its intelligence is
as we have said. For this cause the Bride, who was wise, answered this
question herself in the Songs, saying: Ego dormio et cor meum vigilat.
[315] As though she were to say: Although I sleep with respect to my
natural self, ceasing to labour, my heart waketh, being supernaturally
lifted up in supernatural knowledge. [316]
12. But, it must be realized, we are not to suppose that this knowledge
necessarily causes this forgetfulness when the soul is in the state
that we are here describing: this occurs only when God suspends in the
soul the exercise of all its faculties, both natural and spiritual,
which happens very seldom, for this knowledge does not always fill the
soul entirely. It is sufficient for the purpose, in the case which we
are treating, that the understanding should be withdrawn from all
particular knowledge, whether temporal or spiritual, and that the will
should not desire to think with respect to either, as we have said, for
this is a sign that the soul is occupied. And it must be taken as an
indication that this is so when this knowledge is applied and
communicated to the understanding only, which sometimes happens when
the soul is unable to observe it. For, when it is communicated to the
will also, which happens almost invariably, the soul does not cease to
understand in the very least degree, if it will reflect hereon, that it
is employed and occupied in this knowledge, inasmuch as it is conscious
of a sweetness of love therein, without particular knowledge or
understanding of that which it loves. It is for this reason that this
knowledge is described as general and loving; for, just as it is so in
the understanding, being communicated to it obscurely, even so is it in
the will, sweetness and love being communicated to it confusedly, so
that it cannot have a distinct knowledge of the object of its love.
13. Let this suffice now to explain how meet it is that the soul should
be occupied in this knowledge, so that it may turn aside from the way
of spiritual meditation, and be sure that, although it seem to be doing
nothing, it is well occupied, if it discern within itself these signs.
It will also be realized, from the comparison which we have made, that
if this light presents itself to the understanding in a more
comprehensible and palpable manner, as the sun's ray presents itself to
the eye when it is full of particles, the soul must not for that reason
consider it purer, brighter and more sublime. It is clear that, as
Aristotle and the theologians say, the higher and more sublime is the
Divine light, the darker is it to our understanding.
14. Of this Divine knowledge there is much to say, concerning both
itself and the effects which it produces upon contemplatives. All this
we reserve for its proper place, [317] for, although we have spoken of
it here, there would be no reason for having done so at such length,
save our desire not to leave this doctrine rather more confused than it
is already, for I confess it is certainly very much so. Not only is it
a matter which is seldom treated in this way, either verbally or in
writing, being in itself so extraordinary and obscure, but my rude
style and lack of knowledge make it more so. Further, since I have
misgivings as to my ability to explain it, I believe I often write at
too great length and go beyond the limits which are necessary for that
part of the doctrine which I am treating. Herein I confess that I
sometimes err purposely; for that which is not explicable by one kind
of reasoning will perhaps be better understood by another, or by others
yet; and I believe, too, that in this way I am shedding more light upon
that which is to be said hereafter.
15. Wherefore it seems well to me also, before completing this part of
my treatise, to set down a reply to one question which may arise with
respect to the continuance of this knowledge, and this shall be briefly
treated in the chapter following.
__________________________________________________________________
[303] Job vi, 6.
[304] [Cf. the simile of the Waters in St. Teresa, Life, Chap. xi, and
Interior Castle, IV, ii, iii.]
[305] [Lit., `booty,' `prey.']
[306] [Lit., `the soul keeps in act its spiritual facilities.']
[307] [The verb is tropezar en, which may mean either 'stumble upon' —
i.e., `come across (and make use of),' or 'stumble over' — i.e., the
forms may be a stumbling-block, or a snare. I think there is at least a
suggestion of the latter meaning.]
[308] [Lit., `to the sight of sense.']
[309] [Or: `when it was dependent on time,' Lit., `acted in time.']
[310] [Or: `and independent of time.' Lit., `without time.']
[311] E.p. modifies these lines thus: `. . . it has been in pure
intelligence, which is the brief prayer that is said to pierce the
heavens. Because it is brief and because the soul is not conscious or
observant of time.' P. Jose de Jesus Maria comments thus upon this
passage: `In contemplation the soul withdraws itself from the seashore,
and entirely loses sight of land, in order to whelm itself in that vast
sea and impenetrable abyss of the Divine Essence; hiding itself in the
region of time, it enters within the most extensive limits of eternity.
For the pure and simple intelligence whereinto the soul is brought in
this contemplation, as was pointed out by the ancient Dionysius (Myst.
Theol., Chap. ii), and by our own Father, is not subject to time. For,
as St. Thomas says (Pt. I, q. 118, a. 3, et alibi), the soul is a
spiritual substance, which is above time and superior to the movements
of the heavens, to which it is subject only because of the body. And
therefore it seems that, when the soul withdraws from the body, and
from all created things, and by means of pure intelligence whelms
itself in eternal things, it recovers its natural dominion and rises
above time, if not according to substance, at least according to its
most perfect being; for the noblest and most perfect being of the soul
resides rather in its acts than in its faculties. Wherefore St. Gregory
said (Morals, Bk. VIII): "The Saints enter eternity even in this life,
beholding the eternity of God."'
[312] Psalm ci, 8 [A.V., cii, 7].
[313] [The Spanish pajaro, `bird,' is derived from passer, 'sparrow.']
[314] Canticles vi, 11.
[315] Canticles v, 2.
[316] The words which conclude this paragraph in the edition of 1630
(`The sign by which we may know if the soul is occupied in this secret
intelligence is if it is seen to have no pleasure in thinking of aught,
whether high or low') are not found either in the Codices or in e.p.
When St. John of the Cross uses the words `cessation,' `idleness'
[ocio, Lat. otium], `quiet,' `annihilation,' 'sleep' (of the
faculties), etc., he does not mean, as the Illuminists did, that the
understanding and will in the act of contemplation are so passive as to
have lost all their force and vitality, and that the contemplative is
therefore impeccable, although he commit the grossest sins. The soul's
vital powers, according to St. John of the Cross, are involved even in
the highest contemplation; the understanding is attentive to God and
the will is loving Him. They are not working, it is true, in the way
which is usual and natural with them — that is, by reason and
imagination — but supernaturally, through the unction of the Holy
Spirit, which they receive passively, without any effort of their own.
It is in this sense that such words as those quoted above (`cessation,'
`idleness,' etc.) are both expressively and appropriately used by the
Saint, for what is done without labour and effort may better be
described by images of passivity than by those of activity. Further,
the soul is unaware that its faculties are working in this sublime
contemplation, though they undoubtedly do work. St. John of the Cross,
philosopher as well as mystic, would not deny the vital and intrinsic
activity of the understanding and the will in contemplation. His
reasoning is supported by P. Jose de Jesus Maria (Apologia Mistica de
la Contemplacion Divina, Chap. ix) [quoted at length by P. Silverio,
Obras, etc., Vol. II, p. 130, note].
[317] In spite of this promise, the Saint does not return to this
subject at such length as his language here would suggest.
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CHAPTER XV
Wherein is explained how it is sometimes well for progressives who are
beginning to enter upon this general knowledge of contemplation to make
use of natural reasoning and the work of the natural faculties.
With regard to that which has been said, there might be raised one
question — if progressives (that is, those whom God is beginning to
bring into this supernatural knowledge of contemplation whereof we have
spoken) must never again, because of this that they are beginning to
experience, return to the way of meditation and reasoning and natural
forms. To this the answer is that it is not to be understood that such
as are beginning to experience this loving knowledge must, as a general
rule, never again try to return to meditation; for, when they are first
making progress in proficiency, the habit of contemplation is not yet
so perfect that they can give themselves to the act thereof whensoever
they wish, nor, in the same way, have they reached a point so far
beyond meditation that they cannot occasionally meditate and reason in
a natural way, as they were wont, using the figures and the steps that
they were wont to use, and finding something new in them. Rather, in
these early stages, when, by means of the indications already given,
they are able to see that the soul is not occupied in that repose and
knowledge, they will need to make use of meditation until by means of
it they come to acquire in some degree of perfection the habit which we
have described. This will happen when, as soon as they seek to
meditate, they experience this knowledge and peace, and find themselves
unable to meditate and no longer desirous of doing so, as we have said.
For until they reach this stage, which is that of the proficient in
this exercise, they use sometimes the one and sometimes the other, at
different times.
2. The soul, then, will frequently find itself in this loving or
peaceful state of waiting upon God [318] without in any way exercising
its faculties — that is, with respect to particular acts — and
without working actively at all, but only receiving. In order to reach
this state, it will frequently need to make use of meditation, quietly
and in moderation; but, when once the soul is brought into this other
state, it acts not at all with its faculties, as we have already said.
It would be truer to say that understanding and sweetness work in it
and are wrought within it, than that the soul itself works at all, save
only by waiting upon God and by loving Him without desiring to feel or
to see anything. Then God communicates Himself to it passively, even as
to one who has his eyes open, so that light is communicated to him
passively, without his doing more than keep them open. And this
reception of light which is infused supernaturally is passive
understanding. We say that the soul works not at all, not because it
understands not, but because it understands things without taxing its
own industry and receives only that which is given to it, as comes to
pass in the illuminations and enlightenments or inspirations of God.
3. Although in this condition the will freely receives this general and
confused knowledge of God, it is needful, in order that it may receive
this Divine light more simply and abundantly, only that it should not
try to interpose other lights which are more palpable, whether forms or
ideas or figures having to do with any kind of meditation; for none of
these things is similar to that pure and serene light. So that if at
this time the will desires to understand and consider particular
things, however spiritual they be, this would obstruct the pure and
simple general light of the spirit, by setting those clouds in the way;
even as a man might set something before his eyes which impeded his
vision and kept from him both the light and the sight of things in
front of him.
4. Hence it clearly follows that, when the soul has completely purified
and voided itself of all forms and images that can be apprehended, it
will remain in this pure and simple light, being transformed therein
into a state of perfection. For, though this light never fails in the
soul, it is not infused into it because of the creature forms and veils
wherewith the soul is veiled and embarrassed; but, if these impediments
and these veils were wholly removed (as will be said hereafter), the
soul would then find itself in a condition of pure detachment and
poverty of spirit, and, being simple and pure, would be transformed
into simple and pure Wisdom, which is the Son of God. For the enamoured
soul finds that that which is natural has failed it, and it is then
imbued with that which is Divine, both naturally and supernaturally, so
that there may be no vacuum in its nature.
5. When the spiritual person cannot meditate, let him learn to be still
in God, fixing his loving attention upon Him, in the calm of his
understanding, although he may think himself to be doing nothing. For
thus, little by little and very quickly, Divine calm and peace will be
infused into his soul, together with a wondrous and sublime knowledge
of God, enfolded in Divine love. And let him not meddle with forms,
meditations and imaginings, or with any kind of reasoning, lest his
soul be disturbed, and brought out of its contentment and peace, which
can only result in its experiencing distaste and repugnance. And if, as
we have said, such a person has scruples that he is doing nothing, let
him note that he is doing no small thing by pacifying the soul and
bringing it into calm and peace, unaccompanied by any act or desire,
for it is this that Our Lord asks of us, through David, saying: Vacate,
et videte quoniam ego sum Deus. [319] As though he had said: Learn to
be empty of all things (that is to say, inwardly and outwardly) and you
will see that I am God.
__________________________________________________________________
[318] [Lit., `in this loving or peaceful presence,' the original of
`presence' having also the sense of `attendance.']
[319] Psalm xlv, 11 [A.V., xlvi, 10].
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER XVI
Which treats of the imaginary apprehensions that are supernaturally
represented in the fancy. Describing how they cannot serve the soul as
a proximate means to union with God.
Now that we have treated of the apprehensions which the soul can
receive within itself by natural means, and whereon the fancy and the
imagination can work by means of reflection, it will be suitable to
treat here of the supernatural apprehensions, which are called
imaginary visions, which likewise belong to these senses, since they
come within the category of images, forms and figures, exactly as do
the natural apprehensions.
2. It must be understood that beneath this term `imaginary vision' we
purpose to include all things which can be represented to the
imagination supernaturally by means of any image, form, figure and
species. For all the apprehensions and species which, through all the
five bodily senses, are represented to the soul, and dwell within it,
after a natural manner, may likewise occur in the soul after a
supernatural manner, and be represented to it without any assistance of
the outward senses. For this sense of fancy, together with memory, is,
as it were, an archive and storehouse of the understanding, wherein are
received all forms and images that can be understood; and thus the soul
has them within itself as it were in a mirror, having received them by
means of the five senses, or, as we say, supernaturally; and thus it
presents them to the understanding, whereupon the understanding
considers them and judges them. And not only so, but the soul can also
prepare and imagine others like to those with which it is acquainted.
3. It must be understood, then, that, even as the five outward senses
represent the images and species of their objects to these inward
senses, even so, supernaturally, as we say, without using the outward
senses, both God and the devil can represent the same images and
species, and much more beautiful and perfect ones. Wherefore, beneath
these images, God often represents many things to the soul, and teaches
it much wisdom; this is continually seen in the Scriptures, as when
Isaias saw God in His glory beneath the smoke which covered the Temple,
and beneath the seraphim who covered their faces and their feet with
wings; [320] and as Jeremias saw the rod watching, [321] and Daniel a
multitude of visions, [322] etc. And the devil, too, strives to deceive
the soul with his visions, which in appearance are good, as may be seen
in the Book of the Kings, when he deceived all the prophets of Achab,
presenting to their imaginations the horns wherewith he said the King
was to destroy the Assyrians, which was a lie. [323] Even such were the
visions of Pilate's wife, warning him not to condemn Christ; [324] and
there are many other places where it is seen how, in this mirror of the
fancy and the imagination, these imaginary visions come more frequently
to proficients than do outward and bodily visions. These, as we say,
differ not in their nature (that is, as being images and species) from
those which enter by the outward senses; but, with respect to the
effect which they produce, and in the degree of their perfection, there
is a great difference; for imaginary visions are subtler and produce a
deeper impression upon the soul, inasmuch as they are supernatural, and
are also more interior than the exterior supernatural visions.
Nevertheless, it is true that some of these exterior bodily visions may
produce a deeper impression; the communication, after all, is as God
wills. We are speaking, however, merely as concerns their nature, and
in this respect they are more spiritual.
4. It is to these senses of imagination and fancy that the devil
habitually betakes himself with his wiles — now natural, now
supernatural; [325] for they are the door and entrance to the soul, and
here, as we have said, the understanding comes to take up or set down
its goods, as it were in a harbour or in a store-house where it keeps
its provisions. And for this reason it is hither that both God and the
devil always come with their jewels of supernatural forms and images,
to offer them to the understanding; although God does not make use of
this means alone to instruct the soul, but dwells within it in
substance, and is able to do this by Himself and by other methods.
5. There is no need for me to stop here in order to give instruction
concerning the signs by which it may be known which visions are of God
and which not, and which are of one kind and which of another; for this
is not my intention, which is only to instruct the understanding
herein, that it may not be hindered or impeded as to union with Divine
Wisdom by the good visions, neither may be deceived by those which are
false.
6. I say, then, that with regard to all these imaginary visions and
apprehensions and to all other forms and species whatsoever, which
present themselves beneath some particular kind of knowledge or image
or form, whether they be false and come from the devil or are
recognized as true and coming from God, the understanding must not be
embarrassed by them or feed upon them, neither must the soul desire to
receive them or to have them, lest it should no longer be detached,
free, pure and simple, without any mode or manner, as is required for
union.
7. The reason of this is that all these forms which we have already
mentioned are always represented, in the apprehension of the soul, as
we have said, beneath certain modes and manners which have limitations;
and that the Wisdom of God, wherewith the understanding is to be
united, has no mode or manner, neither is it contained within any
particular or distinct kind of intelligence or limit, because it is
wholly pure and simple. And as, in order that these two extremes may be
united — namely, the soul and Divine Wisdom — it will be necessary
for them to attain to agreement, by means of a certain mutual
resemblance, hence it follows that the soul must be pure and simple,
neither bounded by, nor attached to, any particular kind of
intelligence, nor modified by any limitation of form, species and
image. As God comes not within any image or form, neither is contained
within any particular kind of intelligence, so the soul, in order to
reach God, [326] must likewise come within no distinct form or kind of
intelligence.
8. And that there is no form or likeness in God is clearly declared by
the Holy Spirit in Deuteronomy, where He says: Vocem verborum ejus
audistis, et formam penitus non vidistis. [327] Which signifies: Ye
heard the voice of His words, and ye saw in God no form whatsoever. But
He says that there was darkness there, and clouds and thick darkness,
which are the confused and dark knowledge whereof we have spoken,
wherein the soul is united with God. And afterwards He says further:
Non vidistis aliquam similitudinem in die, qua locutus est vobis
Dominus in Horeb de medio ignis. That is: Ye saw no likeness in God
upon the day when He spoke to you on Mount Horeb, out of the midst of
the fire. [328]
9. And that the soul cannot reach the height of God, even as far as is
possible in this life, by means of any form and figure, is declared
likewise by the same Holy Spirit in the Book of Numbers, where God
reproves Aaron and Miriam, the brother and sister of Moses, because
they murmured against him, and, desiring to convey to them the
loftiness of the state of union and friendship with Him wherein He had
placed him, said: Si quis inter vos fuerit Propheta Domini, in visione
apparebo ei, vel per somnium loquar ad illum. At non talis servus meus
Moyses, qui in omni domo mea fidelissimus est: ore enim ad os loquor
ei, et palem, et non per aenigmata, et figuras Dominum videt. [329]
Which signifies: If there be any prophet of the Lord among you, I will
appear to him in some vision or form, or I will speak with him in his
dreams; but there is none like My servant Moses, who is the most
faithful in all My house, and I speak with him mouth to mouth, and he
sees not God by comparisons, similitudes and figures. Herein He says
clearly that, in this lofty state of union whereof we are speaking, God
is not communicated to the soul by means of any disguise of imaginary
vision or similitude or form, neither can He be so communicated; but
mouth to mouth — that is, in the naked and pure essence of God, which
is the mouth of God in love, with the naked and pure essence of the
soul, which is the mouth of the soul in love of God.
10. Wherefore, in order to come to this essential union of love in God,
the soul must have a care not to lean upon [330] imaginary visions, nor
upon forms or figures or particular objects of the understanding; for
these cannot serve it as a proportionate and proximate means to such an
end; rather they would disturb it, and for this reason the soul must
renounce them and strive not to have them. For if in any circumstances
they were to be received and prized, it would be for the sake of profit
which true visions bring to the soul and the good effect which they
produce upon it. But, for this to happen, it is not necessary to
receive them; indeed, for the soul's profit, it is well always to
reject them. For these imaginary visions, like the outward bodily
visions whereof we have spoken, do the soul good by communicating to it
intelligence or love or sweetness; but for this effect to be produced
by them in the soul it is not necessary that it should desire to
receive them; for, as has also been said above, at this very time when
they are present to the imagination, they produce in the soul and
infuse into it intelligence and love, or sweetness, or whatever effect
God wills them to produce. And not only do they produce this joint
effect, but principally, although not simultaneously, they produce
their effect in the soul passively, without its being able to hinder
this effect, even if it so desired, just as it was also powerless to
acquire it, although it had been able previously to prepare itself.
For, even as the window is powerless to impede the ray of sunlight
which strikes it, but, when it is prepared by being cleansed, receives
its light passively without any diligence or labour on its own part,
even so the soul, although against its will, cannot fail to receive in
itself the influences and communications of those figures, however much
it might desire to resist them. For the will that is negatively
inclined cannot, if coupled with loving and humble resignation, resist
supernatural infusions; only the impurity and imperfections of the soul
can resist them even as the stains upon a window impede the brightness
of the sunlight. [331]
11. From this it is evident that, when the soul completely detaches
itself, in its will and affection, from the apprehensions of the
strains of those forms, images and figures wherein are clothed the
spiritual communications which we have described, not only is it not
deprived of these communications and the blessings which they cause
within it, but it is much better prepared to receive them with greater
abundance, clearness, liberty of spirit and simplicity, when all these
apprehensions are set on one side, for they are, as it were, curtains
and veils covering the spiritual thing that is behind them. And thus,
if the soul desire to feed upon them, they occupy spirit and sense in
such a way that the spirit cannot communicate itself simply and freely;
for, while they are still occupied with the outer rind, it is clear
that the understanding is not free to receive the substance. Wherefore,
if the soul at that time desires to receive these forms and to set
store by them, it would be embarrassing itself, and contenting itself
with the least important part of them — namely, all that it can
apprehend and know of them, which is the form and image and particular
object of the understanding in question. The most important part of
them, which is the spiritual part that is infused into the soul, it can
neither apprehend nor understand, nor can it even know what it is, or
be able to express it, since it is purely spiritual. All that it can
know of them, as we say, according to its manner of understanding, is
but the least part of what is in them — namely, the forms perceptible
by sense. For this reason I say that what it cannot understand or
imagine is communicated to it by these visions, passively, without any
effort of its own to understand and without its even knowing how to
make such an effort.
12. Wherefore the eyes of the soul must ever be withdrawn from all
these apprehensions which it can see and understand distinctly, which
are communicated through sense, and do not make for a foundation of
faith, or for reliance on faith, and must be set upon that which it
sees not, and which belongs not to sense, but to spirit, which can be
expressed by no figure of sense; and it is this which leads the soul to
union in faith, which is the true medium, as has been said. And thus
these visions will profit the soul substantially, in respect of faith,
when it is able to renounce the sensible and intelligible part of them,
and to make good use of the purpose for which God gives them to the
soul, by casting them aside; for, as we said of corporeal visions, God
gives them not so that the soul may desire to have them and to set its
affection upon them.
13. But there arises here this question: If it be true that God gives
the soul supernatural visions, but not so that it may desire to have
them or be attached to them or set store by them, why does He give them
at all, since by their means the soul may fall into many errors and
perils, or at the least may find in them such hindrances to further
progress as are here described, especially since God can come to the
soul, and communicate to it, spiritually and substantially, that which
He communicates to it through sense, by means of the sensible forms and
visions aforementioned?
14. We shall answer this question in the following chapter: it involves
important teaching, most necessary, as I see it, both to spiritual
persons and to those who instruct them. For herein is taught the way
and purpose of God with respect to these visions, which many know not,
so that they cannot rule themselves or guide themselves to union,
neither can they guide others to union, through these visions. For they
think that, just because they know them to be true and to come from
God, it is well to receive them and to trust them, not realizing that
the soul will become attached to them, cling to them and be hindered by
them, as it will by things of the world, if it know not how to renounce
these as well as those. And thus they think it well to receive one kind
of vision and to reject another, causing themselves, and the souls
under their care, great labour and peril in discerning between the
truth and the falsehood of these visions. But God does not command them
to undertake this labour, nor does He desire that sincere and simple
souls should be led into this conflict and danger; for they have safe
and sound teaching, which is that of the faith, wherein they can go
forward.
15. This, however, cannot be unless they close their eyes to all that
is of particular and clear intelligence and sense. For, although Saint
Peter was quite certain of that vision of glory which he saw in Christ
at the Transfiguration, yet, after having described it in his second
canonical Epistle, he desired not that it should be taken for an
important and sure testimony, but rather directed his hearers to faith,
saying: Et habemus firmiorem propheticum sermonem: cui benefacitis
attendentes, quasi lucernoe lucenti in caliginoso loco, donec dies
elucescat. [332] Which signifies: And we have a surer testimony than
this vision of Tabor — namely, the sayings and words of the prophets
who bear testimony to Christ, whereunto ye must indeed cling, as to a
candle which gives light in a dark place. If we will think upon this
comparison, we shall find therein the teaching which we are now
expounding. For, in telling us to look to the faith whereof the
prophets spake, as to a candle that shines in a dark place, he is
bidding us remain in the darkness, with our eyes closed to all these
other lights; and telling us that in this darkness, faith alone, which
likewise is dark, will be the light to which we shall cling; for if we
desire to cling to these other bright lights — namely, to distinct
objects of the understanding — we cease to cling to that dark light,
which is faith, and we no longer have that light in the dark place
whereof Saint Peter speaks. This place, which here signifies the
understanding, which is the candlestick wherein this candle of faith is
set, must be dark until the day when the clear vision of God dawns upon
it in the life to come, or, in this life, until the day of
transformation and union with God to which the soul is journeying.
__________________________________________________________________
[320] Isaias vi, 4.
[321] Jeremias i, 11.
[322] Daniel viii, 10.
[323] Kings xxii, 11 [A.V., 1 Kings xxii, 11].
[324] [St. Matthew xxvii, 19.]
[325] E.p. omits: `now natural, now supernatural.' The Saint employs
this last word, in this passage, with the sense of `preternatural.'
Only God can transcend the bounds of nature, but the devil can act in
such a way that he appears to be doing so, counterfeiting miracles, and
so forth.
[326] [Lit., `to come within God.'] E.p.: `to be united with God.'
[327] Deuteronomy iv, 12.
[328] Deuteronomy iv, 15.
[329] Numbers xii, 6-8, [D.V. has `Mary' for `Miriam'.]
[330] [The progressive form is used in the Spanish: `not to go (or
`be') leaning upon.']
[331] [Lit., `impede the brightness.']
[332] St. Peter i, 19.
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CHAPTER XVII
Wherein is described the purpose and manner of God in His communication
of spiritual blessings to the soul by means of the senses. Herein is
answered the question which has been referred to.
There is much to be said concerning the purpose of God, and concerning
the manner wherein He gives these visions in order to raise up the soul
from its lowly estate to His Divine union. All spiritual books deal
with this and in this treatise of ours the method which we pursue is to
explain it; therefore I shall only say in this chapter as much as is
necessary to answer our question, which was as follows: Since in these
supernatural visions there is so much hindrance and peril to progress,
as we have said, why does God, Who is most wise and desires to remove
stumbling-blocks and snares from the soul, offer and communicate them
to it?
2. In order to answer this, it is well first of all to set down three
fundamental points. The first is from Saint Paul ad Romanos, where he
says: Quae autem sunt, a Deo ordinatoe sunt. [333] Which signifies: The
works that are done are ordained of God. The second is from the Holy
Spirit in the Book of Wisdom, where He says: Disponit omnia suaviter.
[334] And this is as though He had said: The wisdom of God, although it
extends from one end to another — that is to say, from one extreme to
another — orders all things with sweetness. The third is from the
theologians, who say that Omnia movet secundum modum eorum. That is,
God moves all things according to their nature.
3. It is clear, then, from these fundamental points, that if God is to
move the soul and to raise it up from the extreme depth of its
lowliness to the extreme height of His loftiness, in Divine union with
Him, He must do it with order and sweetness and according to the nature
of the soul itself. Then, since the order whereby the soul acquires
knowledge is through forms and images of created things, and the
natural way wherein it acquires this knowledge and wisdom is through
the senses, it follows that, if God is to raise up the soul to supreme
knowledge, and to do so with sweetness, He must begin to work from the
lowest and extreme end of the senses of the soul, in order that He may
gradually lead it, according to its own nature, to the other extreme of
His spiritual wisdom, which belongs not to sense. Wherefore He first
leads it onward by instructing it through forms, images and ways of
sense, according to its own method of understanding, now naturally, now
supernaturally, and by means of reasoning, to this supreme Spirit of
God.
4. It is for this reason that God gives the soul visions and forms,
images and other kinds of sensible and intelligible knowledge of a
spiritual nature; not that God would not give it spiritual wisdom
immediately, and all at once, if the two extremes — which are human
and Divine, sense and spirit — could in the ordinary way concur and
unite in one single act, without the previous intervention of many
other preparatory acts which concur among themselves in order and
sweetness, and are a basis and a preparation one for another, like
natural agents; so that the first acts serve the second, the second the
third, and so onward, in exactly the same way. And thus God brings man
to perfection according to the way of man's own nature, working from
what is lowest and most exterior up to what is most interior and
highest. First, then, He perfects his bodily senses, impelling him to
make use of good things which are natural, perfect and exterior, such
as hearing sermons and masses, looking on holy things, mortifying the
palate at meals and chastening the sense of touch by penance and holy
rigour. And, when these senses are in some degree prepared, He is wont
to perfect them still further, by bestowing on them certain
supernatural favours and gifts, in order to confirm them the more
completely in that which is good, offering them certain supernatural
communications, such as visions of saints or holy things, in corporeal
shape, the sweetest perfumes, locutions, and exceeding great delights
of touch, wherewith sense is greatly continued in virtue and is
withdrawn from a desire for evil things. And besides this He continues
at the same time to perfect the interior bodily senses, whereof we are
here treating, such as imagination and fancy, and to habituate them to
that which is good, by means of considerations, meditations, and
reflections of a sacred kind, in all of which He is instructing the
spirit. And, when these are prepared by this natural exercise, God is
wont to enlighten and spiritualize them still more by means of certain
supernatural visions, which are those that we are here calling
imaginary; wherein, as we have said, the spirit, at the same time,
profits greatly, for both kinds of vision help to take away its
grossness and gradually to reform it. And after this manner God
continues to lead the soul step by step till it reaches that which is
the most interior of all; not that it is always necessary for Him to
observe this order, and to cause the soul to advance exactly in this
way, from the first step to the last; sometimes He allows the soul to
attain one stage and not another, or leads it from the more interior to
the less, or effects two stages of progress together. This happens when
God sees it to be meet for the soul, or when He desires to grant it His
favours in this way; nevertheless His ordinary method is as has been
said.
5. It is in this way, then, that God instructs [335] the soul and makes
it more spiritual, communicating spirituality to it first of all by
means of outward and palpable things, adapted to sense, on account of
the soul's feebleness and incapacity, so that, by means of the outer
husk of those things which in themselves are good, the spirit may make
[336] particular acts and receive so many spiritual communications
[337] that it may form a habit as to things spiritual, and may acquire
actual and substantial spirituality, which is completely removed from
every sense. To this, as we have said, the soul cannot attain except
very gradually, and in its own way — that is, by means of sense — to
which it has ever been attached. And thus, in proportion as the spirit
attains more nearly to converse with God, it becomes ever more detached
and emptied of the ways of sense, which are those of imaginary
meditation and reflection. Wherefore, when the soul attains perfectly
to spiritual converse with God, it must of necessity have been voided
of all that relates to God and yet might come under the head of sense.
Even so, the more closely a thing grows attracted to one extreme, the
farther removed and withdrawn [338] it becomes from the other; and,
when it comes to rest perfectly in the one, it will also have withdrawn
itself perfectly from the other. Wherefore there is a commonly quoted
spiritual adage which says: Gustato spiritu, desipit omni caro. Which
signifies: After the taste and sweetness of the spirit have been
experienced, everything carnal is insipid. That is: No profit or
enjoyment is afforded by all the ways of the flesh, wherein is included
all communication of sense with the spiritual. And this is clear: for,
if it is spirit, it has no more to do with sense; and, if sense can
comprehend it, it is no longer pure spirit. For, the more can be known
of it by natural apprehension and sense, the less it has of spirit and
of the supernatural, as has been explained above.
6. The spirit that has become perfect, therefore, pays no heed to
sense, nor does it receive anything through sense, nor make any great
use of it, neither does it need to do so, in its relations with God, as
it did aforetime when it had not grown spiritually. It is this that is
signified by that passage from Saint Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians
which says: Cum essem parvulus, loquebar ut parvulus, sapiebam ut
parvulus, cogitabam ut parvulus. Quando autem factus sum vir, evacuavi
quae erant parvuli. [339] This signifies: When I was a child, I spake
as a child, I knew as a child, I thought as a child; but, when I became
a man, I put away [340] childish things. We have already explained how
the things of sense, and the knowledge that spirit can derive from
them, are the business of a child. Thus, if the soul should desire to
cling to them for ever, and not to throw them aside, it would never be
aught but a little child; it would speak ever of God as a child, and
would know of God as a child, and would think of God as a child; for,
clinging to the outer husk of sense, which pertains to the child, it
would never attain to the substance of the spirit, which pertains to
the perfect man. And thus the soul must not desire to receive the said
revelations in order to continue in growth, even though God offer them
to it, just as the child must leave the breast in order to accustom its
palate to strong meat, which is more substantial.
7. You will ask, then, if, when the soul is immature, it must take
these things, and, when it is grown, must abandon them; even as an
infant must take the breast, in order to nourish itself, until it be
older and can leave it. I answer that, with respect to meditation and
natural reflection by means of which the soul begins to seek God, it is
true that it must not leave the breast of sense in order to continue
taking in nourishment until the time and season to leave it have
arrived, and this comes when God brings the soul into a more spiritual
communion, which is contemplation, concerning which we gave instruction
in the eleventh chapter of this book. [341] But, when it is a question
of imaginary visions, or other supernatural apprehensions, which can
enter the senses without the co-operation of man's free will, I say
that at no time and season must it receive them, whether the soul be in
the state of perfection, or whether in a state less perfect — not even
though they come from God. And this for two reasons. The first is that,
as we have said, He produces His effect in the soul, without its being
able to hinder it, although, as often happens, it can and may hinder
visions; and consequently that effect which was to be produced in the
soul is communicated to it much more substantially, although not after
that manner. For, as we said likewise, the soul cannot hinder the
blessings that God desires to communicate to it, since it is not in the
soul's power to do so, save when it has some imperfection and
attachment; and there is neither imperfection nor attachment in
renouncing these things with humility and misgiving. The second reason
is that the soul may free itself from the peril and effort inherent in
discerning between evil visions and good, and in deciding whether an
angel be of light or of darkness. This effort brings the soul no
advantage; it merely wastes its time, and hinders it, and becomes to it
an occasion of many imperfections and of failure to make progress. The
soul concerns not itself, in such a case, with what is important, nor
frees itself of trifles in the shape of apprehensions and perceptions
of some particular kind. This has already been said in the discussion
of corporeal visions; and more will be said on the subject hereafter.
8. Let it be believed, too, that, if Our Lord were not about to lead
the soul in a way befitting its own nature, as we say here, He would
never communicate to it the abundance of His Spirit through these
aqueducts, which are so narrow — these forms and figures and
particular perceptions — by means whereof He gives the soul
enlightenment by crumbs. For this cause David says: Mittit crystallum
suam sicut buccellas. [342] Which is as much as to say: He sent His
wisdom to the souls as in morsels. It is greatly to be lamented that,
though the soul has infinite capacity, it should be given its food by
morsels conveyed through the senses, by reason of the small degree of
its spirituality and its incapacitation by sense. Saint Paul was also
grieved by this lack of preparation and this incapability of men for
receiving the Spirit, when he wrote to the Corinthians, saying: `I,
brethren, when I came to you, could not speak to you as to spiritual
persons, but as to carnal; for ye could not receive it, neither can ye
now.' Tamquam parvulis in Christo lac potum vobis dedi, non escam.
[343] That is: I have given you milk to drink, as to infants in Christ,
and not solid food to eat.
9. It now remains, then, to be pointed out that the soul must not allow
its eyes to rest upon that outer husk — namely, figures and objects
set before it supernaturally. These may be presented to the exterior
senses, as are locutions and words audible to the ear; or, to the eyes,
visions of saints, and of beauteous radiance; or perfumes to the sense
of smell; or tastes and sweetnesses to the palate; or other delights to
the touch, which are wont to proceed from the spirit, a thing that very
commonly happens to spiritual persons. Or the soul may have to avert
its eyes from visions of interior sense, such as imaginary visions, all
of which it must renounce entirely. It must set its eyes only upon the
spiritual good which they produce, striving to preserve it in its works
and to practise that which is for the due service of God, paying no
heed to those representations nor desiring any pleasure of sense. And
in this way the soul takes from these things only that which God
intends and wills — namely, the spirit of devotion — for there is no
other important purpose for which He gives them; and it casts aside
that which He would not give if these gifts could be received in the
spirit without it, as we have said — namely, the exercise and
apprehension of the senses.
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[333] Romans xiii, 1.
[334] Wisdom viii, 1.
[335] [The verb is progressive (`goes (on) instructing').]
[336] [This verb also is progressive: `may go (on) making.']
[337] [Lit., `mouthfuls of spiritual communication.']
[338] [All the verbs in the last two clauses are in the progressive
form.]
[339] 1 Corinthians xiii, 11.
[340] [Lit., `I emptied.']
[341] In reality, this instruction is given in Chap. xiii.
[342] Psalm cxlvii, 17.
[343] 1 Corinthians iii, 1-2.
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CHAPTER XVIII
Which treats of the harm that certain spiritual masters may do to souls
when they direct them not by a good method with respect to the visions
aforementioned. Describes also how these visions may cause deception
even though they be of God.
In this matter of visions we cannot be as brief as we should desire,
since there is so much to say about them. Although in substance we have
said what is relevant in order to explain to the spiritual person how
he is to behave with regard to the visions aforementioned, and to the
master who directs him, the way in which he is to deal with his
disciple, yet it will not be superfluous to go into somewhat greater
detail about this doctrine, and to give more enlightenment as to the
harm which can ensue, either to spiritual souls or to the masters who
direct them, if they are over-credulous about them, although they be of
God.
2. The reason which has now moved me to write at length about this is
the lack of discretion, as I understand it, which I have observed in
certain spiritual masters. Trusting to these supernatural
apprehensions, and believing that they are good and come from God, both
masters and disciples have fallen into great error and found themselves
in dire straits, wherein is fulfilled the saying of Our Saviour: Si
caecus caeco ducatum praestet, ambo in foveam cadunt. [344] Which
signifies: If a blind man lead another blind man, both fall into the
pit. And He says not 'shall fall,' but `fall.' For they may fall
without falling into error, since the very venturing of the one to
guide the other is going astray, and thus they fall in this respect
alone, at the very least. And, first of all, there are some whose way
and method with souls that experience these visions cause them to
stray, or embarrass them with respect to their visions, or guide them
not along the road in some way (for which reason they remain without
the true spirit of faith) and edify them not in faith, but lead them to
speak highly of those things. By doing this they make them realize that
they themselves set some value upon them, or make great account of
them, and, consequently, their disciples do the same. Thus their souls
have been set upon these apprehensions, instead of being edified in
faith, so that they may be empty and detached, and freed from those
things and can soar to the heights of dark faith. All this arises from
the terms and language which the soul observes its master to employ
with respect to these apprehensions; somehow it very easily develops a
satisfaction and an esteem for them, which is not in its own control,
and which averts its eyes from the abyss of faith.
3. And the reason why this is so easy must be that the soul is so
greatly occupied with these things of sense that, as it is inclined to
them by nature, and is likewise disposed to enjoy the apprehension of
distinct and sensible things, it has only to observe in its confessor,
or in some other person, a certain esteem and appreciation for them,
and not merely will it at once conceive the same itself, but also,
without its realizing the fact, its desire will become lured away by
them, so that it will feed upon them and will be ever more inclined
toward them and will set a certain value upon them. And hence arise
many imperfections, at the very least; for the soul is no longer as
humble as before, but thinks that all this is of some importance and
productive of good, and that it is itself esteemed by God, and that He
is pleased and somewhat satisfied with it, which is contrary to
humility. And thereupon the devil secretly sets about increasing this,
without the soul's realizing it, and begins to suggest ideas to it
about others, as to whether they have these things or have them not, or
are this or are that; which is contrary to holy simplicity and
spiritual solitude.
4. There is much more to be said about these evils, and of how such
souls, unless they withdraw themselves, grow not in faith, and also of
how there are other evils of the same kind which, although they be not
so palpable and recognizable as these, are subtler and more hateful in
the Divine eyes, and which result from not living in complete
detachment. Let us, however, leave this subject now, until we come to
treat of the vice of spiritual gluttony and of the other six vices,
whereof, with the help of God, many things will be said, concerning
these subtle and delicate stains which adhere to the spirit when its
director cannot guide it in detachment.
5. Let us now say something of this manner wherein certain confessors
deal with souls, and instruct them ill. And of a truth I could wish
that I knew how to describe it, for I realize that it is a difficult
thing to explain how the spirit of the disciple grows in conformity
with that of his spiritual father, in a hidden and secret way; and this
matter is so tedious that it wearies me, for it seems impossible to
speak of the one thing without describing the other also, as they are
spiritual things, and the one corresponds with the other.
6. But it is sufficient to say here that I believe, if the spiritual
father has an inclination toward revelations of such a kind that they
mean something to him, or satisfy or delight his soul, it is impossible
but that he will impress that delight and that aim upon the spirit of
his disciple, even without realizing it, unless the disciple be more
advanced than he; and, even in this latter case, he may well do him
grievous harm if he continue with him. For, from that inclination of
the spiritual father toward such visions, and the pleasure which he
takes in them, there arises a certain kind of esteem for them, of
which, unless he watch it carefully, he cannot fail to communicate some
indication or impression to other persons; and if any other such person
is like-minded and has a similar inclination, it is impossible, as I
understand, but that there will be communicated from the one to the
other a readiness to apprehend these things and a great esteem for
them.
7. But we need not now go into detail about this. Let us speak of the
confessor who, whether or no he be inclined toward these things, has
not the prudence that he ought to have in disencumbering the soul of
his disciple and detaching his desire from them, but begins to speak to
him about these visions and devotes the greater part of his spiritual
conversation to them, as we have said, giving him signs by which he may
distinguish good visions from evil. Now, although it is well to know
this, there is no reason for him to involve the soul in such labour,
anxiety and peril. By paying no heed to visions, and refusing to
receive them, all this is prevented, and the soul acts as it should.
Nor is this all, for such confessors, when they see that their
penitents are receiving visions from God, beg them to entreat God to
reveal them to themselves also, or to say such and such things to them,
with respect to themselves or to others, and the foolish souls do so,
thinking that it is lawful to desire knowledge by this means. For they
suppose that, because God is pleased to reveal or say something by
supernatural means, in His own way or for His own purpose, it is lawful
for them to desire Him to reveal it to them, and even to entreat Him to
do so.
8. And, if it come to pass that God answers their petition and reveals
it, they become more confident, thinking that, because God answers
them, it is His will and pleasure to do so; whereas, in reality, it is
neither God's will nor His pleasure. And they frequently act or believe
according to that which He has revealed to them, or according to the
way wherein He has answered them; for, as they are attached to that
manner of communion with God, the revelation makes a great impression
upon them and their will acquiesces in it. They take a natural pleasure
in their own way of thinking and therefore naturally acquiesce in it;
and frequently they go astray. Then they see that something happens in
a way they had not expected; and they marvel, and then begin to doubt
if the thing were of God, [345] since it happens not, and they see it
not, according to their expectations. At the beginning they thought two
things: first, that the vision was of God, since at the beginning it
agreed so well with their disposition, and their natural inclination to
that kind of thing may well have been the cause of this agreement, as
we have said; and secondly that, being of God, it would turn out as
they thought or expected.
9. And herein lies a great delusion, for revelations or locutions which
are of God do not always turn out as men expect or as they imagine
inwardly. And thus they must never be believed or trusted blindly, even
though they are known to be revelations or answers or sayings of God.
For, although they may in themselves be certain and true, they are not
always so in their causes, and according to our manner of
understanding, as we shall prove in the chapter following. And
afterwards we shall further say and prove that, although God sometimes
gives a supernatural answer to that which is asked of Him, it is not
His pleasure to do so, and sometimes, although He answers, He is
angered.
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[344] St. Matthew xv, 14.
[345] [Lit., `if it were of God.']
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CHAPTER XIX
Wherein is expounded and proved how, although visions and locutions
which come from God are true, we may be deceived about them. This is
proved by quotations from Divine Scripture.
For two reasons we have said that, although visions and locutions which
come from God are true, and in themselves are always certain, they are
not always so with respect to ourselves. One reason is the defective
way in which we understand them; and the other, the variety of their
causes. In the first place, it is clear that they are not always as
they seem, nor do they turn out as they appear to our manner of
thinking. The reason for this is that, since God is vast and boundless,
He is wont, in His prophecies, locutions and revelations, to employ
ways, concepts and methods of seeing things which differ greatly from
such purpose and method as can normally be understood by ourselves; and
these are the truer and the more certain the less they seem so to us.
This we constantly see in the Scriptures. To many of the ancients many
prophecies and locutions of God came not to pass as they expected,
because they understood them after their own manner, in the wrong way,
and quite literally. This will be clearly seen in these passages.
2. In Genesis, God said to Abraham, when He had brought him to the land
of the Chanaanites: Tibi dabo terram hanc. [346] Which signifies, I
will give thee this land. And when He had said it to him many times,
and Abraham was by now very Domine, unde scire possum, quod possessurus
sim eam? That old, and He had never given it to him, though He had said
this to him, Abraham answered God once again and said: Lord, whereby or
by what sign am I to know that I am to possess it? Then God revealed to
him that he was not to possess it in person, but that his sons would do
so after four hundred years; and Abraham then understood the promise,
which in itself was most true; for, in giving it to his sons for love
of him, God was giving it to himself. And thus Abraham was deceived by
the way in which he himself had understood the prophecy. If he had then
acted according to his own understanding of it, those that saw him die
without its having been given to him might have erred greatly; for they
were not to see the time of its fulfilment. And, as they had heard him
say that God would give it to him, they would have been confounded and
would have believed it to have been false.
3. Likewise to his grandson Jacob, when Joseph his son brought him to
Egypt because of the famine in Chanaan, and when he was on the road,
God appeared and said: Jacob, Jacob, noli timere, descende in Aegiptum,
quia in gentem magnam faciam te ibi. Ego descendam tecum illuc. . . .
Et inde adducam te revertentem. [347] Which signifies: Jacob, fear not;
go down into Egypt, and I will go down there with thee; and, when thou
goest forth thence again, I will bring thee out and guide thee. This
promise, as it would seem according to our own manner of understanding,
was not fulfilled, for, as we know, the good old man Jacob died in
Egypt and never left it alive. The word of God was to be fulfilled in
his children, whom He brought out thence after many years, being
Himself their guide upon the way. It is clear that anyone who had known
of this promise made by God to Jacob would have considered it certain
that Jacob, even as he had gone to Egypt alive, in his own person, by
the command and favour of God, would of a certainty leave it, alive and
in his own person, in the same form and manner as he went there, since
God had promised him a favourable return; and such a one would have
been deceived, and would have marvelled greatly, when he saw him die in
Egypt, and the promise, in the sense in which he understood it, remain
unfulfilled. And thus, while the words of God are in themselves most
true, it is possible to be greatly mistaken with regard to them.
4. In the Judges, again, we read that, when all the tribes of Israel
had come together to make war against the tribe of Benjamin, in order
to punish a certain evil to which that tribe had been consenting, they
were so certain of victory because God had appointed them a captain for
the war, that, when twenty-two thousand of their men were conquered and
slain, they marvelled very greatly; and, going into the presence of
God, they wept all that day, knowing not the cause of the fall, since
they had understood that the victory was to be theirs. And, when they
enquired of God if they should give battle again or no, He answered
that they should go and fight against them. This time they considered
victory to be theirs already, and went out with great boldness, and
were conquered again the second time, with the loss of eighteen
thousand of their men. Thereat they were greatly confused, and knew not
what to do, seeing that God had commanded them to fight and yet each
time they were vanquished, though they were superior to their enemies
in number and strength, for the men of Benjamin were no more than
twenty-five thousand and seven hundred and they were four hundred
thousand. And in this way they were mistaken in their manner of
understanding the words of God. His words were not deceptive, for He
had not told them that they would conquer, but that they should fight;
for by these defeats God wished to chastise a certain neglect and
presumption of theirs, and thus to humble them. But, when in the end He
answered that they would conquer, it was so, although they conquered
only after the greatest stratagem and toil. [348]
5. In this way, and in many other ways, souls are oftentimes deceived
with respect to locutions and revelations that come from God, because
they interpret them according to their apparent sense [349] and
literally; whereas, as has already been explained, the principal
intention of God in giving these things is to express and convey the
spirit that is contained in them, which is difficult to understand. And
the spirit is much more pregnant in meaning than the letter, and is
very extraordinary, and goes far beyond its limits. And thus, he that
clings to the letter, or to a locution or to the form or figure of a
vision, which can be apprehended, will not fail to go far astray, and
will forthwith fall into great confusion and error, because he has
guided himself by sense according to these visions, and not allowed the
spirit to work in detachment from sense. Littera enim occidit, spiritus
autem vivificat, [350] as Saint Paul says. That is: The letter killeth
and the spirit giveth life. Wherefore in this matter of sense the
letter must be set aside, and the soul must remain in darkness, in
faith, which is the spirit, and this cannot be comprehended by sense.
6. For which cause, many of the children of Israel, because they took
the sayings and prophecies of the prophets according to the strict
letter, and these were not fulfilled as they expected, came to make
little account of them and believed them not; so much so, that there
grew up a common saying among them — almost a proverb, indeed — which
turned prophets into ridicule. Of this Isaias complains, speaking and
exclaiming in the manner following: Quem docebit Dominus scientiam? et
quem intelligere faciet auditum? ablactatos a lacte, avulsos ab
uberibus. Quia manda remanda, manda remanda, expecta reexpecta, expecta
reexpecta, modicum ibi, modicum ibi. In loquela enim labii, et lingua
altera loquetur ad populum istum. [351] This signifies: To whom shall
God teach knowledge? And whom shall He make to understand His word and
prophecy? Only them that are already weaned from the milk and drawn
away from the breasts. For all say (that is, concerning the
prophecies): Promise and promise again; wait and wait again; wait and
wait again; [352] a little there, a little there; for in the words of
His lips and in another tongue will He speak to this people. Here
Isaias shows quite clearly that these people were turning prophecies
into ridicule, and that it was in mockery that they repeated this
proverb: `Wait and then wait again.' They meant that the prophecies
were never fulfilled for them, for they were wedded to the letter,
which is the milk of infants, and to their own sense, which is the
breasts, both of which contradict the greatness of spiritual knowledge.
Wherefore he says: To whom shall He teach the wisdom of His prophecies?
And whom shall He make to understand His doctrine, save them that are
already weaned from the milk of the letter and from the breasts of
their own senses? For this reason these people understand it not, save
according to this milk of the husk and letter, and these breasts of
their own sense, since they say: Promise and promise again; wait and
wait again, etc. For it is in the doctrine of the mouth of God, and not
in their own doctrine, and it is in another tongue than their own, that
God shall speak to them.
7. And thus, in interpreting prophecy, we have not to consider our own
sense and language, knowing that the language of God is very different
from ours, and that it is spiritual language, very far removed from our
understanding and exceedingly difficult. So much so is it that even
Jeremias, though a prophet of God, when he sees that the significance
of the words of God is so different from the sense commonly attributed
to them by men, is himself deceived by them and defends the people,
saying: Heu, heu, heu, Domine Deus, ergone decipisti populum istum et
Jerusalem, dicens: Pax erit vobis; et ecce pervenit gladius usque ad
animam? [353] Which signifies: Ah, ah, ah, Lord God, hast Thou
perchance deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, `Peace will come
upon you,' and seest Thou here that the sword reacheth unto their soul?
For the peace that God promised them was that which was to be made
between God and man by means of the Messiah Whom He was to send them,
whereas they understood it of temporal peace; and therefore, when they
suffered wars and trials, they thought that God was deceiving them,
because there befell them the contrary of that which they expected. And
thus they said, as Jeremias says likewise: Exspectavimus pacem, et non
erat bonum. [354] That is: We have looked for peace and there is no
boon of peace. And thus it was impossible for them not to be deceived,
since they took the prophecy merely in its literal sense. For who would
fail to fall into confusion and to go astray if he confined himself to
a literal interpretation of that prophecy which David spake concerning
Christ, in the seventy-first Psalm, and of all that he says therein,
where he says: Et dominabitur a mari usque ad mare; et a flumine usque
ad terminos orbis terrarum. [355] That is: He shall have dominion from
one sea even to the other sea, and from the river even unto the ends of
the earth. And likewise in that which he says in the same place:
Liberabit pauperem a potente, et pauperem, cui non erat adjutor. [356]
Which signifies: He shall deliver the poor man from the power of the
mighty, and the poor man that had no helper. But later it became known
that Christ was born [357] in a low state and lived in poverty and died
in misery; not only had He no dominion over the earth, in a temporal
sense, while He lived, but He was subject to lowly people, until He
died under the power of Pontius Pilate. And not only did He not deliver
poor men — namely, His disciples — from the hands of the mighty, in a
temporal sense, but He allowed them to be slain and persecuted for His
name's sake.
8. The fact is that these prophecies concerning Christ had to be
understood spiritually, in which sense they were entirely true. For
Christ was not only Lord of earth alone, but likewise of Heaven, since
He was God; and the poor who were to follow Him He was not only to
redeem and free from the power of the devil, that mighty one against
whom they had no helper, but also to make heirs of the Kingdom of
Heaven. And thus God was speaking, in the most important sense, of
Christ, and of the reward of His followers, [358] which was an eternal
kingdom and eternal liberty; and they understood this, after their own
manner, in a secondary sense, of which God takes small account, namely
that of temporal dominion and temporal liberty, which in God's eyes is
neither kingdom nor liberty at all. Wherefore, being blinded by the
insufficiency of the letter, and not understanding its spirit and
truth, they took the life of their God and Lord, even as Saint Paul
said in these words: Qui enim habitabant Jerusalem, et principes ejus,
hunc ignorantes et voces prophetarum, quae per omne Sabbatum leguntur,
judicantes impleverunt. [359] Which signifies: They that dwelt in
Jerusalem, and her rulers, not knowing Who He was, nor understanding
the sayings of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath day, have
fulfilled them by judging Him.
9. And to such a point did they carry this inability to understand the
sayings of God as it behoved them, that even His own disciples, who had
gone about with Him, were deceived, as were those two who, after His
death, were going to the village of Emmaus, sad and disconsolate,
saying: Nos autem sperabamus quod ipse esset redempturus Israel. [360]
We hoped that it was He that should have redeemed Israel. They, too,
understood that this dominion and redemption were to be temporal; but
Christ our Redeemer, appearing to them, reproved them as foolish and
heavy and gross of heart as to their belief in the things that the
prophets had spoken. [361] And, even when He was going to Heaven, some
of them were still in that state of grossness of heart, and asked Him,
saying: Domine, si in tempore hoc restitues Regnum Israel. [362] That
is: Lord, tell us if Thou wilt restore at this time the kingdom of
Israel. The Holy Spirit causes many things to be said which bear
another sense than that which men understand; as can be seen in that
which he caused to be said by Caiphas concerning Christ: that is was
meet that one man should die lest all the people should perish. [363]
This he said not of his own accord; and he said it and understood it in
one sense, and the Holy Spirit in another.
10. From this it is clear that, although sayings and revelations may be
of God, we cannot always be sure of their meaning; for we can very
easily be greatly deceived by them because of our manner of
understanding them. For they are all an abyss and a depth of the
spirit, and to try to limit them to what we can understand concerning
them, and to what our sense can apprehend, is nothing but to attempt to
grasp the air, and to grasp some particle in it that the hand touches:
the air disappears and nothing remains.
11. The spiritual teacher must therefore strive that the spirituality
of his disciple be not cramped by attempts to interpret all
supernatural apprehensions, which are no more than spiritual particles,
lest he come to retain naught but these, and have no spirituality at
all. But let the teacher wean his disciple from all visions and
locutions, and impress upon him the necessity of dwelling in the
liberty and darkness of faith, wherein are received spiritual liberty
and abundance, and consequently the wisdom and understanding necessary
to interpret sayings of God. For it is impossible for a man, if he be
not spiritual, to judge of the things of God or understand them in a
reasonable way, and he is not spiritual when he judges them according
to sense; and thus, although they come to him beneath the disguise of
sense, he understands them not. This Saint Paul well expresses in these
words: Animalis autem homo non percipit ea quoe sunt spiritus Dei:
stultitia enim est illi, et non potest intelligere: quia de
spiritualibus examinatur. Spiritualis autem judicat omnia. [364] Which
signifies: The animal man perceives not the things which are of the
Spirit of God, for unto him they are foolishness and he cannot
understand them because they are spiritual; but he that is spiritual
judges all things. By the animal man is here meant one that uses sense
alone; by the spiritual man, one that is not bound or guided by sense.
Wherefore it is temerity to presume to have intercourse with God by way
of a supernatural apprehension effected by sense, or to allow anyone
else to do so.
12. And that this may be the better understood let us here set down a
few examples. Let us suppose that a holy man is greatly afflicted
because his enemies persecute him, and that God answers him, saying: I
will deliver thee from all thine enemies. This prophecy may be very
true, yet, notwithstanding, his enemies may succeed in prevailing, and
he may die at their hands. And so if a man should understand this after
a temporal manner he would be deceived; for God might be speaking of
the true and principal liberty and victory, which is salvation, whereby
the soul is delivered, free and made victorious [365] over all its
enemies, and much more truly so and in a higher sense than if it were
delivered from them here below. And thus, this prophecy was much more
true and comprehensive than the man could understand if he interpreted
it only with respect to this life; for, when God speaks, His words are
always to be taken in the sense which is most important and profitable,
whereas man, according to his own way and purpose, may understand the
less important sense, and thus may be deceived. This we see in that
prophecy which David makes concerning Christ in the second Psalm
saying: Reges eos in virga ferrea, et tamquam vas figuli confringes
eos. [366] That is: Thou shalt rule all the people with a rod of iron
and thou shalt dash them in pieces like a vessel of clay. Herein God
speaks of the principal and perfect dominion, which is eternal
dominion; and it was in this sense that it was fulfilled, and not in
the less important sense, which was temporal, and which was not
fulfilled in Christ during any part of His temporal life.
13. Let us take another example. A soul has great desires to be a
martyr. It may happen that God answers him, saying: Thou shalt be a
martyr. This will give him inwardly great comfort and confidence that
he is to be martyred; yet it may come to pass that he dies not the
death of a martyr, and notwithstanding this the promise may be true.
Why, then, is it not fulfilled literally? Because it will be fulfilled,
and is capable of being fulfilled, according to the most important and
essential sense of that saying — namely, in that God will have given
that soul the love and the reward which belong essentially to a martyr;
and thus in truth He gives to the soul that which it formally desired
and that which He promised it. For the formal desire of the soul was,
not that particular manner of death, but to do God a martyr's service,
and to show its love for Him as a martyr does. For that manner of death
is of no worth in itself without this love, the which love and the
showing forth thereof and the reward belonging to the martyr may be
given to it more perfectly by other means. So that, though it may not
die like a martyr, the soul is well satisfied that it has been given
that which it sired. For, when they are born of living love, such
desires, and others like them, although they be not fulfilled in the
way wherein they are described and understood, are fulfilled in another
and a better way, and in a way which honours God more greatly than that
which they might have asked. Wherefore David says: Desiderium pauperum
exaudivit Dominus. [367] That is: The Lord has granted the poor their
desire. And in the Proverbs Divine Wisdom says: Desiderium suum justis
dabitur. [368] `The just shall be given their desire.' Hence, then,
since we see that many holy men have desired many particular things for
God's sake, and that in this life their desires have not been granted
them, it is a matter of faith that, as their desires were just and
true, they have been fulfilled for them perfectly in the next life.
Since this is truth, it would also be truth for God to promise it to
them in this life, saying to them: Your desire shall be fulfilled; and
for it not to be fulfilled in the way which they expected.
14. In this and other ways, the words and visions of God may be true
and sure and yet we may be deceived by them, through being unable to
interpret them in a high and important sense, which is the sense and
purpose wherein God intends them. And thus the best and surest course
is to train souls in prudence so that they flee from these supernatural
things, by accustoming them, as we have said, to purity of spirit in
dark faith, which is the means of union.
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[346] Genesis xv, 7.
[347] Genesis xlvi, 3-4.
[348] Judges xx, 12 ff.
[349] [Lit., `according to the rind.' Cf. bk. II ch. viii, above.]
[350] 2 Corinthians iii, 6.
[351] Isaias xxviii, 9-11.
[352] [For `wait,' we may also read `hope,' the Spanish word (esperar)
here used expressing both these ideas.]
[353] Jeremias iv, 10.
[354] Jeremias viii, 15.
[355] Psalm lxxi, 8 [A.V., lxxii, 8].
[356] Psalm lxxi, 12 [A.V., lxxii, 12.]
[357] [Lit., 'seeing Him later to be born.']
[358] [Lit., `of Christ and of His followers.' The addition is
necessary to the sense.]
[359] Acts xiii, 27.
[360] St. Luke xxiv, 21.
[361] St. Luke xxiv, 25.
[362] Acts i, 6.
[363] St. John xi, 50.
[364] 1 Corinthians ii, 14.
[365] [Lit., `free and victorious.']
[366] Psalm ii, 9.
[367] Psalm ix, 17 [A.V., x, 18].
[368] Proverbs x, 24.
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CHAPTER XX
Wherein is proved by passages from Scripture how the sayings and words
of God, though always true, do not always rest upon stable causes.
We have now to prove the second reason why visions and words which come
from God, although in themselves they are always true, are not always
stable in their relation to ourselves. This is because of their causes,
whereon they are founded; for God often makes statements founded upon
creatures and their effects, which are changeable and liable to fail,
for which reason the statements which are founded upon them are liable
also to be changeable and to fail; for, when one thing depends on
another, if one fails, the other fails likewise. It is as though God
should say: In a year's time I shall send upon this kingdom such or
such a plague; and the cause and foundation for this warning is a
certain offence which has been committed against God in that kingdom.
If the offence should cease or change, the punishment might cease; yet
the threat was true because it was founded upon the fault committed at
the time, and, if this had continued, it would have been carried out.
2. This, we see, happened in the city of Ninive, where God said: Adhuc
quadraginta dies, et Ninive subvertetur. [369] Which signifies: Yet
forty days and Ninive shall be destroyed. This was not fulfilled,
because the cause of the threat ceased — namely, the sins of the city,
for which it did penace — but, if this had not been so, the prophecy
would have been carried into effect. We read likewise in the Third Book
of the Kings that, when King Achab had committed a very great sin, God
sent to prophesy [370] a great punishment — our father Elias being the
messenger — which should come upon his person, upon his house and upon
his kingdom. [371] And, because Achab rent his garments with grief and
clothed himself in haircloth and fasted, and slept in sackcloth and
went about in a humble and contrite manner, God sent again, by the same
prophet, to declare to him these words: Quia igitur humiliatus est mei
causa, non inducam malum in diebus ejus, sed in diebus filii sui. [372]
Which signifies: Inasmuch as Achab has humbled himself for love of Me,
I will not send the evil whereof I spake in his days, but in the days
of his son. Here we see that, because Achab changed his spirit and his
former affection, God likewise changed His sentence.
3. From this we may deduce, as regards the matter under discussion,
that, although God may have revealed or affirmed something to a soul,
whether good or evil, and whether relating to that soul itself or to
others, this may, to a greater or a lesser extent, be changed or
altered or entirely withdrawn, according to the change or variation in
the affection of this soul, or the cause whereon God based His
judgment, and thus it would not be fulfilled in the way expected, and
oftentimes none would have known why, save only God. For God is wont to
declare and teach and promise many things, not that they may be
understood or possessed at the time, but that they may be understood at
a later time, when it is fitting that a soul may have light concerning
them, or when their effect is attained. This, as we see, He did with
His disciples, to whom He spake many parables, and pronounced many
judgments, the wisdom whereof they understood not until the time when
they had to preach it, which was when the Holy Spirit came upon them,
of Whom Christ had said to them that He would explain to them all the
things that He had spoken to them in His life. And, when Saint John
speaks of that entry of Christ into Jerusalem, he says: Haec non
cognoverunt discipuli ejus primum: sed quando glorificatus est Jesus,
tunc recordati sunt quia haec erant scripta de eo. [373] And thus there
may pass through the soul many detailed messages from God which neither
the soul nor its director will understand until the proper time.
4. Likewise, in the First Book of the Kings, we read that, when God was
wroth against Heli, a priest of Israel, for his sins in not chastising
his sons, he sent to him by Samuel to say, among other words, these
which follow: Loquens locutus sum, ut domus tua, et domus patris tui,
ministraret in conspectu meo, usque in sempiternum. Verumtamen absit
hoc a me. And this is as though He had said: [374] In very truth I said
aforetime that thy house and the house of thy father should serve Me
continually in the priesthood in my presence for ever, but this purpose
is far from Me; I will not do this thing. For this office of the
priesthood was founded for giving honour and glory to God, and to this
end God has promised to give it to the father of Heli for ever if he
failed not. But, when Heli failed in zeal for the honour of God (for,
as God Himself complained when He sent him the message, he honoured his
sons more than God, overlooking their sins so as not to offend them),
the promise also failed which would have held good for ever if the good
service and zeal of Heli had lasted for ever. And thus there is no
reason to think that, because sayings and revelations come from God,
they must invariably come to pass in their apparent sense, especially
when they are bound up with human causes which may vary, change, or
alter.
5. And when they are dependent upon these causes God Himself knows,
though He does not always declare it, but pronounces the saying, or
makes the revelation, and sometimes says nothing of the condition, as
when He definitely told the Ninivites that they would be destroyed
after forty days. [375] At other times, he lays down the condition, as
He did to Roboam, saying to him: `If thou wilt keep My commandments, as
my servant David, I will be with thee even as I was with him, and will
set thee up a house as I did to My servant David'. [376] But, whether
He declares it or no, the soul must not rely upon its own
understanding; for it is impossible to understand the hidden truths of
God which are in His sayings, and the multitude of their meanings. He
is above the heavens, and speaks according to the way of eternity;
[377] we blind souls are upon the earth and understand only the ways of
flesh and time. It was for that reason, I believe, that the Wise Man
said: `God is in Heaven, and thou are upon earth; wherefore be not thou
lengthy or hasty in speaking.' [378]
6. You will perhaps ask me: Why, if we are not to understand these
things, or to play any part in them, does God communicate them to us? I
have already said that everything will be understood in its own time by
the command of Him Who spake it, and he whom God wills shall understand
it, and it will be seen that it was fitting; for God does naught save
with due cause and in truth. Let it be realized, therefore, that there
is no complete understanding of the meaning of the sayings and things
of God, and that this meaning cannot be decided by what it seems to be,
without great error, and, in the end, grievous confusion. This was very
well known to the prophets, into whose hands was given the word of God,
and who found it a sore trial to prophesy concerning the people; for,
as we have said, many of the people saw that things came not to pass
literally, as they were told them, for which cause they laughed at the
prophets and mocked them greatly; so much that Jeremias went as far as
to say: `They mock me all the day long, they scorn and despise me every
one, for I have long been crying against evil and promising them
destruction; and the word of the Lord has been made a reproach and a
derision to me continually. And I said, I must not remember Him,
neither speak any more in His name.' [379] Herein, although the holy
prophet was speaking with resignation and in the form of a weak man who
cannot endure the ways and workings of God, he clearly indicates the
difference between the way wherein the Divine sayings are fulfilled and
the ordinary meaning which they appear to have; for the Divine prophets
were treated as mockers, and suffered so much from their prophecy that
Jeremias himself said elsewhere: Formido et laqueus facta est nobis
vaticinatio et contritio. [380] Which signifies: Prophecy has become to
us fear and snares and contradiction of spirit.
7. And the reason why Jonas fled when God sent him to preach the
destruction of Ninive was this, namely, that he knew the different
meanings of the sayings of God with respect to the understanding of men
and with respect to the causes of the sayings. And thus, lest they
should mock him when they saw that his prophecy was not fulfilled, he
went away and lied in order not to prophesy; and thus he remained
waiting all the forty days outside the city, to see if his prophecy was
fulfilled; and, when it was not fulfilled, he was greatly afflicted, so
much so that he said to God: Obsecro, Domine, numquid non hoc est
verbum meum, cum adhuc essem in terra mea? propter hoc praeoccupavi, ut
fugerem in Tharsis. [381] That is: I pray Thee, O Lord, is not this
what I said when I was yet in my own country? Therefore was I vexed,
and fled away to Tharsis. And the saint was wroth and besought God to
take away his life.
8. Why, then, must we marvel that God should speak and reveal certain
things to souls which come not to pass in the sense wherein they
understand them? For, if God should affirm or represent such or such a
thing to the soul, whether good or evil, with respect to itself or to
another, and if that thing be founded upon a certain affection or
service or offence of that soul, or of another, at that time, with
respect to God, so that, if the soul persevere therein, it will be
fulfilled; yet even then its fulfillment is not certain, since it is
not certain that the soul will persevere. Wherefore we must rely, not
upon understanding, but upon faith.
__________________________________________________________________
[369] Jonas iii, 4.
[370] [Lit., `to promise.']
[371] 3 Kings [A.V., 1 Kings] xxi, 21.
[372] 3 Kings [A.V., 1 Kings] xxi, 27-9.
[373] St. John xii, 16.
[374] 1 Kings [A.V., 1 Samuel] ii, 30.
[375] Jonas iii, 4.
[376] 3 Kings [A.V., 1 Kings] xi, 38. [Actually it was to Jeroboam that
this was said.]
[377] [Lit., `on the road of eternity.']
[378] Ecclestiastes v, 1 [A.V., v, 2].
[379] Jeremias xx, 7-9.
[380] Lamentations iii, 47.
[381] Jonas iv, 2.
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CHAPTER XXI
Wherein is explained how at times, although God answers the prayers
that are addressed to Him, He is not pleased that we should use such
methods. It is also shown how, although He condescend to us and answer
us, He is oftentimes wroth.
Certain spiritual men, as we have said, assure themselves that it is a
good thing to display curiosity, as they sometimes do, in striving to
know certain things by supernatural methods, thinking that, because God
occasionally answers their importunity, this is a good method and
pleasing to Him. Yet the truth is that, although He may answer them,
the method is not good, neither is it pleasing to God, but rather it is
displeasing to Him; and not only so, but oftentimes He is greatly
offended and wroth. The reason for this is that it is lawful for no
creature to pass beyond the limits that God has ordained for its
governance after the order of nature. He has laid down rational and
natural limits for man's governance; wherefore to desire to pass beyond
them is not lawful, and to desire to seek out and attain to anything by
supernatural means is to go beyond these natural limits. It is
therefore an unlawful thing, and it is therefore not pleasing to God,
for He is offended by all that is unlawful. King Achaz was well aware
of this, since, although Isaias told him from God to ask for a sign, he
would not do so, saying: Non petam, et non tentabo Dominum. [382] That
is: I will not ask such a thing, neither will I tempt God. For it is
tempting God to seek to commune with Him by extraordinary ways, such as
those that are supernatural.
2. But why, you will say, if it be a fact that God is displeased, does
He sometimes answer? I reply that it is sometimes the devil who
answers. And, if it is God Who answers, I reply that He does so because
of the weakness of the soul that desires to travel along that road,
lest it should be disconsolate and go backward, or lest it should think
that God is wroth with it and should be overmuch afflicted; or for
other reasons known to God, founded upon the weakness of that soul,
whereby God sees that it is well that He should answer it and deigns to
do so in that way. In a like manner, too, does He treat many weak and
tender souls, granting them favours and sweetness in sensible converse
with Himself, as has been said above; this is not because He desires or
is pleased that they should commune with Him after that manner or by
these methods; it is that He gives to each one, as we have said, after
the manner best suited to him. For God is like a spring, whence
everyone draws water according to the vessel which he carries.
Sometimes a soul is allowed to draw it by these extraordinary channels;
but it follows not from this that it is lawful to draw water by them,
but only that God Himself can permit this, when, how and to whom He
wills, and for what reason He wills, without the party concerned having
any right in the matter. And thus, as we say, He sometimes deigns to
satisfy the desire and the prayer of certain souls, whom, since they
are good and sincere, He wills not to fail to succour, lest He should
make them sad, but it is not because He is pleased with their methods
that He wills it. This will be the better understood by the following
comparison.
3. The father of a family has on his table many and different kinds of
food, some of which are better than others. A child is asking him for a
certain dish, not the best, but the first that meets its eye, and it
asks for this dish because it would rather eat of it than any other;
and as the father sees that, even if he gives it the better kind of
food, it will not take it, but will have that which it asks for, since
that alone pleases it, he gives it that, regretfully, lest it should
take no food at all and be miserable. In just this way, we observe, did
God treat the children of Israel when they asked Him for a king: He
gave them one, but unwillingly, because it was not good for them. And
thus He said to Samuel: Audi vocem populi in omnibus quae loquuntur
tibi: non enim te objecerunt, sed me. [383] Which signifies: Hearken
unto the voice of this people and grant them the king whom they ask of
thee, for they have not rejected thee but Me, that I should not reign
over them. In this same way God condescends to certain souls, and
grants them that which is not best for them, because they will not or
cannot walk by any other road. And thus certain souls attain to
tenderness and sweetness of spirit or sense; and God grants them this
because they are unable to partake of the stronger and more solid food
of the trials of the Cross of His Son, which He would prefer them to
take, rather than aught else.
4. I consider, however, that the desire to know things by supernatural
means is much worse than the desire for other spiritual favours
pertaining to the senses; for I cannot see how the soul that desires
them can fail to commit, at the least, venial sin, however good may be
its aims, and however far advanced it may be on the road to perfection;
and if anyone should bid the soul desire them, and consent to it, he
sins likewise. For there is no necessity for any of these things, since
the soul has its natural reason and the doctrine and law of the Gospel,
which are quite sufficient for its guidance, and there is no difficulty
or necessity that cannot be solved and remedied by these means, which
are very pleasing to God and of great profit to souls; and such great
use must we make of our reason and of Gospel doctrine that, if certain
things be told us supernaturally, whether at our desire or no, we must
receive only that which is in clear conformity with reason and Gospel
law. And then we must receive it, not because it is revelation, but
because it is reason, and not allow ourselves to be influenced by the
fact that it has been revealed. Indeed, it is well in such a case to
look at that reason and examine it very much more closely than if there
had been no revelation concerning it; inasmuch as the devil utters many
things that are true, and that will come to pass, and that are in
conformity with reason, in order that he may deceive.
5. Wherefore, in all our needs, trials and difficulties, there remains
to us no better and surer means than prayer and hope that God will
provide for us, by such means as He wills. This is the advice given to
us in the Scriptures, where we read that, when King Josaphat was
greatly afflicted and surrounded by enemies, the saintly King gave
himself to prayer, saying to God: Cum ignoremus quid facere debeamus,
hoc solum habemus residue, ut oculos nostros dirigamus ad re. [384]
Which is as though he had said: When means fail and reason is unable to
succour us in our necessities, it remains for us only to lift up our
eyes to Thee, that Thou mayest succour us as is most pleasing to Thee.
6. And further, although this has also been made clear, it will be well
to prove, from certain passages of Scripture, that, though God may
answer such requests, He is none the less sometimes wroth. In the First
Book of the Kings it is said that, when King Saul begged that the
prophet Samuel, who was now dead, might speak to him, the said prophet
appeared to him, and that God was wroth with all this, since Samuel at
once reproved Saul for having done such a thing, saying: Quare
inquietasti me, ut suscitarer? [385] That is: Why hast thou disquieted
me, in causing me to arise? We also know that, in spite of having
answered the children of Israel and given them the meat that they
besought of Him, God was nevertheless greatly incensed against them;
for He sent fire from Heaven upon them as a punishment, as we read in
the Pentateuch, and as David relates in these words: Adhuc escape eorum
erant in ore ipsorum, et ira Dei descendit super cos. [386] Which
signifies: Even as they had the morsels in their months, the wrath of
God came down upon them. And likewise we read in Numbers that God was
greatly wroth with Balaam the prophet, because he went to the
Madianites when Balac their king sent for him, although God had bidden
him go, because he desired to go and had begged it of God; and while he
was yet in the way there appeared to him an angel with a sword, who
desired to slay him, and said to him: Perversa est via tua, mihique
contraria. [387] `Thy way is perverse and contrary to Me.' For which
cause he desired to slay him.
7. After this manner and many others God deigns to satisfy the desires
of souls though He be wroth with them. Concerning this we have many
testimonies in Scripture, and, in addition, many illustrations, though
in a matter that is so clear these are unnecessary. I will merely say
that to desire to commune with God by such means is a most perilous
thing, more so than I can express, and that one who is affectioned to
such methods will not fail to err greatly and will often find himself
in confusion. Anyone who in the past has prized them will understand me
from his own experience. For over and above the difficulty that there
is in being sure that one is not going astray in respect of locutions
and visions which are of God, there are ordinarily many of these
locutions and visions which are of the devil; for in his converse with
the soul the devil habitually wears the same guise as God assumes in
His dealings with it, setting before it things that are very like to
those which God communicates to it, insinuating himself, like the wolf
in sheep's clothing, among the flock, with a success so nearly complete
that he can hardly be recognized. For, since he says many things that
are true, and in conformity with reason, and things that come to pass
as he describes them, [388] it is very easy for the soul to be
deceived, and to think that, since these things come to pass as he
says, and the future is correctly foretold, this can be the work of
none save God; for such souls know not that it is a very easy thing for
one that has clear natural light to be acquainted, as to their causes,
with things, or with many of them, which have been or shall be. And
since the devil has a very clear light of this kind, he can very easily
deduce effect from cause, although it may not always turn out as he
says, because all causes depend upon the will of God. Let us take an
example.
8. The devil knows that the constitution of the earth and the
atmosphere, and the laws ruling the sun, are disposed in such manner
and in such degree that, when a certain moment has arrived, it will
necessarily follow, according to the laws of nature laid down for these
elements, that they will infect people with pestilence, and he knows in
what places this will be more severe and in what places less so. Here
you have a knowledge of pestilence in respect of its causes. What a
wonderful thing it seems when the devil reveals this to a soul, saying:
`In a year or in six months from now there will be pestilence,' and it
happens as he says! And yet this is a prophecy of the devil. In the
same way he may have a knowledge of earthquakes, and, seeing that the
bowels of the earth are filling with air, will say: `At such a time
there will be an earthquake.' Yet this is only natural knowledge, for
the possession of which it suffices for the spirit to be free from the
passions of the soul, even as Boetius says in these words: Si vis claro
lumine cernere verum, gaudia pelle, timorem, spemque fugato, nec dolor
adsit. [389] That is: If thou desire to know truths with the clearness
of nature, cast from thee rejoicing and fear and hope and sorrow.
9. And likewise supernatural events and happenings may be known, in
their causes, in matters concerning Divine Providence, which deals most
justly and surely as is required by their good or evil causes as
regards the sons of men. For one may know by natural means that such or
such a person, or such or such a city, or some other place, is in such
or such necessity, or has reached such or such a point, so that God,
according to His providence and justice, must deal with such a person
or thing in the way required by its cause, and in the way that is
fitting for it, whether by means of punishment or of reward, as the
cause merits. And then one can say: `At such a time God will give you
this, or will do this, or that will come to pass, of a surety.' It was
this that holy Judith said to Holofernes, [390] when, in order to
persuade him that the children of Israel would without fail be
destroyed, she first related to him many of their sins and the evil
deeds that they did. And then she said: Et, quoniam haec faciunt,
certum est quod in perditionem dabuntur. Which signifies: Since they do
these things, it is certain that they will be destroyed. This is to
know the punishment in the cause, and it is as though she had said: It
is certain that such sins must be the cause of such punishments, at the
hand of God Who is most just. And as the Divine Wisdom says: Per quae
quis peccat, per haec et torquetur. [391] With respect to that and for
that wherein a man sins, therein is he punished.
10. The devil may have knowledge of this, not only naturally, but also
by the experience which he has of having seen God do similar things,
and he can foretell it and do so correctly. Again, holy Tobias was
aware of the punishment of the city of Ninive because of its cause, and
he thus admonished his son, saying: `Behold, son, in the hour when I
and thy mother die, go thou forth from this land, for it will not
remain.' Video enim quia iniquitas ejus finem dabit ei. [392] I see
clearly that its own iniquity will be the cause of its punishment,
which will be that it shall be ended and destroyed altogether. This
might have been known by the devil as well as by Tobias, not only
because of the iniquity of the city, but by experience, since they had
seen that for the sins of the world God destroyed it in the Flood, and
that the Sodomites, too, perished for their sins by fire; but Tobias
knew it also through the Divine Spirit.
11. And the devil may know that one Peter [393] cannot, in the course
of nature, live more than so many years, and he may foretell this; and
so with regard to many other things and in many ways that it is
impossible to recount fully — nor can one even begin to recount many
of them, since they are most intricate and subtle — he insinuates
falsehoods; from which a soul cannot free itself save by fleeing from
all revelations and visions and locutions that are supernatural.
Wherefore God is justly angered with those that receive them, for He
sees that it is temerity on their part to expose themselves to such
great peril and presumption and curiosity, and things that spring from
pride, and are the root and foundation of vainglory, and of disdain for
the things of God, and the beginning of many evils to which many have
come. Such persons have succeeded in angering God so greatly that He
has of set purpose allowed them to go astray and be deceived and to
blind their own spirits and to leave the ordered paths of life and give
rein to their vanities and fancies, according to the word of Isaias,
where he says: Dominus miscuit in medio ejus spiritum vertiginis. [394]
Which is as much to say: The Lord hath mingled in the midst thereof the
spirit of dissension and confusion. Which in our ordinary vernacular
signifies the spirit of misunderstanding. What Isaias is here very
plainly saying is to our purpose, for he is speaking of those who were
endeavouring by supernatural means to know things that were to come to
pass. And therefore he says that God mingled in their midst the spirit
of misunderstanding; not that God willed them, in fact, to have the
spirit of error, or gave it to them, but that they desired to meddle
with that to which by nature they could not attain. Angered by this,
God allowed them to act foolishly, giving them no light as to that
wherewith He desired not that they should concern themselves. And thus
the Prophet says that God mingled that spirit in them, privatively. And
in this sense God is the cause of such an evil — that is to say, He is
the privative cause, which consists in His withdrawal of His light and
favour, to such a point that they must needs fall into error.
12. And in this way God gives leave to the devil to blind and deceive
many, when their sins and audacities merit it; and this the devil can
do and does successfully, and they give him credence and believe him to
be a good spirit; to such a point that, although they may be quite
persuaded that he is not so, they cannot undeceive themselves, since,
by the permission of God, there has already been insinuated into them
the spirit of misunderstanding, even as we read was the case with the
prophets of King Achab, whom God permitted to be deceived by a lying
spirit, giving the devil leave to deceive them, and saying: Decipies,
et praevalebis; egredere, et fac ita. [395] Which signifies: Thou shalt
prevail with thy falsehood, and shalt deceive them; go forth and do so.
And so well was he able to work upon the prophets and the King, in
order to deceive them, that they would not believe the prophet Micheas,
who prophesied the truth to them, saying the exact contrary of that
which the others had prophesied, and this came to pass because God
permitted them to be blinded, since their affections were attached to
that which they desired to happen to them, and God answered them
according to their desires and wishes; and this was a most certain
preparation and means for their being blinded and deceived, which God
allowed of set purpose.
13. Thus, too, did Ezechiel prophesy in the name of God. Speaking
against those who began to desire to have knowledge direct from God,
from motives of curiosity, according to the vanity of their spirit, he
says: When such a man comes to the prophet to enquire of Me through
him, I, the Lord, will answer him by Myself, and I will set my face in
anger against that man; and, as to the prophet, when he has gone astray
in that which was asked of him, Ego Dominus decepi prophetam illum.
[396] That is: I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet. This is to be
taken to mean, by not succouring him with His favour so that he might
not be deceived; and this is His meaning when He says: I the Lord will
answer him by Myself in anger [397] — that is, God will withdraw His
grace and favour from that man. Hence necessarily follows deception by
reason of his abandonment by God. And then comes the devil and makes
answer according to the pleasure and desire of that man, who, being
pleased thereat, since the answers and communications are according to
his will, allows himself to be deceived greatly.
14. It may appear that we have to some extent strayed from the purpose
that we set down in the title of this chapter, which was to prove that,
although God answers, He sometimes complains. But, if it be carefully
considered, all that has been said goes to prove or intention; for it
all shows that God desires not that we should wish for such visions,
since He makes it possible for us to be deceived by them in so many
ways.
__________________________________________________________________
[382] Isaias vii, 12. [The Spanish has `Achab' for `Achaz.']
[383] 1 Kings [A.V., 1 Samuel] viii, 7.
[384] 2 Paralipomenon [A.V., 2 Chronicles] xx, 12.
[385] 1 Kings [A.V., 1 Samuel] xxviii, 15.
[386] Psalm lxxvii, 30-1 [A.V., lxxviii, 30-1].
[387] Numbers xxii, 32.
[388] [Lit., `that come out true.']
[389] The exact reading in Boetius is: `Tu quoque si vis lumine claro
cernere vernum — Tramite recto carpere callem — Gaudia pelle — Pelle
timorem — Spemque fugato — Nec dolor adsit' (Migne, Vol. LXXV, p.
122).
[390] Judith xi, 12.
[391] Wisdom xi, 17 [A.V., xi, 16].
[392] Tobias xiv, 13.
[393] [i.e., any individual.]
[394] Isaias xix, 14.
[395] 3 Kings [A.V., 1 Kings] xxii, 22.
[396] Ezechiel xiv, 7-9.
[397] [Ezechiel xiv, 7.]
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CHAPTER XXII
Wherein is solved a difficulty — namely, why it is not lawful, under
the law of grace, to ask anything of God by supernatural means, as it
was under the old law. This solution is proved by a passage from Saint
Paul.
Difficulties keep coming to our mind, and thus we cannot progress with
the speed that we should desire. For as they occur to us, we are
obliged of necessity to clear them up, so that the truth of this
teaching may ever be plain and carry its full force. But there is
always this advantage in these difficulties, that, although they
somewhat impede our progress, they serve nevertheless to make our
intention the clearer and more explicit, [398] as will be the case with
the present one.
2. In the previous chapter, we said that it is not the will of God that
souls should desire to receive anything distinctly, by supernatural
means, through visions, locutions, etc. Further, we saw in the same
chapter, and deduced from the testimonies which were there brought
forward from Scripture, that such communion with God was employed in
the Old Law and was lawful; and that not only was it lawful, but God
commanded it. And when they used not this opportunity, God reproved
them, as is to be seen in Isaias, where God reproves the children of
Israel because they desired to go down to Egypt without first enquiring
of Him, saying: Et os meum non interrogastis. [399] That is: Ye asked
not first at My own mouth what was fitting. And likewise we read in
Josue that, when the children of Israel themselves are deceived by the
Gabaonites, the Holy Spirit reproves them for this fault, saying:
Susceperunt ergo de cibariis eorum, et os Domini non interrogaverunt.
[400] Which signifies: They took of their victuals and they enquired
not at the mouth of God. Furthermore, we see in the Divine Scripture
that Moses always enquired of God, as did King David and all the kings
of Israel with regard to their wars and necessities, and the priests
and prophets of old, and God answered and spake with them and was not
wroth, and it was well done; and if they did it not it would be ill
done; and this is the truth. Why, then, in the new law — the law of
grace — may it not now be as it was aforetime?
3. To this it must be replied that the principal reason why in the law
of Scripture the enquiries that were made of God were lawful, and why
it was fitting that prophets and priests should seek visions and
revelations of God, was because at that time faith had no firm
foundation, neither was the law of the Gospel established; and thus it
was needful that men should enquire of God and that He should speak,
whether by words or by visions and revelations or whether by figures
and similitudes or by many other ways of expressing His meaning. For
all that He answered and spake and revealed belonged to the mysteries
of our faith and things touching it or leading to it. And, since the
things of faith are not of man, but come from the mouth of God Himself,
God Himself reproved them because they enquired not at His mouth in
their affairs, so that He might answer, and might direct their affairs
and happenings toward the faith, of which at that time they had no
knowledge, because it was not yet founded. But now that the faith is
founded in Christ, and in this era of grace, the law of the Gospel has
been made manifest, there is no reason to enquire of Him in that
manner, nor for Him to speak or to answer as He did then. For, in
giving us, as He did, His Son, which is His Word — and He has no other
— He spake to us all together, once and for all, in this single Word,
and He has no occasion to speak further.
4. And this is the sense of that passage with which Saint Paul begins,
when he tries to persuade the Hebrews that they should abandon those
first manners and ways of converse with God which are in the law of
Moses, and should set their eyes on Christ alone, saying: Multifariam
multisque modis olim Deus loquens patribus in Prophetis: novissime
autem diebus istis Iocutus est nobis in Filio. [401] And this is as
though he had said: That which God spake of old in the prophets to our
fathers, in sundry ways and divers manners, He has now, at last, in
these days, spoken to us once and for all in the Son. Herein the
Apostle declares that God has become, as it were, dumb, and has no more
to say, since that which He spake aforetime, in part to the prophets,
He has now spoken altogether in Him, giving us the All, which is His
Son.
5. Wherefore he that would now enquire of God, or seek any vision or
revelation, would not only be acting foolishly, but would be committing
an offence against God, by not setting his eyes altogether upon Christ,
and seeking no new thing or aught beside. And God might answer him
after this manner, saying: If I have spoken all things to thee in My
Word, Which is My Son, and I have no other word, what answer can I now
make to thee, or what can I reveal to thee which is greater than this?
Set thine eyes on Him alone, for in Him I have spoken and revealed to
thee all things, and in Him thou shalt find yet more than that which
thou askest and desirest. For thou askest locutions and revelations,
which are the part; but if thou set thine eyes upon Him, thou shalt
find the whole; for He is My complete locution and answer, and He is
all My vision and all My revelation; so that I have spoken to thee,
answered thee, declared to thee and revealed to thee, in giving Him to
thee as thy brother, companion and master, as ransom and prize. For
since that day when I descended upon Him with My Spirit on Mount Tabor,
saying: Hic est filius meus dilectus, in quo mihi bene complacui, ipsum
audite [402] (which is to say: This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am
well pleased; hear ye Him), I have left off all these manners of
teaching and answering, and I have entrusted this to Him. Hear Him; for
I have no more faith to reveal, neither have I any more things to
declare. For, if I spake aforetime, it was to promise Christ; and, if
they enquired of Me, their enquiries were directed to petitions for
Christ and expectancy concerning Him, in Whom they should find every
good thing (as is now set forth in all the teaching of the Evangelists
and the Apostles); but now, any who would enquire of Me after that
manner, and desire Me to speak to him or reveal aught to him, would in
a sense be asking Me for Christ again, and asking Me for more faith,
and be lacking in faith, which has already been given in Christ; and
therefore he would be committing a great offence against My beloved
Son, for not only would he be lacking in faith, but he would be
obliging Him again first of all to become incarnate and pass through
life and death. Thou shalt find naught to ask Me, or to desire of Me,
whether revelations or visions; consider this well, for thou shalt find
that all has been done for thee and all has been given to thee — yea,
and much more also — in Him.
6. If thou desirest Me to answer thee with any word of consolation,
consider My Son, Who is subject to Me, and bound by love of Me, and
afflicted, and thou shalt see how fully He answers thee. If thou
desirest Me to expound to thee secret things, or happenings, set thine
eyes on Him alone, and thou shalt find the most secret mysteries, and
the wisdom and wondrous things of God, which are hidden in Him, even as
My Apostle says: In quo sunt omnes thesauri sapientiae et scientiae Dei
absconditi. [403] That is: In this Son of God are hidden all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge of God. These treasures of wisdom
shall be very much more sublime and delectable and profitable for thee
than the things that thou desiredst to know. Herein the same Apostle
gloried, saying: That he had not declared to them that he knew
anything, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. [404] And if thou
shouldst still desire other Divine or bodily revelations and visions,
look also at Him made man, and thou shalt find therein more than thou
thinkest, for the Apostle says likewise: In ipso habitat omnis
plenitudo Divinitatis corporaliter. [405] Which signifies: In Christ
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
7. It is not fitting, then, to enquire of God by supernatural means,
nor is it necessary that He should answer; since all the faith has been
given us in Christ, and there is therefore no more of it to be
revealed, nor will there ever be. And he that now desires to receive
anything in a supernatural manner, as we have said, is, as it were,
finding fault with God for not having given us a complete sufficiency
in His Son. For, although such a person may be assuming the faith, and
believing it, nevertheless he is showing a curiosity which belongs to
faithlessness. We must not expect, then, to receive instruction, or
aught else, in a supernatural manner. For, at the moment when Christ
gave up the ghost upon the Cross, saying, Consummatum est, [406] which
signifies, `It is finished,' an end was made, not only of all these
forms, but also of all those other ceremonies and rites of the Old Law.
And so we must now be guided in all things by the law of Christ made
man, and by that of His Church, and of His ministers, in a human and a
visible manner, and by these means we must remedy our spiritual
weaknesses and ignorances, since in these means we shall find abundant
medicine for them all. If we leave this path, we are guilty not only of
curiosity, but of great audacity: nothing is to be believed in a
supernatural way, save only that which is the teaching of Christ made
man, as I say, and of His ministers, who are men. So much so that Saint
Paul says these words: Quod si Angelus de coelo evengelizaverit,
praterquam quod evangelizavimus vobis, anathema sit. [407] That is to
say: If any angel from Heaven preach any other gospel unto you than
that which we men preach unto you, let him be accursed and
excommunicate.
8. Wherefore, since it is true that we must ever be guided by that
which Christ taught us, and that all things else are as nothing, and
are not to be believed unless they are in conformity with it, he who
still desires to commune with God after the manner of the Old Law acts
vainly. Furthermore, it was not lawful at that time for everyone to
enquire of God, neither did God answer all men, but only the priests
and prophets, from whose mouths it was that the people had to learn law
and doctrine; and thus, if a man desire to know anything of God, he
enquired of Him through the prophet or the priest and not of God
Himself. And, if David enquired of God at certain times upon his own
account, he did this because he was a prophet, and yet, even so, he did
it not without the priestly vestment as it is clear was the case in the
First Book of the Kings, where he said to Abimelech the priest: Applica
ad me Ephod [408] — which ephod was one of the priestly vestments,
having which he then spake with God. But at other times he spake with
God through the prophet Nathan and other prophets. And by the mouths of
these prophets and of the priests men were to believe that that which
was said to them came from God; they were not to believe it because of
their own opinions.
9. And thus, men were not authorized or empowered at that time to give
entire credence to what was said by God, unless it were approved by the
mouths of priests and prophets. For God is so desirous that the
government and direction of every man should be undertaken by another
man like himself, and that every man should be ruled and governed by
natural reason, that He earnestly desires us not to give entire
credence to the things that He communicates to us supernaturally, nor
to consider them as being securely and completely confirmed until they
pass through this human aqueduct of the mouth of man. And thus,
whenever He says or reveals something to a soul, He gives this same
soul to whom He says it a kind of inclination to tell it to the person
to whom it is fitting that it should be told. Until this has been done,
it is not wont to give entire satisfaction, because the man has not
taken it from another man like himself. We see in the Book of the
Judges that the same thing happened to the captain Gedeon, to whom God
had said many times that he should conquer the Madianites, yet he was
fearful and full of doubts (for God had allowed him to retain that
weakness) until he heard from the mouth of men what God had said to
him. And it came to pass that, when God saw he was weak, He said to
him: `Rise up and go down to the camp.' Et cum audieris quid loquantur,
tunc confortabuntur manus tuae, et securior ad hostium castra
descendes. [409] That is: When thou shalt hear what men are saying
there, then shalt thou receive strength in that which I have said to
thee, and thou shalt go down with greater security to the hosts of the
enemy. And so it came to pass that, having heard a dream related by one
of the Madianites to another, wherein the Madianite had dreamed that
Gedeon should conquer them, he was greatly strengthened, and began to
prepare for the battle with great joy. From this it can be seen that
God desired not that he should feel secure, since He gave him not the
assurance by supernatural means alone, but caused him first to be
strengthened by natural means.
10. And even more surprising is the thing that happened in this
connection to Moses, when God had commanded him, and given him many
instructions, which He continued with the signs of the wand changed
into a serpent and of the leprous hand, enjoining him to go and set
free the children of Israel. So weak was he and so uncertain [410]
about this going forward that, although God was angered, he had not the
courage to summon up the complete faith necessary for going, until God
encouraged him through his brother Aaron, saying: Aaron frater tuus
Levites, scio quod eloquent sit: ecce ipse egredietur in occursum tuum,
vidensque te, laetabitur corde. Loquere ad eum, en pone verba mea in
ore ejus: et ego ero in ore tuo, et in ore illius, etc. [411] Which is
as though He had said: I know that thy brother Aaron is an eloquent
man: behold, he will come forth to meet thee, and, when he seeth thee,
he will be glad at heart; speak to him and tell him all My words, and I
will be in thy mouth and in his mouth, so that each of you shall
believe that which is in the mouth of the other.
11. Having heard these words, Moses at once took courage, in the hope
of finding consolation in the counsel which his brother was to give
him; for this is a characteristic of the humble soul, which dares not
converse alone with God, neither can be completely satisfied without
human counsel and guidance. And that this should be given to it is the
will of God, for He draws near to those who come together to converse
of truth, in order to expound and confirm it in them, upon a foundation
of natural reason, even as He said that He would do when Moses and
Aaron should come together — namely, that He would be in the mouth of
the one and in the mouth of the other. Wherefore He said likewise in
the Gospel that Ubi fuerint duo vel tres congregati in nomine meo, ibi
sum ego in medio eorum. [412] That is: Where two or three have come
together, in order to consider that which is for the greater honour and
glory of My name, there am I in the midst of them. That is to say, I
will make clear and confirm in their hearts the truths of God. And it
is to be observed that He said not: Where there is one alone, there
will I be; but: Where there are at least two. In this way He showed
that God desires not that any man by himself alone should believe his
experiences to be of God, [413] or should act in conformity with them,
or rely upon them, but rather should believe the Church and [414] her
ministers, for God will not make clear and confirm the truth in the
heart of one who is alone, and thus such a one will be weak and cold.
12. Hence comes that whereon the Preacher insists, where he says: Vae
soli, quia cum ceciderit, non habet sublevantem se. Si dormierint duo,
fovebuntur mutuo; unus quomodo calefiet? et si quispiam praevaluerit
contra unum, duo resistent ei. [415] Which signifies: Woe to the man
that is alone, for when he falleth he hath none to raise him up. If two
sleep together, the one shall give warmth to the other (that is to say:
with the warmth of God Who is between them); but one alone, how shall
he be warm? That is to say: How shall he be other than cold as to the
things of God? And if any man can fight and prevail against one enemy
(that is, the devil, who can fight and prevail against those that are
alone and desire to be alone as regards the things of God), two men
together will resist him — that is, the disciple and the master [416]
who come together to know and dost the truth. And until this happens
such a man is habitually weak and feeble in the truth, however often he
may have heard it from God; so much so that, despite the many occasions
on which Saint Paul preached the Gospel, which he said that he had
heard, not of men, but of God, he could not be satisfied until he had
gone to consult with Saint Peter and the Apostles, saying: Ne forte in
vacuum currerem, aut cucurrissem. [417] Which signifies: Perchance he
should run, or had run, in vain, having no assurance of himself, until
man had given him assurance. This seems a noteworthy thing, O Paul,
that He Who revealed to thee this Gospel could not likewise reveal to
thee the assurance of the fault which thou mightest have committed in
preaching the truth concerning Him.
13. Herein it is clearly shown that a man must not rely upon the things
that God reveals, save in the way that we are describing; for, even in
cases where a person is in possession of certainty, as Saint Paul was
certain of his Gospel (since he had already begun to preach it), yet,
although the revelation be of God, man may still err with respect to
it, or in things relating to it. For, although God reveals one thing,
He reveals not always the other; and oftentimes He reveals something
without revealing the way in which it is to be done. For ordinarily He
neither performs nor reveals anything that can be accomplished by human
counsel and effort, although He may commune with the soul for a long
time, very lovingly. Of this Saint Paul was very well aware, since, as
we say, although he knew that the Gospel was revealed to him by God, he
went to take counsel with Saint Peter. And we see this clearly in the
Book of Exodus, where God had communed most familiarly with Moses, yet
had never given him that salutary counsel which was given him by his
father-in-law Jethro — that is to say, that he should choose other
judges to assist him, so that the people should not be waiting from
morning till night. [418] This counsel God approved, though it was not
He Who had given it to him, for it was a thing that fell within the
limits of human judgment and reason. With respect to Divine visions and
revelations and locutions, God is not wont to reveal them, for He is
ever desirous that men should make such use of their own reason as is
possible, and all such things have to be governed by reason, save those
that are of faith, which transcend all judgment and reason, although
these are not contrary to faith.
14. Wherefore let none think that, because it may be true that God and
the saints commune with him familiarly about many things, they will of
necessity explain to him the faults that he commits with regard to
anything, if it be possible for him to recognize these faults by other
means. He can have no assurance about this; for, as we read came to
pass in the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Peter, though a prince of the
Church, who was taught directly by God, went astray nevertheless with
respect to a certain ceremony that was in use among the Gentiles, and
God was silent. So far did he stray that Saint Paul reproved him, as he
affirms, saying: Cum vidissem, quod non recte ad veritatem Evangelii
ambularent, dixi coram omnibus: Si tu judaeus cum sis, gentiliter
vivis, quomodo Gentes cogis judaizare? [419] Which signifies: When I
saw (says Saint Paul) that the disciples walked not uprightly according
to the truth of the Gospel, I said to Peter before them all: If thou,
being a Jew, as thou art, livest after the manner of the Gentiles, how
feignest thou to force the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? And God
reproved not Saint Peter Himself for this fault, for that stimulation
was a thing that had to do with reason, and it was possible for him to
know it by rational means.
15. Wherefore on the day of judgment God will punish for their many
faults and sins many souls with whom He may quite habitually have held
converse here below, and to whom He may have given much light and
virtue; for, as to those things that they have known that they ought to
do, they have been neglectful, and have relied upon that converse that
they have had with God and upon the virtue that He has given them. And
thus, as Christ says in the Gospel, they will marvel at that time,
saying: Domine, Domine, nonne in nomine tuo prophetavimus, et in nomine
tuo daemonia ejecimus, et in nomine tuo virtutes multas fecimus? [420]
That is: Lord, Lord, were the prophecies that Thou spakest to us
perchance not prophesied in Thy name? And in Thy name cast we not out
devils? And in Thy name performed we not many miracles and mighty
works? And the Lord says that He will answer them in these words: Et
tunc confitebor illis, quia numquam novi vos: discedite a me omnes qui
operamini iniquitatem. [421] That is to say: Depart from Me, ye workers
of iniquity, for I never knew you. Of the number of these was the
prophet Balaam and others like to him, who, though God spake with them
and gave them thanks, were sinners. But the Lord will likewise give
their proportion of reproof to His friends and chosen ones, with whom
He communed familiarly here below, as to the faults and sins of neglect
that they may have committed; whereof there was no need that God should
Himself warn them, since He had already warned them through the natural
reason and law that He had given to them.
16. In concluding this part of my subject, therefore, I say, and I
infer from what has already been said, that anything, of whatsoever
kind, received by the soul through supernatural means, must clearly and
plainly, fully and simply, be at once communicated to the spiritual
director. For although there may seem no reason to speak of it, or to
spend time upon doing so, since the soul is acting safely, as we have
said, if it rejects it and neither pays heed to it nor desires it —
especially if it be a question of visions or revelations or other
supernatural communications, which are either quite clear or very
nearly so — nevertheless, it is very necessary to give an account of
all these, although it may seem to the soul that there is no reason for
so doing. And this for three causes. First, because, as we have said,
God communicates many things, the effect, power, light and certainty
whereof He confirms not wholly in the soul, until, as we have said, the
soul consults him whom God has given to it as a spiritual judge, which
is he that has the power to bind or to loose, and to approve or to
blame, as we have shown by means of the passages quoted above; and we
can show it clearly by experience, for we see humble souls to whom
these things come to pass, and who, after discussing them with the
proper persons, experience a new satisfaction, power, light and
certainty; so much so that to some it seems that they have no effect
upon them, nor do they even belong to them, until they have
communicated them to the director, whereupon they are given to them
anew.
17. The second cause is that the soul habitually needs instruction upon
the things that come to pass within it, so that it may be led by that
means to spiritual poverty and detachment, which is the dark night. For
if it begins to relinquish this instruction — even when it desires not
the things referred to — it will gradually, without realizing it,
become callous as it treads the spiritual road, and draw near again to
the road of sense; and it is partly with respect to this that these
distinct things happen.
18. The third cause is that, for the sake of the humility and
submission and mortification of the soul, it is well to relate
everything to the director, even though he make [422] no account of it
all and consider it of no importance. There are some souls who greatly
dislike speaking of such things, because they think them to be
unimportant, and know not how the person to whom they should relate
them will receive them; but this is lack of humility, and for that very
reason it is needful for them to submit themselves and relate these
things. And there are others who are very timid in relating them,
because they see no reason why they should have these experiences,
which seem to belong to saints, as well as other things which they are
sorry to have to describe; for which cause they think there is no
reason to speak of them because they make no account of them; but for
this very reason it is well for them to mortify themselves and relate
them, until in time they come to speak of them humbly, unaffectedly,
submissively and readily, and after this they will always find it easy
to do so.
19. But, with respect to what has been said, it must be pointed out
that, although we have insisted so much that such things should be set
aside, and that confessors should not encourage their penitents to
discuss them, it is not well that spiritual fathers should show
displeasure in regard to them, or should seek to avoid speaking of them
or despise them, or make their penitents reserved and afraid to mention
them, for it would be the means of causing them many inconveniences if
the door were closed upon their relating them. For, since they are a
means and manner whereby God guides such souls, there is no reason for
thinking ill of them or for being alarmed or scandalized by them; but
rather there is a reason for proceeding very quietly and kindly, for
encouraging these souls and giving them an opportunity to speak of
these things; if necessary, they must be exhorted to speak; and, in
view of the difficulty that some souls experience in describing such
matters, this is sometimes quite essential. Let confessors direct their
penitents into faith, [423] advising them frankly to turn away their
eyes from all such things, teaching them how to void the desire and the
spirit of them, so that they may make progress, and giving them to
understand how much more precious in God's sight is one work or act of
the will performed in charity than are all the visions and
communications that they may receive from Heaven, since these imply
neither merit nor demerit. Let them point out, too, that many souls who
have known nothing of such things have made incomparably greater
progress than others who have received many of them.
__________________________________________________________________
[398] [Lit., `they serve nevertheless for the greater doctrine and
clearness of our intention.']
[399] Isaias xxx, 2.
[400] Josue ix, 14.
[401] Hebrews i, 1.
[402] St. Matthew xvii, 5.
[403] Colossians ii, 3.
[404] 1 Corinthians ii, 2.
[405] Colossians ii, 9.
[406] St. John xix, 30.
[407] Galatians i, 8.
[408] [It was to Abiathar that this was said.] 1 Kings [A.V., 1 Samuel]
xxiii, 9.
[409] Judges vii, 11.
[410] [Lit., `and so dark.']
[411] Exodus iv, 14-15.
[412] St. Matthew xviii, 20.
[413] [Lit., `the things which he has to be of God.']
[414] [Lit., `. . . with them, without the Church or . . .']
[415] Ecclesiastes iv, 10-12.
[416] [i.e., the penitent and the confessor or director.]
[417] Galatians ii, 2.
[418] Exodus xviii, 21-2.
[419] Galatians ii, 14.
[420] St. Matthew vii, 22.
[421] St. Matthew vii, 23.
[422] [The Spanish phrase equally admits the reading: `even though the
soul make.']
[423] [i.e., into the night of faith: cf. Chap. xxiii, 4, below.]
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER XXIII
Which begins to treat of the apprehensions of the understanding that
come in a purely spiritual way, and describes their nature.
Although the instruction that we have given with respect to the
apprehensions of the understanding which come by means of sense is
somewhat brief, in comparison with what might be said about them, I
have not desired to write of them at greater length; I believe, indeed,
that I have already been too lengthy for the fulfillment of my present
intention, which is to disencumber the understanding of them and direct
the soul into the night of faith. Wherefore we shall now begin to treat
of those other four apprehensions of the understanding, which, as we
said in the tenth chapter, [424] are purely spiritual — namely,
visions, revelations, locutions and spiritual feelings. These we call
purely spiritual, for they do not (as do those that are corporeal and
imaginary) communicate themselves to the understanding by way of the
corporeal senses; but, without the intervention of any inward or
outward corporeal sense, they present themselves to the understanding,
clearly and distinctly, by supernatural means, passively — that is to
say, without the performance of any act or operation on the part of the
soul itself, at the least actively.
2. It must be known, then, that, speaking broadly and in general terms,
all these four apprehensions may be called visions of the soul; for we
term the understanding of the soul also its sight. And since all these
apprehensions are intelligible to the understanding, they are
described, in a spiritual sense, as `visible.' And thus the kinds of
intelligence that are formed in the understanding may be called
intellectual visions. Now, since all the objects of the other senses,
which are all that can be seen, and all that can be heard, and all that
can be smelt and tasted and touched, are objects of the understanding
in so far as they fall within the limits of truth or falsehood, it
follows that, just as to the eyes of the body all that is visible in a
bodily way causes bodily vision, even so, to the spiritual eyes of the
soul — namely, the understanding — all that is intelligible causes
spiritual vision; for, as we have said, for the soul to understand is
for it to see. And thus, speaking generally, we may call these four
apprehensions visions. This cannot be said, however, of the other
senses, for no one of them is capable, as such, of receiving the object
of another one.
3. But, since these apprehensions present themselves to the soul in the
same way as they do to the various senses, it follows that, speaking
properly and specifically, we shall describe that which the
understanding receives by means of sight (because it can see things
spiritually, even as the eyes can see bodily) as a vision; and that
which it receives by apprehending and understanding new things (as it
were through the hearing, when it hears things that are not heard) we
describe as revelation; and that which it receives by means of hearing
we call locution; and that which it receives through the other senses,
such as the perception of sweet spiritual fragrance, and spiritual
taste and of spiritual delight which the soul may joy supernaturally,
we call spiritual feelings. From all these the soul derives spiritual
vision or intelligence, without any kind of apprehension concerning
form, image or figure of natural fancy or imagination; these things are
communicated to the soul directly by supernatural means and a
supernatural process.
4. Of these, likewise (even as we said of the other imaginary corporeal
apprehensions), it is well that we should here disencumber the
understanding, leading and directing it by means of them into the
spiritual night of faith, to the Divine and substantial union of God;
lest, by letting such things encumber and stultify it, it should be
hindered upon the road to solitude and detachment from all things,
which is necessary to that end. For, although these apprehensions are
nobler and more profitable and much more certain than those which are
corporeal and imaginary, inasmuch as they are interior and purely
spiritual, and are those which the devil is least able to counterfeit,
since they are communicated to the soul more purely and subtly without
any effort of its own or of the imagination, at least actively, yet not
only may the understanding be encumbered by them upon this road, but it
is possible for it, through its own imprudence, to be sorely deceived.
5. And although, in one sense, we might conclude with these four kinds
of apprehension, by treating them all together and giving advice which
applies to them all, as we have given concerning all the others —
namely, that they should neither be desired nor aspired to — yet,
since we shall presently throw more light upon the way in which this is
to be done, and certain things will be said in connection with them, it
will be well to treat of each one of them in particular, and thus we
shall now speak of the first apprehensions, which are intellectual or
spiritual visions.
__________________________________________________________________
[424] It is in Chapter x (and not in viii, as is said in A, B and e.p.)
that the author treats of these spiritual apprehensions.
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CHAPTER XXIV
Which treats of two kinds of spiritual vision that come supernaturally.
Speaking now strictly of those visions which are spiritual, and are
received without the intervention of any bodily sense, I say that there
are two kinds of vision than can be received by the understanding: the
one kind is of corporeal substances; the other, of incorporeal or
separated substances. The corporeal visions have respect to all
material things that are in Heaven and on earth, which the soul is able
to see, even while it is still in the body, by the aid of a certain
supernatural illumination, derived from God, wherein it is able to see
all things that are not present, both in Heaven and on earth, even as
Saint John saw, as we read in the twenty-first chapter of the
Apocalypse, where he describes and relates the excellence of the
celestial Jerusalem, which he saw in Heaven. Even so, again, we read of
Saint Benedict that in a spiritual vision he saw the whole world. [425]
This vision, says Saint Thomas in the first of his Quodlibets, was in
the light that is derived from above, as we have said.
2. The other visions, which are of incorporeal substances, cannot be
seen by the aid of this derived illumination, whereof we are here
speaking, but only by another and a higher illumination which is called
the illumination of glory. And thus these visions of incorporeal
substances, such as angels and soul, are not of this life, neither can
they be seen in the mortal body; for, if God were pleased to
communicate them to the soul, in essence as they are, the soul would at
once go forth from the flesh and would be loosed from this mortal life.
For this reason God said to Moses, when he entreated Him to show him
His Essence: Non videbit me homo, et vivet. [426] That is: Man shall
not see Me and be able to remain alive. Wherefore, when the children of
Israel thought that they were to see God, or had seen Him, or some
angel, they feared death, as we read in the Book of Exodus, where,
fearing these things, they said: Non loquatur nobis Dominus, ne forte
moriamur. [427] As if they had said: Let not God communicate Himself to
us openly, lest we die. And likewise in the Book of Judges, Manue,
father of Samson, thought that he and his wife had seen in essence the
angel who spake with them (and who had appeared to them in the form of
a most beautiful man) and he said to his wife: Morte moriemur, quida
vidimus Dominum. [428] Which signifies: We shall die, because we have
seen the Lord. [429]
3. And thus these visions occur not in this life, save occasionally and
fleetingly, when, making an exception to the conditions which govern
our natural life, God so allows it. At such times He totally withdraws
the spirit from this life, and the natural functions of the body are
supplied by His favour. This is why, at the time when it is thought
that Saint Paul saw these (namely, the incorporeal substances in the
third heaven), that Saint says: Sive in corpore, nescio, sive extra
corpus, nescio, Deus scit. [430] That is, he was raptured, and of that
which he saw he says that he knows not if it was in the body or out of
the body, but that God knows. Herein it is clearly seen that the limits
of natural means of communication were passed, and that this was the
work of God. Likewise, it is believed that God showed His Essence to
Moses, for we read that God said to him that He would set him in the
cleft of the rock, and would protect him, by covering him with His
right hand, and protecting him so that he should not die when His glory
passed; the which glory passed indeed, and was shown to him fleetingly,
and the natural life of Moses was protected by the right hand of God.
[431] But these visions that were so substantial — like that of Saint
Paul and Moses, and that of our father Elias, when he covered his face
at the gentle whisper of God — although they are fleeting, occur only
very rarely — indeed, hardly ever and to very few; for God performs
such a thing in those that are very strong in the spirit of the Church
and the law of God, as were the three men named above.
4. But, although these visions of spiritual substances cannot be
unveiled and be clearly seen in this life by the understanding, they
can nevertheless be felt in the substance of the soul, with the
sweetest touches and unions, all of which belongs to spiritual
feelings, whereof, with the Divine favour, we shall treat presently;
for our pen is being directed and guided to these — that is to say, to
the Divine bond and union of the soul with Divine Substance. We shall
speak of this when we treat of the dark and confused mystical
understanding which remains to be described, wherein we shall show how,
by means of this dark and loving knowledge, God is united with the soul
in a lofty and Divine degree; [432] for, after some manner, this dark
and loving knowledge, which is faith, serves as a means to Divine union
in this life, even as, in the next life, the light of glory serves as
an intermediary to the clear vision of God.
5. Let us, then, now treat of the visions of corporeal substances,
received spiritually in the soul, which come after the manner of bodily
visions. For, just as the eyes see bodily visions by means of natural
light, even so does the soul, through the understanding, by means of
supernaturally derived light, as we have said, see those same natural
things inwardly, together with others, as God wills; the difference
between the two kinds of vision is only in the mode and manner of them.
For spiritual and intellectual visions are much clearer and subtler
than those which pertain to the body. For, when God is pleased to grant
this favour to the soul, He communicates to it that supernatural light
whereof we speak, wherein the soul sees the things that God wills it to
see, easily and most clearly, whether they be of Heaven or of earth,
and the absence or presence of them is no hindrance to the vision. And
it is at times as though a door were opened before it into a great
brightness, through which the soul sees a light, after the manner of a
lightning flash, which, on a dark night, reveals things suddenly, and
causes them to be clearly and distinctly seen, and then leaves them in
darkness, although the forms and figures of them remain in the fancy.
This comes to pass much more perfectly in the soul, because those
things that the spirit has seen in that light remain impressed upon it
in such a way that whensoever it observes them it sees them in itself
as it saw them before; even as in a mirror the forms that are in it are
seen whensoever a man looks in it, and in such a way that those forms
of the things that he has seen are never wholly removed from his soul,
although in course of time they become somewhat remote.
6. The effect which these visions produce in the soul is that of quiet,
illumination, joy like that of glory, sweetness, purity and love,
humility and inclination or elevation of the spirit in God; sometimes
more so, at other times less; with sometimes more of one thing, at
other times more of another, according to the spirit wherein they are
received and according as God wills.
7. The devil likewise can produce these visions, by means of a certain
natural light, whereby he brings things clearly before the mind,
through spiritual suggestion, whether they be present or absent. There
is that passage in Saint Matthew, which says of the devil and Christ:
Ostendit omnia regna mundi, et gloriam eorum. [433] That is so say: He
showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them.
Concerning this certain doctors say that he did it by spiritual
suggestion, [434] for it was not possible to make Him see so much with
the bodily eyes as all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them.
But there is much difference between these visions that are caused by
the devil and those that are of God. For the effects produced in the
soul by the devil's visions are not like those produced by good
visions; the former produce aridity of spirit as to communion with God
and an inclination to esteem oneself highly, and to receive and set
store by the visions aforesaid, and in no wise do they produce the
gentleness of humility and love of God. Neither do the forms of such
visions remain impressed upon the soul with the sweetness and
brightness of the others; nor do they last, but are quickly effaced
from the soul, save when the soul greatly esteems them, in which case
this high esteem itself causes it to recall them naturally, but with
great aridity of spirit, and without producing that effect of love and
humility which is produced by good visions when the soul recalls them.
8. These visions, inasmuch as they are of creatures, wherewith God has
no essential conformity or proportion, cannot serve the understanding
as a proximate means to union with God. And thus the soul must conduct
itself in a purely negative way concerning them, as in the other things
that we have described, in order that it may progress by the proximate
means — namely, by faith. Wherefore the soul must make no store of
treasure of the forms of such visions as remain impressed upon it,
neither must it lean upon them; for to do this would be to be
encumbered with those forms, images and persons which remain inwardly
within it, and thus the soul would not progress toward God by denying
itself all things. For, even if these forms should be permanently set
before the soul, they will not greatly hinder this progress, if the
soul has no desire to set store by them. For, although it is true that
the remembrance of them impels the soul to a certain love of God and
contemplation, yet it is impelled and exalted much more by pure faith
and detachment in darkness from them all, without its knowing how or
whence it comes to it. And thus it will come to pass that the soul will
go forward, enkindled with yearnings of purest love for God, without
knowing whence they come to it, or on what they are founded. The fact
is that, while faith has become ever more deeply rooted and infused in
the soul by means of that emptiness and darkness and detachment from
all things, or spiritual poverty, all of which may be spoken of as one
and the same thing, at the same time the charity of God has become
rooted and infused in the soul ever more deeply also. Wherefore, the
more the soul desires obscurity and annihilation with respect to all
the outward or inward things that it is capable of receiving, the more
is it infused by faith, and, consequently, by love and hope, since all
these three theological virtues go together.
9. But at certain times the soul neither understands this love nor
feels it; for this love resides, not in sense, with its tender
feelings, but in the soul, with fortitude and with a courage and daring
that are greater than they were before, though sometimes it overflows
into sense and produces gentle and tender feelings. Wherefore, in order
to attain to that love, joy and delight which such visions produce and
cause in the soul, it is well that soul should have fortitude and
mortification and love, so that it may desire to remain in emptiness
and darkness as to all things, and to build its love and joy upon that
which it neither sees nor feels, neither can see nor feel in this life,
which is God, Who is incomprehensible and transcends all things. It is
well, then, for us to journey to Him by denying ourselves everything.
For otherwise, even if the soul be so wise, humble and strong that the
devil cannot deceive it by visions or cause it to fall into some sin of
presumption, as he is wont to do, he will not allow it to make
progress; for he set obstacles in the way of spiritual detachment and
poverty of spirit and emptiness in faith, which is the essential
condition for union of the soul with God.
10. And, as the same teaching that we gave in the nineteenth and
twentieth chapters, concerning supernatural apprehensions and visions
of sense, holds good for these visions, we shall not spend more time
here in describing them.
__________________________________________________________________
[425] St. Gregory: Dial., Bk. 11, Chap. xxxv. `Omnis etiam mundus velut
sub uno solis radio collectus, ante oculos eius adductus est.'
[426] Exodus xxxiii, 20.
[427] Exodus xx, 19.
[428] Judges xiii, 22.
[429] E.p. abbreviates this paragraph thus: `The other visions, which
are of incorporeal substances, demand another and a higher
illumination; and thus these visions of incorporeal substances, such as
angels and souls, do not occur habitually, nor are they proper to this
life; still less is that of the Divine Essence, which is proper to the
Blessed in Heaven, save that it may be communicated to a soul
fleetingly and as in passing.' The next two paragraphs are omitted from
e.p. P. Jeronimo de San Jose, in the edition of 1630, copies from e.p.
the lines given in this note above, and then continues: `[save when]
God so allows, in spite of the condition of our natural life,
withdrawing the spirit from it occasionally, as happened to the apostle
Saint Paul, when he says that he saw unspeakable secrets in the third
heaven.' The adjustments made by P. Salablanca and amplified by P.
Jeronimoin the rest of the paragraph [cf. notes below] follow the most
usual scholastic doctrine. Among the Discalced Carmelite writers who
deal most fully and competently with this doctrine of spiritual visions
are the authors of the Cursas Theologiae Mysticae, Vol. IV, Disp. xx,
xxi; Felipe de la Santisima Trinidad: Summa Theologiae Mysticae, Pt.
II, Tract. III, Disc. iv; Medula Mistica, Trat. VI. St. Thomas (I p.,
q. 88, a. 1) says that we cannot quidditative know separated
substances.
[430] 2 Corinthians xii, 2.
[431] Exodus xxxiii, 22.
[432] This description the Saint probably accomplished, or intended to
accomplish, in his commentaries on the last five stanzas of the Dark
Night, which have not come down to us.
[433] St. Matthew iv, 8.
[434] E.p.: `. . . by intelligible suggestion.' On this passage, cf.
Cornelius a Lapide (Commentaria in Matthaeum, Cap. IV) and St. Thomas
(III p., q. 41, ad. 3).
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CHAPTER XXV
Which treats of revelations, describing their nature and making a
distinction between them.
According to the order which we are here following, we have next to
treat of the second kind of spiritual apprehension, which we have
described above as revelations, and which properly belongs to the
spirit of prophecy. With respect to this, it must first be known that
revelation is naught else than the discovery of some hidden truth or
the manifestation of some secret or mystery. Thus God may cause the
soul to understand something by making clear to the understanding the
truth concerning it, or He may reveal to the soul certain things which
He is doing or proposes to do.
2. Accordingly, we may say that there are two kinds of revelation. The
first is the disclosure to the understanding of truths which are
properly called intellectual knowledge or intelligence; the second is
the manifestation of secrets, which are called revelations with more
propriety than the others. For the first kind cannot strictly be called
revelations, since they consist in this, that God causes the soul to
understand naked truths, not only with respect to temporal things, but
likewise with respect to spiritual things, revealing them to the soul
clearly and openly. These I have desired to treat under the heading of
revelations: first, because they have close kinship and similarity with
them: secondly, in order not to multiply distinctions.
3. According to this method, then, we shall now be well able to divide
revelations into two kinds of apprehension. The one kind we shall call
intellectual knowledge, and the other, the manifestation of secrets and
hidden mysteries of God. With these we shall conclude in two chapters
as briefly as we may, and in this chapter following we shall treat of
the first.
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CHAPTER XXVI
Which treats of the intuition of naked truths in the understanding,
explaining how they are of two kinds and how the soul is to conduct
itself with respect to them.
In order to speak properly of this intuition of naked truths which is
conveyed to the understanding, the writer would need God to take his
hand and to guide his pen; for know, dear reader, that what they are to
the soul cannot be expressed in words. But, since I speak not of them
here of set purpose, but only that through them I may instruct the soul
and lead it to Divine union, I shall suffer myself to speak of them
here in a brief and modified form, as is sufficient for the fulfillment
of that intention.
2. This kind of vision (or, to speak more properly, of knowledge of
naked truths) is very different from that of which we have just spoken
in the twenty-fourth chapter. For it is not like seeing bodily things
with the understanding; it consists rather in comprehending and seeing
with the understanding the truths of God, whether of things that are,
that have been or that will be, which is in close conformity with the
spirit of prophecy, as perchance we shall explain hereafter.
3. Here it is to be observed that this kind of knowledge is
distinguishable according to two divisions: the one kind comes to the
soul with respect to the Creator; the other with respect to creatures,
as we have said. And, although both kinds are very delectable to the
soul, yet the delight caused in it by the kind that relates to God is
comparable to nothing whatsoever, and there are no words or terms
wherein it can be described. This kind of knowledge is of God Himself,
and the delight is in God Himself, whereof David says: `There is naught
soever like to Him.' [435] For this kind of knowledge comes to the soul
in direct relation to God, when the soul, after a most lofty manner,
has a perception of some attribute of God — of His omnipotence, of His
might, of His goodness and sweetness, etc.; and, whensoever it has such
a perception, that which is perceived cleaves to the soul. Inasmuch as
this is pure contemplation, the soul clearly sees that there is no way
wherein it can say aught concerning it, save to speak in certain
general terms, of the abundance of delight and blessing which it has
felt, and this is expressed by souls that experience it; but not to the
end that what the soul has experienced and perceived may be wholly
apprehended.
4. And thus David, speaking for himself when something of this kind had
happened to him, used only common and general terms, saying: Judicia
Domini vera, justificata in semetipsa. Desiderabilia super aurum et
lapidem pretiosum multum; et dulciora super mel et favum. [436] Which
signifies: The judgments of God — that is, the virtues and attributes
which we perceive in God — are in themselves true, justified, more to
be desired than gold and very much more than precious stones, and
sweeter than the honeycomb and honey. And concerning Moses we read
that, when God gave him a most lofty manifestation of knowledge from
Himself on an occasion when He passed before him, he said only that
which can be expressed in the common terms above mentioned. And it was
so that, when the Lord passed before him in that manifestation of
knowledge, Moses quickly prostrated himself upon the ground, saying:
Dominator Domine Deus, misericors et clemens, patiens, et multae
miserationis, ac verax. Qui custodis misericordiam in millia. [437]
Which signifies: Ruler, [438] Lord, God, merciful and clement, patient,
and of great compassion, and true, that keepest mercy promised unto
thousands. Here it is seen that Moses could not express that which he
had learned from God in one single manifestation of knowledge, and
therefore he expressed and gave utterance to it in all these words. And
although at times, when such knowledge is given to a soul, words are
used, the soul is well aware that it has expressed no part of what it
has felt; for it knows that there is no fit name by which it can name
it. And thus Saint Paul, when he was granted that lofty knowledge of
God, made no attempt to describe it, saying only that it was not lawful
for man to speak of it.
5. These Divine manifestations of knowledge which have respect to God
never relate to particular matters, inasmuch as they concern the Chief
Beginning, and therefore can have no particular reference, unless it be
a question of some truth concerning a thing less than God, which is
involved in the perception of the whole; but these Divine
manifestations themselves — no, in no way whatsoever. And these lofty
manifestations of knowledge can come only to the soul that attains to
union with God, for they are themselves that union; and to receive them
is equivalent to a certain contact with the Divinity which the soul
experiences, and thus it is God Himself Who is perceived and tasted
therein. And, although He cannot be experienced manifestly and clearly,
as in glory, this touch of knowledge and delight is nevertheless so
sublime and profound that it penetrates the substance of the soul, and
the devil cannot meddle with it or produce any manifestation like to
it, for there is no such thing, neither is there aught that compares
with it, neither can he infuse pleasure or delight that is like to it;
for such kinds of knowledge savour of the Divine Essence and of eternal
life, and the devil cannot counterfeit a thing so lofty.
6. Nevertheless he might make some pretence of imitating it, by
representing to the soul certain great matters and things which enchant
the senses and can readily be perceived by them, and endeavoring to
persuade the soul that these are God; but he cannot do this in such
wise that they enter into the substance of the soul and of a sudden
renew it and enkindle it with love, as do the manifestations of God.
For there are certain kinds of knowledge, and certain of these touches
effected by God in the substance of the soul, which enrich it after
such wise that not only does one of them suffice to take from the soul
once and for all the whole of the imperfections that it had itself been
unable to throw off during its whole life, but it leaves the soul full
of virtues and blessings from God.
7. And these touches are so delectable to the soul, and the delight
they produce is so intimate, that if it received only one of them it
would consider itself well rewarded for all the trials that it had
suffered in this life, even had they been innumerable; and it is so
greatly encouraged and given such energy to suffer many things for
God's sake that it suffers especially in seeing that it is not
suffering more.
8. The soul cannot attain to these lofty degrees of knowledge by means
of any comparison or imagination of its own, because they are loftier
than all these; and so God works them in the soul without making use of
its own capacities. Wherefore, at certain times, when the soul is least
thinking of it and least desiring it, God is wont to give it these
Divine touches, by causing it certain remembrances of Himself. And
these are sometimes suddenly caused in the soul by its mere
recollection of certain things — sometimes of very small things. And
they are so readily perceived that at times they cause not only the
soul, but also the body, to tremble. But at other times they come to
pass in the spirit when it is very tranquil, without any kind of
trembling, but with a sudden sense of delight and spiritual
refreshment.
9. At other times, again, they come when the soul repeats or hears some
word, perhaps from Scripture or possibly from some other source; but
they are not always equally efficacious and sensible, for oftentimes
they are extremely faint; yet, however faint they may be, one of these
recollections and touches of God is more profitable to the soul than
many other kinds of knowledge or many meditations upon the creatures
and the works of God. And, since these manifestations of knowledge come
to the soul suddenly, and independently of its own free will, it must
neither desire to have them, nor desire not to have them; but must
merely be humble and resigned concerning them, and God will perform His
work how and when He wills.
10. And I say not that the soul should behave in the same negative
manner with regard to these apprehensions as with regard to the rest,
for, as we have said, they are a part of the union towards which we are
leading the soul, to which end we are teaching it to detach and strip
itself of all other apprehensions. And the means by which God will do
this must be humility and suffering for love of God with resignation as
regards all reward; for these favours are not granted to the soul which
still cherishes attachments, inasmuch as they are granted through a
very special love of God toward the soul which loves Him likewise with
great detachment. It is to this that the Son of God referred, in Saint
John, when He said: Qui autem diligit rag, diligetur a Patre meo, et
ego diligam eum, et manifestabo ei me ipsum. [439] Which signifies: He
that loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will
manifest Myself to him. Herein are included the kinds of knowledge and
touches to which we are referring, which God manifests to the soul that
truly loves Him.
11. The second kind of knowledge or vision of interior truths is very
different from this that we have described, since it is of things lower
than God. And herein is included the perception of the truth of things
in themselves, and that of the events and happenings which come to pass
among men. And this knowledge is of such a kind that, when the soul
learns these truths, they sink into it, independently of any suggestion
from without, to such an extent that, although it may be given a
different interpretation of them, it cannot make inward assent to this,
even though it endeavor to do so by putting forth a great effort; for
within the spirit it is learning otherwise through the spirit that is
teaching it that thing, which is equivalent to seeing it clearly. This
pertains to the spirit of prophecy and to the grace which Saint Paul
calls the gift of the discernment of spirits. [440] Yet, although the
soul holds something which it understands to be quite certain and true,
as we have said, and although it may be unable to cease giving it that
passive interior consent, it must not therefore cease to believe and to
give the consent of reason to that which its spiritual director tells
it and commands it, even though this may be quite contrary to its own
feelings, so that it may be directed in faith to Divine union, to which
a soul must journey by believing rather than by understanding.
12. Concerning both these things we have clear testimonies in
Scripture. For, with respect to the spiritual knowledge of things that
may be acquired, the Wise Man says these words: Ipse dedit mihi horum,
quae sunt, scientiam veram, ut sciam dispositionem orbis terrarum, et
virtutes elementorum, initium et consummationem temporum,
viccissitudinum permutationes, et consummationes temporum, et morum
mutationes, divisiones temporum, et anni cursus, et stellarum
dispositiones, naturas animalium et iras bestiarum, vim ventorum, et
cogitationes hominum, differentias virgultorum, et virtutes radicum, et
quaecumque sunt abscondita, et improvisa didici: omnium enim artifex
docuit me sapientia. [441] Which signifies: God hath given me true
knowledge of things that are: to know the disposition of the round
world [442] and the virtues of the elements; the beginning, and ending,
and midst of the times, the alterations in the changes and the
consummations of the seasons, and the changes of customs, the divisions
of the seasons, the courses of the year and the dispositions of the
stars; the natures of animals, and the furies of the beasts, the
strength and virtue of the winds, and the thoughts of men; the
diversities in plants and trees and the virtues of roots and all things
that are hidden, and those that are not foreseen: all these I learned,
for Wisdom, which is the worker of all things, taught me. And although
this knowledge which the Wise Man here says that God gave him
concerning all things was infused and general, the passage quoted
furnishes sufficient evidence for all particular kinds of knowledge
which God infuses into souls, by supernatural means, when He wills. And
this not that He may give them a general habit of knowledge as He gave
to Solomon in the matters aforementioned; but that He may reveal to
them at times certain truths with respect to any of all these things
that the Wise Man here enumerates. Although it is true that into many
souls Our Lord infuses habits which relate to many things, yet these
are never of so general a kind as they were in the case of Solomon. The
differences between them are like to those between the gifts
distributed by God which are enumerated by Saint Paul; among these he
sets wisdom, knowledge, faith, prophecy, discernment or knowledge of
spirits, understanding of tongues, interpretation of spoken words, etc.
[443] All these kinds of knowledge are infused habits, which God gives
freely to whom He will, whether naturally or supernaturally; naturally,
as to Balaam, to other idolatrous prophets and to many sybils, to whom
He gave the spirit of prophecy; and supernaturally, as to the holy
prophets and apostles and other saints.
13. But over and above these habits or graces freely bestowed, [444]
what we say is that persons who are perfect or are making progress in
perfection are wont very commonly to receive enlightenment and
knowledge of things present or absent; these they know through their
spirit, which is already enlightened and purged. We can interpret that
passage from the Proverbs in this sense, namely: Quomodo in aquis
resplendent vultus prospicientium sic corda hominum manifesta sunt
proudentibus. [445] Even as there appear in the waters the faces of
those that look therein, so the hearts of men are manifest to the
prudent. This is understood of those that have the wisdom of saints,
which the sacred Scripture calls prudence. And in this way these
spirits sometimes learn of other things also, although not whensoever
they will; for this belongs only to those that have the habit, and even
to these it belongs not always and with respect to all things, for it
depends upon God's will to help them.
14. But it must be known that those whose spirits are purged can learn
by natural means with great readiness, and some more readily than
others, that which is in the inward spirit or heart, and the
inclinations and talents of men, and this by outward indications,
albeit very slight ones, as words, movements and other signs. For, even
as the devil can do this, since he is spirit, even so likewise can the
spiritual man, according to the words of the Apostle, who says:
Spiritualis autem judicat omnia. [446] `He that is spiritual judgeth
all things.' And again he says: Spiritus enim omnia scrutatur, etiam
profunda Dei. [447] `The spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep
things of God.' Wherefore, although spiritual persons cannot by nature
know thoughts, or things that are in the minds of others, [448] they
may well interpret them through supernatural enlightenment or by signs.
And, although they may often be deceived in their interpretation of
signs, they are more generally correct. Yet we must trust neither to
the one means nor to the other, for the devil meddles herein greatly,
and with much subtlety, as we shall afterwards say, and thus we must
ever renounce such kinds of knowledge.
15. And that spiritual persons may have knowledge of the deeds and
happenings of men, even though they be elsewhere, we have witness and
example in the Fourth Book of the Kings, where Giezi, the servant of
our father Eliseus, desired to hide from him the money which he had
received from Naaman the Syrian, and Eliseus said: Nonne cor meum in
praesenti erat, quando reversus est homo de curru suo in occursum tui?
[449] `Was not my heart perchance present, when Naaman turned back from
his chariot and went to meet thee? This happens spiritually; the spirit
sees it as though it were happening in its presence. And the same thing
is proved in the same book, where we read likewise of the same Eliseus,
that, knowing all that the King of Syria did with his princes in his
privy chamber, he told it to the King of Israel, and thus the counsels
of the King of Syria were of no effect; so much so that, when the King
of Syria saw that all was known, he said to his people: Why do ye not
tell me which of you is betraying me to the King of Israel? And then
one of his servants said: Nequaquam, Domine mi Rex, sed Eliseus
Propheta, qui est in Israel, indicat Regi Israel omnia verba,
quaecumque locutus fueris in conclavi tuo. [450] `It is not so, my
lord, O King, but Eliseus, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the
king of Israel all the words that thou speakest in thy privy chamber.'
16. Both kinds of this knowledge of things, as well as other kinds of
knowledge, come to pass in the soul passively, so that for its own part
it does naught. For it will come to pass that, when a person is
inattentive to a matter and it is far from his mind, there will come to
him a vivid understanding of what he is hearing or reading, and that
much more clearly than could be conveyed by the sound of the words; and
at times, though he understand not the words, as when they are in Latin
and he knows not that tongue, the knowledge of their meaning comes to
him, despite his not understanding them.
17. With regard to the deceptions which the devil can bring about, and
does bring about, concerning this kind of knowledge and understanding,
there is much that might be said, for the deceptions which he effects
in this way are very great and very difficult to unmask. Inasmuch as,
through suggestion, he can represent to the soul many kinds of
intellectual knowledge and implant them so firmly that it appears
impossible that they should not be true, he will certainly cause the
soul to believe innumerable falsehoods if it be not humble and
cautious. For suggestion has sometimes great power over the soul, above
all when it is to some extent aided by the weakness of sense, causing
the knowledge which it conveys to sink into the soul with such great
power, persuasiveness and determination that the soul needs to give
itself earnestly to prayer and to exert great strength if it is to cast
it off. For at times the devil is accustomed to represent to the soul
the sins of others, and evil consciences and evil souls, falsely but
very vividly, and all this he does to harm the soul, trusting that it
may spread abroad his revelations, and that thus more sins may be
committed, for which reason he fills the soul with zeal by making it
believe that these revelations are granted it so that it may commend
the persons concerned to God. Now, though it is true that God sometimes
sets before holy souls the necessities of their neighbours, so that
they may commend them to God or relieve them, even as we read that He
revealed to Jeremias the weakness of the prophet Baruch, that he might
give him counsel concerning it, [451] yet it is more often the devil
who does this, and speaks falsely about it, in order to cause infamy,
sin and discouragement, whereof we have very great experience. And at
other times he implants other kinds of knowledge with great assurance,
and persuades the soul to believe them.
18. Such knowledge as this, whether it be of God or no, can be of very
little assistance to the progress of the soul on its journey to God if
the soul desire it and be attached to it; on the contrary, if it were
not scrupulous in rejecting it, not only would it be hindered on its
road, but it would even be greatly harmed and led far astray. For all
the perils and inconveniences which, as we have said, may be involved
in the supernatural apprehensions whereof we have treated up to this
point, may occur here, and more also. I will not, therefore, treat more
fully of this matter here, since sufficient instruction about it has
already been given in past chapters; I will only say that the soul must
always be very scrupulous in rejecting these things, and seek to
journey to God by the way of unknowing; and must ever relate its
experiences to its spiritual confessor, and be ever attentive to his
counsel. Let the confessor guide the soul past this, laying no stress
upon it, for it is of no kind of importance for the road to union; for
when these things are granted to the soul passively they always leave
in it such effect as God wills shall remain, without necessity for the
soul to exert any diligence in the matter. And thus it seems to me that
there is no reason to describe here either the effect which is produced
by true knowledge, or that which comes from false knowledge, for this
would be wearisome and never-ending. For the effects of this knowledge
cannot all be described in a brief instruction, the knowledge being
great and greatly varied, and its effects being so likewise, since good
knowledge produces good effects, and evil knowledge, evil effects, etc.
In saying that all should be rejected, we have said sufficient for the
soul not to go astray.
__________________________________________________________________
[435] [Psalm xxxix, 6: cf. A.V., xl, 5.]
[436] Psalm xviii, 10-11 [A.V., xix, 9-10].
[437] Exodus xxxiv, 6-7.
[438] [Lit., `Emperor.']
[439] St. John xiv, 21.
[440] 1 Corinthians xii, 10.
[441] Wisdom vii, 17-21.
[442] [Lit., `of the roundness of the lands.']
[443] [Lit., `exposition of words'; the reference is clearly to 1
Corinthians xii, 8-10.]
[444] [The original has gratis datas.]
[445] Proverbs xxvii, 19.
[446] 1 Corinthians ii, 15.
[447] 1 Corinthians ii, 10.
[448] [Lit., `in the interior.']
[449] 4 Kings [A.V., 2 Kings] v, 26.
[450] 4 Kings [A.V., 2 Kings] vi, 12.
[451] Jeremias xlv, 3.
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CHAPTER XXVII
Which treats of the second kind of revelation, namely, the disclosure
of hidden secrets. Describes the way in which these may assist the soul
toward union with God, and the way in which they may be a hindrance;
and how the devil may deceive the soul greatly in this matter.
We were saying that the second kind of revelation was the manifestation
of hidden mysteries and secrets. This may come to pass in two ways. The
first with respect to that which God is in Himself, wherein is included
the revelation of the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity and Unity of
God. The second is with respect to that which God is in His works, and
herein are included the other articles of our Catholic faith, and the
propositions deducible from them which may be laid down explicitly as
truths. In these are included and comprised a great number of the
revelations of the prophets, of promises and threatenings of God, and
of other things which have happened and shall happen concerning this
matter of faith. Under this second head we may also include many other
particular things which God habitually reveals, both concerning the
universe in general as also in particular concerning kingdoms,
provinces and states and families and particular persons. Of these we
have examples in abundance in the Divine writings, both of the one kind
and of the other, especially in all the Prophets, wherein are found
revelations of all these kinds. As this is a clear and plain matter, I
will not here spend time in quoting these examples, but will only say
that these revelations do not come to pass by word alone, but that God
gives them in many ways and manners, sometimes by word alone, sometimes
by signs and figures alone, and by images and similitudes alone,
sometimes in more than one way at once, as is likewise to be seen in
the Prophets, particularly throughout the Apocalypse, where we find not
only all the kinds of revelation which we have described, but likewise
the ways and manners to which we are here referring.
2. As to these revelations which are included under our second head,
God grants them still in our time to whom He will. He is wont, for
example, to reveal to some persons how many days they still have to
live, or what trials they are to suffer, or what is to befall such and
such a person, or such and such a kingdom, etc. And even as regards the
mysteries of our faith, He will reveal and expound to the spirit the
truths concerning them, although, since this has already been revealed
once, it is not properly to be termed revelation, but is more correctly
a manifestation or explanation of what has been revealed already.
3. In this kind of revelation the devil may meddle freely. For, as
revelations of this nature come ordinarily through words, figures and
similitudes, etc., the devil may very readily counterfeit others like
them, much more so than when the revelations are in spirit alone.
Wherefore, if with regard to the first and the second kind of
revelation which we are here describing, as touching our faith, there
be revealed to us anything new, or different, we must in no wise give
our consent to it, even though we had evidence that it was spoken by an
angel from Heaven. For even so says Saint Paul, in these words: Licet
nos, gut Angelus de coelo evangelizet vobis praeterquam quod
evangelizavimus vobis, anathema sit. [452] Which signifies: Even though
an angel from Heaven declare or preach unto you aught else than that
which we have preached unto you, let him be anathema.
4. Since, then, there are no more articles to be revealed concerning
the substance of our faith than those which have already been revealed
to the Church, not only must anything new which may be revealed to the
soul concerning this be rejected, but it behoves the soul to be
cautious and pay no heed to any novelties implied therein, and for the
sake of the purity of the soul it behoves it to rely on faith alone.
Even though the truths already revealed to it be revealed again, it
will believe them, not because they are now revealed anew, but because
they have already been sufficiently revealed to the Church: indeed, it
must close its understanding to them, holding simply to the doctrine of
the Church and to its faith, which, as Saint Paul says, enters through
hearing. [453] And let not its credence and intellectual assent be
given to these matters of the faith which have been revealed anew,
however fitting and true they may seem to it, if it desire not to be
deceived. For, in order to deceive the soul and to instil falsehoods
into it, the devil first feeds it with truths and things that are
probable in order to give it assurance and afterwards to deceive it. He
resembles one that sews leather with a bristle, first piercing the
leather with the sharp bristle, after which enters the soft thread; the
thread could not enter unless the bristle guided it.
5. And let this be considered carefully; for, even were it true that
there was no peril in such deception, yet it greatly behoves the soul
not to desire to understand clearly things that have respect to the
faith, so that it may preserve the merit of faith, in its purity and
entirety, and likewise that it may come, in this night of the
understanding, to the Divine light of Divine union. And it is equally
necessary to consider any new revelation with ones eyes closed, and
holding fast the prophecies of old, for the Apostle Saint Peter, though
he had seen the glory of the Son of God after some manner on Mount
Tabor, wrote, in his canonical epistle, these words: Et habemus
firmiorem propheticum sermonem; cui bene factitis attendentes, etc.
[454] Which is as though he had said: Although the vision that we have
seen of Christ on the Mount is true, the word of the prophecy that is
revealed to us is firmer and surer, and, if ye rest your soul upon it,
ye do well.
6. And if it is true that, for the reasons already described, it
behoves the soul to close its eyes to the aforementioned revelations
which come to it, and which concern the propositions of the faith, how
much more necessary will it be neither to receive nor to give credit to
other revelations relating to different things, wherein the devil
habitually meddles so freely that I believe it impossible for a man not
to be deceived in many of them unless he strive to reject them, such an
appearance of truth and security does the devil give them? For he
brings together so many appearances and probabilities, in order that
they may be believed, and plants them so firmly in the sense and the
imagination, that it seems to the person affected that what he says
will certainly happen; and in such a way does he cause the soul to
grasp and hold them, that, if it have not humility, it will hardly be
persuaded to reject them and made to believe the contrary. Wherefore,
the soul that is pure, cautious, simple and humble must resist
revelations and other visions with as much effort and care as though
they were very perilous temptations. For there is no need to desire
them; on the contrary, there is need not too desire them, if we are to
reach the union of love. It is this that Solomon meant when he said:
`What need has a man to desire and seek things that are above his
natural capacity?' [455] As though we were to say: He has no necessity,
in order to be perfect, to desire supernatural things by supernatural
means, which are above his capacity.
7. And as the objections that can be made to this have already been
answered, in the nineteenth and twentieth chapter of this book, I refer
the reader to these, saying only that the soul must keep itself from
all revelations in order to journey, in purity and without error, in
the night of faith, to union.
__________________________________________________________________
[452] Galatians i, 8.
[453] Romans x, 17.
[454] 2 St. Peter i, 19.
[455] Ecclesiastes vii, 1.
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CHAPTER XXVIII
Which treats of interior locutions that may come to the spirit
supernaturally. Says of what kinds they are.
The discreet reader has ever need to bear in mind the intent and end
which I have in this book, which is the direction of the soul, through
all its apprehensions, natural and supernatural, without deception or
hindrance, in purity of faith, to Divine union with God. If he does
this, he will understand that, although with respect to apprehensions
of the soul and the doctrine that I am expounding I give not such
copious instruction neither do I particularize so much or make so many
divisions as the understanding perchance requires, I am not being
over-brief in this matter. For with respect to all this I believe that
sufficient cautions, explanations and instructions are given for the
soul to be enabled to behave prudently in every contingency, outward or
inward, so as to make progress. And this is the reason why I have so
briefly dismissed the subject of prophetic apprehensions and the other
subjects allied to it; for there is so much more to be said of each of
them, according to the differences and the ways and manners that are
wont to be observed in each, that I believe one could never know it all
perfectly. I am content that, as I believe, the substance and the
doctrine thereof have been given, and the soul has been warned of the
caution which it behoves it to exercise in this respect, and also
concerning all other things of the same kind that may come to pass
within it.
2. I will now follow the same course with regard to the third kind of
apprehension, which, we said, was that of supernatural locutions, which
are apt to come to the spirits of spiritual persons without the
intervention of any bodily sense. These, although they are of many
kinds, may, I believe, all be reduced to three, namely: successive,
formal and substantial. I describe as successive certain words and
arguments which the spirit is wont to form and fashion when it is
inwardly recollected. Formal words are certain clear and distinct words
[456] which the spirit receives, not from itself, but from a third
person, sometimes when it is recollected and sometimes when it is not.
Substantial words are others which also come to the spirit formally,
sometimes when it is recollected and sometimes when it is not; these
cause in the substance of the soul that substance and virtue which they
signify. All these we shall here proceed to treat in their order.
__________________________________________________________________
[456] [Lit., `certain distinct and formal words.']
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER XXIX
Which treats of the first kind of words that the recollected spirit
sometimes forms within itself. Describes the cause of these and the
profit and the harm which there may be in them.
These successive words always come when the spirit is recollected and
absorbed very attentively in some meditation; and, in its reflections
upon that same matter whereon it is thinking, it proceeds from one
stage to another, forming words and arguments which are very much to
the point, with great facility and distinctiveness, and by means of its
reasoning discovers things which it knew not with respect to the
subject of its reflections, so that it seems not to be doing this
itself, but rather it seems that another person is supplying the
reasoning within its mind or answering its questions or teaching it.
And in truth it has good cause for thinking this, for the soul itself
is reasoning with itself and answering itself as though it were two
persons convening together; and in some ways this is really so; for,
although it is the spirit itself that works as an instrument, the Holy
Spirit oftentimes aids it to produce and form those true reasonings,
words and conceptions. And thus it utters them to itself as though to a
third person. For, as at that time the understanding is recollected and
united with the truth of that whereon it is thinking, and the Divine
Spirit is likewise united with it in that truth, as it is always united
in all truth, it follows that, when the understanding communicates in
this way with the Divine Spirit by means of this truth, it begins to
form within itself, successively, those other truths which are
connected with that whereon it is thinking, the door being opened to it
and illumination being given to it continually by the Holy Spirit Who
teaches it. For this is one of the ways wherein the Holy Spirit
teaches.
2. And when the understanding is illumined and taught in this way by
this master, and comprehends these truths, it begins of its own accord
to form the words which relate to the truths that are communicated to
it from elsewhere. So that we may say that the voice is the voice of
Jacob and the hands are the hand of Esau. [457] And one that is in this
condition will be unable to believe that this is so, but will think
that the sayings and the words come from a third person. For such a one
knows not the facility with which the understanding can form words
inwardly, as though they came from a third person, and having reference
to conceptions and truths which have in fact been communicated to it by
a third person.
3. And although it is true that, in this communication and
enlightenment of the understanding, no deception is produced in the
soul itself, nevertheless, deception may, and does, frequently occur in
the formal words and reasonings which the understanding bases upon it.
For, inasmuch as this illumination which it receives is at times very
subtle and spiritual, so that the understanding cannot attain to a
clear apprehension of it, and it is the understanding that, as we say,
forms the reasonings of its own accord, it follows that those which it
forms are frequently false, and on other occasions are only apparently
true, or are imperfect. For since at the outset the soul began to seize
the truth, and then brought into play the skilfulness or the clumsiness
of its own weak understanding, its perception of the truth may easily
be modified by the instability of its own faculties of comprehension,
and act all the time exactly as though a third person were speaking.
4. I knew a person who had these successive locutions: among them were
some very true and substantial ones concerning the most holy Sacrament
of the Eucharist, but others were sheer heresy. And I am appalled at
what happens in these days — namely, when some soul with the very
smallest experience [458] of meditation, if it be conscious of certain
locutions of this kind in some state of recollection, at once christens
them all as coming from God, and assumes that this is the case, saying:
`God said to me . . ,'; `God answered me . . ,'; whereas it is not so
at all, but, as we have said, it is for the most part they who are
saying these things to themselves.
5. And, over and above this, the desire which people have for
locutions, and the pleasure which comes to their spirits from them,
lead them to make answer to themselves and then to think that it is God
Who is answering them and speaking to them. They therefore commit great
blunders unless they impose a strict restraint upon themselves, and
unless their director obliges them to abstain from these kinds of
reflection. For they are apt to gain from them mere nonsensical talk
and impurity of soul rather than humility and mortification of spirit,
if they think, `This was indeed a great thing' and `God was speaking';
whereas it will have been little more than nothing, or nothing at all,
or less than nothing. For, if humility and charity be not engendered by
such experiences, and mortification and holy simplicity and silence,
etc., what can be the value of them? I say, then, that these things may
hinder the soul greatly in its progress to Divine union because, if it
pay heed to them, it is led far astray from the abyss of faith, where
the understanding must remain in darkness, and must journey in
darkness, by love and in faith, and not by much reasoning.
6. And if you ask me why the understanding must be deprived of these
truths, since through them it is illumined by the Spirit of God, and
thus they [459] cannot be evil, I reply that the Holy Spirit illumines
the understanding which is recollected, and illumines it according to
the manner of its recollection, [460] and that the understanding cannot
find any other and greater recollection than in faith; and thus the
Holy Spirit will illumine it in naught more than in faith. For the
purer and the more refined in faith is the soul, the more it has of the
infused charity of God; and the more charity it has, the more is it
illumined and the more gifts of the Holy Spirit are communicated to it,
for charity is the cause and the means whereby they are communicated to
it. And although it is true that, in this illumination of truths, the
Holy Spirit communicates a certain light to the soul, this is
nevertheless as different in quality from that which is in faith,
wherein is no clear understanding, as is the most precious gold from
the basest metal; and, with regard to its quantity, the one is as much
greater than the other as the sea is greater than a drop of water. For
in the one manner there is communicated to the soul wisdom concerning
one or two or three truths, etc., but in the other there is
communicated to it all the wisdom of God in general, which is the Son
of God, Who communicates Himself to the soul in faith.
7. And if you tell me that this is all good, and that the one impedes
not the other, I reply that it impedes it greatly if the soul sets
store by it; for to do this is to occupy itself with things which are
clear and of little importance, yet which are sufficient to hinder the
communication of the abyss of faith, wherein God supernaturally and
secretly instructs the soul, and exalts it in virtues and gifts in a
way that it knows not. And the profit which these successive
communications will bring us cannot come by our deliberately applying
the understanding to them, for if we do this they will rather lead us
astray, even as Wisdom says to the soul in the Songs: `Turn away thine
eyes from me, for they make me to fly away.' [461] That is so say: They
make me to fly far away from thee and to set myself higher. We must
therefore not apply the understanding to that which is being
supernaturally communicated to it, but simply and sincerely apply the
will to God with love, for it is through love that these good things
are communicated and through love they will be communicated in greater
abundance than before. For if the ability of the natural understanding
or of other faculties be brought actively to bear upon these things
which are communicated supernaturally and passively, its imperfect
nature will not reach them, and thus they will perforce be modified
according to the capacity of the understanding, and consequently will
perforce be changed; and thus the understanding will necessarily go
astray and begin to form reasonings within itself, and there will no
longer be anything supernatural or any semblance thereof, but all will
be merely natural and most erroneous and unworthy.
8. But there are certain types of understanding so quick and subtle
that, when they become recollected during some meditation, they invent
conceptions, and begin naturally, and with great facility, to form
these conceptions into the most lifelike words and arguments, which
they think, without any doubt, come from God. Yet all the time they
come only from the understanding, which, with its natural illumination,
being to some extent freed from the operation of the senses, is able to
effect all this, and more, without any supernatural aid. This happens
very commonly, and many persons are greatly deceived by it, thinking
that they have attained to a high degree of prayer and are receiving
communications from God, wherefore they either write this down or cause
it to be written. And it turns out to be nothing, and to have the
substance of no virtue, and it serves only to encourage them in vanity.
9. Let these persons learn to be intent upon naught, save only upon
grounding the will in humble love, working diligently, suffering and
thus imitating the Son of God in His life and mortifications, for it is
by this road that a man will come to all spiritual good, rather than by
much inward reasoning.
10. In this type of locution — namely, in successive interior words —
the devil frequently intervenes, especially in the case of such as have
some inclination or affection for them. At times when such persons
begin to be recollected, the devil is accustomed to offer them ample
material for distractions, forming conceptions or words by suggestion
in their understanding, and then corrupting [462] and deceiving it most
subtly with things that have every appearance of being true. And this
is one of the manners wherein he communicates with those who have made
some implicit or expressed compact with him; as with certain heretics,
especially with certain heresiarchs, whose understanding he fills with
most subtle, false and erroneous conceptions and arguments.
11. From what has been said, it is evident that these successive
locutions may proceed in the understanding from three causes, namely:
from the Divine Spirit, Who moves and illumines the understanding; from
the natural illumination of the same understanding; and from the devil,
who may speak to the soul by suggestion. To describe now the signs and
indications by which a man may know when they proceed from one cause
and when from another would be somewhat difficult, as also to give
examples and indications. It is quite possible, however, to give some
general signs, which are these. When in its words and conceptions the
soul finds itself loving God, and at the same time is conscious not
only of love but also of humility and reverence, it is a sign that the
Holy Spirit is working within it, for, whensoever He grants favours, He
grants them with this accompaniment. [463] When the locutions proceed
solely from the vivacity and brilliance of the understanding, it is the
understanding that accomplishes everything, without the operation of
the virtues (although the will, in the knowledge and illumination of
those truths, may love naturally); and, when the meditation is over,
the will remains dry, albeit inclined neither to vanity nor to evil,
unless the devil should tempt it afresh about this matter. This,
however, is not the case when the locutions have been prompted by a
good spirit; for then, as a rule, the will is afterwards affectioned to
God and inclined to well-doing. At certain times, nevertheless, it will
happen that, although the communication has been the work of a good
spirit, the will remains in aridity, since God ordains it so for
certain causes which are of assistance to the soul. At other times the
soul will not be very conscious of the operations or motions of those
virtues, yet that which it has experienced will be good. Wherefore I
say that the difference between these locutions is sometimes difficult
to recognize, by reason of the varied effects which they produce; but
these which have now been described are the most common, although
sometimes they occur in greater abundance and sometimes in less. But
those that come from the devil are sometimes difficult to understand
and recognize, for, although it is true that as a rule they leave the
will in aridity with respect to love of God, and the mind inclined to
vanity, self-esteem or complacency, nevertheless they sometimes inspire
the soul with a false humility and a fervent affection of the will
rooted in self-love, so that at times a person must be extremely
spiritually-minded to recognize it. And this the devil does in order
the better to protect himself; for he knows very well how sometimes to
produce tears by the feelings which he inspires in a soul, in order
that he may continue to implant in it the affections that he desires.
But he always strives to move its will so that it may esteem those
interior communications, attach great importance to them, and, as a
result, give itself up to them and be occupied in that which is not
virtue, but is rather the occasion of losing virtue as the soul may
have.
12. Let us remember, then, this necessary caution, both as to the one
type of locution and as to the other, so that we may not be deceived or
hindered by them. Let us treasure none of them, but think only of
learning to direct our will determinedly to God, fulfilling His law and
His holy counsels perfectly, which is the wisdom of the Saints, and
contenting ourselves with knowing the mysteries and truths
with the simplicity and truth wherewith the Church sets them before us.
For this is sufficient to enkindle the will greatly, so that we need
not pry into other deep and curious things wherein it is a wonder if
there is no peril. For with respect to this Saint Paul says: It is not
fitting to know more than it behoves us [464] to know. [465] And let
this suffice with respect to this matter of successive words.
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[457] Genesis xxvii, 22.
[458] [Lit., `with four maravedis' worth of experience.' The maravedi
was a small coin, worth 1/375 of a gold ducat, the unit of coinage at
this time in Castile.]
[459] [Lit., `and thus it.']
[460] This profound and important principle, which has often been
developed in mystical theology, is well expounded by P. Jose de Jesus
Maria in a treatise called Reply to a question [Respuesta a una duda].
Here, among other things, he says: `As St. Thomas proves (De Veritate,
q. 12, a. 6), Divine illumination, like every other spiritual form, is
communicated to the soul after the manner of the receiver of it,
whether according to sense or according to spirit, to the particular or
to the universal. And thus, he that receives it must prepare himself
for it to be communicated to him further, whether in small measure (as
we say) or according to sense, or in large measure or intellectually.'
[461] [Canticles vi, 4.]
[462] [Lit., `and then throwing it down.']
[463] [Lit., `He grants them wrapped up in this.']
[464] [The verbs used in the Spanish for `is fitting' and `behoves' are
the same.]
[465] Romans xii, 3.
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CHAPTER XXX
Which treats of the interior words that come to the spirit formally by
supernatural means. Warns the reader of the harm which they may do and
of the caution that is necessary in order that the soul may not be
deceived by them.
The interior words belonging to the second type are formal words, which
at certain times come to the spirit by supernatural means, without the
intervention of any of the senses, sometimes when the spirit is
recollected and at other times when it is not. I call them formal
because they are communicated to the spirit formally by a third person,
the spirit itself playing no part in this. And they are therefore very
different from those which we have just described; because not only is
there this difference, that they come without any such intervention of
the spirit itself as takes place in the other case; but also, as I say,
they sometimes come when the spirit is not recollected and even when it
is far from thinking of the subject of what is being said to it. This
is not so in the first type of locution — namely, that of successive
words — which always has some relation to the subject which the soul
is considering.
2. These words are sometimes very clearly formed and sometimes less so;
for they are frequently like conceptions in which something is said to
the spirit, whether in the form of a reply to it or in that of another
manner of address. Sometimes there is only one word; sometimes there
are two or more; sometimes the words succeed one another like those
already described, for they are apt to be continuous, either
instructing the soul or discussing something with it; and all this
comes to pass without any part being played therein by the spirit, for
it is just as though one person were speaking with another. In this
way, we read, it came to pass with Daniel, who says that the angel
spoke within him. [466] This was a formal and successive discourse
within his spirit, which instructed him, even as the angel declared at
the time, saying that he had come to instruct him.
3. When these words are no more than formal, the effect which they
produce upon the soul is not great. For ordinarily they serve only to
instruct or illumine with respect to one thing; and, in order to
produce this effect, it is not necessary that they should produce any
other effect more efficacious than the purpose to which they are
leading. And when they are of God they invariably work this in the
soul; for they make it ready and quick to do that which it is commanded
or instructed to do; yet at times they take not from it the repugnance
or the difficulty which it feels, but are rather wont to increase
these, according as God ordains for the better instruction, increased
humility and greater good of the soul. And this repugnance most
commonly occurs when the soul is commanded to do things of a high
order, or things of a kind that may exalt it; when things are commanded
it that conduce to its greater lowliness and humility, it responds with
more readiness and ease. And thus we read in Exodus that, when God
commanded Moses to go to Pharao and driver the people, he showed such
great repugnance that He had to command him three times to do it and to
perform signs for him; and all this was of no avail until God gave him
Aaron for a companion to take part of the honour. [467]
4. When, on the other hand, the words and communications are of the
devil, it comes to pass that the soul responds with more ease and
readiness to things that are of greater weight, [468] and for lowlier
things it conceives repugnance. The fact is that God so greatly abhors
seeing souls attracted by high position that, even when He commands and
obliges them to accept such positions, He desires them not to be ready
and anxious to command. It is this readiness which God commonly
inspires in the soul, through these formal words, that constitutes one
great difference between them and those other successive words: the
latter move not the spirit so much, neither do they inspire it with
such readiness, since they are less formal, and since the understanding
has more to do with them. Nevertheless successive words may sometimes
produce a greater effect by reason of the close communication that
there is at times between the Divine Spirit and the human. It is in the
manner of their coming that there is a great difference between the two
kinds of locution. With respect to formal words the soul can have no
doubt as to whether or no it is pronouncing them itself, for it sees
quite ready that it is not, especially when it has not been thinking of
the subject of that which has been said to it; and even when it has
been so thinking it feels very clearly and distinctly that the words
come from elsewhere.
5. The soul must no more attach importance to all these formal words
than to the other, or successive, words; for, apart from the fact that
to do so would occupy the spirit with that which is not a legitimate
and proximate means to union with God — namely, faith — it might also
very easily cause it to be deceived by the devil. For sometimes it is
hardly possible to know what words are spoken by a good spirit, and
what by an evil spirit. By their effects they can hardly be
distinguished at all, since neither kind produces effects of much
importance: sometimes, indeed, with imperfect souls, words which come
from the devil have more efficacy than have these others, which come
from a good spirit, with souls that are spiritual. The soul, then, must
take no account of what these words may express, nor attach any
importance to them, whether the spirit from which they come be good or
evil. But the words must be repeated to an experienced confessor, or to
a discreet and learned person, that he may give instruction and see
what it is well to do, and impart his advice; and the soul must behave,
with regard to them, in a resigned and negative way. And, if such an
expert person cannot be found, it is better to attach no importance to
these words and to repeat them to nobody; for it is easy to find
persons who will ruin the soul rather than edify it. Souls must not be
given into the charge of any kind of director, since in so grave a
matter it is of the greatest importance whether one goes astray or acts
rightly.
6. And let it be carefully noted that a soul should never act according
to its own opinion or accept anything of what these locutions express,
without much reflection and without taking advice of another. For
strange and subtle deceptions may arise in this matter; so much so that
I myself believe that the soul that does not set itself against
accepting such things cannot fail to be deceived by many of them.
7. And since we have treated of these deceptions and perils, and of the
caution to be observed with regard to them, in Chapters seventeen,
eighteen, nineteen and twenty of this book, I refer the reader to these
and say no more on this matter here; I only repeat that my chief
instruction is that the soul should attach no importance to these
things in any way.
__________________________________________________________________
[466] Daniel ix, 22.
[467] Exodus iii, iv.
[468] [Lit., `greater worth.']
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CHAPTER XXXI
Which treats of the substantial words that come interiorly to the
spirit. Describes the difference between them and formal words, and the
profit which they bring and the resignation and respect which the soul
must observe with regard to them. [469]
The third kind of interior words, we said, is called substantial. These
substantial words, although they are likewise formal, since they are
impressed upon the soul in a definitely formal way, differ,
nevertheless, in that substantial words produce vivid and substantial
effects upon the soul, whereas words which are merely formal do not. So
that, although it is true that every substantial word is formal, every
formal word is not therefore substantial, but only, as we said above,
such a word as impresses substantially on the soul that which it
signifies. It is as if Our Lord were to say formally to the soul: `Be
thou good'; it would then be substantially good. Or as if He were to
say to it: `Love thou Me'; it would then have and feel within itself
the substance of love for God. Or as if it feared greatly and He said
to it: `Fear thou not'; it would at once feel within itself great
fortitude and tranquility. For the saying of God, and His word, as the
Wise Man says, is full of power; [470] and thus that which He says to
the soul He produces substantially within it. For it is this that David
meant when he said: `See, He will give to His voice a voice of virtue.'
[471] And even so with Abraham, when He said to him: `Walk in My
presence and be perfect': [472] he was then perfect and walked ever in
the fear of God. And this is the power of His word in the Gospel,
wherewith He healed the sick, raised the dead, etc., by no more than a
word. And after this manner He gives certain souls locutions which are
substantial; and they are of such moment and price that they are life
and virtue and incomparable good to the soul; for one of these words
works greater good within the soul than all that the soul itself has
done throughout its life.
2. With respect to these words, the soul should do nothing. It should
neither desire them nor refrain from desiring them; it should neither
reject them nor fear them. It should do nothing in the way of executing
what these words express, for these substantial words are never
pronounced by God in order that the soul may translate them into
action, but that He may so translate them within the soul; herein they
differ from formal and successive words. And I say that the soul must
neither desire nor refrain from desiring, since its desire is not
necessary for God to translate these words into effect, nor is it
sufficient for the soul to refrain from desiring in order for the said
effect not to be produced. Let the soul rather be resigned and humble
with respect to them. It must not reject them, since the effect of
these words remains substantially within it and is full of the good
which comes from God. As the soul receives this good passively, its
action is at no time of any importance. Nor should it fear any
deception; for neither the understanding nor the devil can intervene
herein, nor can they succeed in passively producing this substantial
effect in the soul, in such a way that the effect and habit of the
locution may be impressed upon it, unless the soul should have given
itself to the devil by a voluntary compact, and he should have dwelt in
it as its master, and impressed upon it these effects, not of good, but
of evil. Inasmuch as that soul would be already voluntarily united to
him in perversity, the devil might easily impress upon it the effects
of his sayings and words with evil intent. For we see by experience
that in many things and even upon good souls he works great violence,
by means of suggestion, making his suggestions very efficacious; and if
they were evil he might work in them the consummation of these
suggestions. But he cannot leave upon a soul effects similar to those
of locutions which are good; for there is no comparison between the
locutions of the devil and those of God. The former are all as though
they were not, in comparison with the latter, neither do they produce
any effect at all compared with the effect of these. For this cause God
says through Jeremias: `What has the chaff to do with the wheat? Are
not My words perchance as fire, and as a hammer that breaketh the rock
in pieces?' [473] And thus these substantial words are greatly
conducive to the union of the soul with God; and the more interior they
are, the more substantial are they, and the greater is the profit that
they bring. Happy is the soul to whom God addresses these words. Speak,
Lord, for Thy servant heareth. [474]
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[469] This chapter is notable for the hardly surpassable clarity and
precisions with which the Saint defines substantial locutions. Some
critics, however, have found fault with him for saying that the soul
should not fear these locutions, but accept them humbly and passively,
since they depend wholly on God. The reply is that, when God favours
the soul with these locutions, its own restless effort can only impede
His work in it, as has already been said. The soul is truly
co-operating with God by preparing itself with resignation and humble
affection to receive His favours: it should not, as some critics have
asserted, remain completely inactive. As to the fear of being deceived
by these locutions, both St. Thomas and all the principal commentators
are in conformity with the Saint's teaching. St. Teresa, too, took the
same attitude as St. John of the Cross. Cf. her Life, Chap. xxv, and
Interior Castle, VI, iii.
[470] Ecclesiastes viii, 4.
[471] Psalm lxvii, 34 [A.V., lxviii, 33].
[472] Genesis xvii, 1.
[473] Jeremias xxiii, 28-9.
[474] 1 Kings [A.V., 1 Samuel] iii, 10.
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CHAPTER XXXII
Which treats of the apprehensions received by the understanding from
interior feelings which come supernaturally to the soul. Describes
their cause, and the manner wherein the soul must conduct itself so
that they may not obstruct its road to union with God.
It is now time to treat of the fourth and last kind of intellectual
apprehension which we said might come to the understanding through the
spiritual feelings which are frequently produced supernaturally in the
souls of spiritual persons and which we count amongst the distinct
apprehensions of the understanding.
2. These distinct spiritual feelings may be of two kinds. The first
kind is in the affection of the will. The second, in the substance of
the soul. Each of these may be of many kinds. Those of the will, when
they are of God, are most sublime; but those that are of the substance
of the soul are very high and of great good and profit. As to these,
neither the soul nor he that treats with it can know or understand the
cause whence they proceed, or what are the acts whereby God may grant
it these favours; for they depend not upon any works performed by the
soul, nor upon its meditations, although both these things are a good
preparation for them: God grants these favours to whom He wills and for
what reason He wills. [475] For it may come to pass that a person will
have performed many good works, yet that He will not give him these
touches of His favour; and another will have done far fewer good works,
yet He will give him them to a most sublime degree and in great
abundance. And thus it is not needful that the soul should be actually
employed and occupied in spiritual things (although it is much better
that it should be so employed if it is to have these favours) for God
to give it these touches in which the soul experiences the said
feelings; for in the majority of cases the soul is completely heedless
of them. Of these touches, some are distinct and pass quickly away;
others are less distinct and last longer.
3. These feelings, inasmuch as they are feelings only, belong not to
the understanding but to the will; and thus I refrain, of set purpose,
from treating of them here, nor shall I do so until we treat of the
night and purgation of the will in its affections: this will be in the
third book, which follows this. [476] But since frequently, and even in
the majority of cases, apprehensions and knowledge and intelligence
overflow from them into the understanding, it would be well to make
mention of them here, for that reason only. It must be known, then,
that from these feelings, both from those of the will and from those
which are in the substance of the soul, whether they are caused
suddenly by the touches of God, or are durable and successive, an
apprehension of knowledge or intelligence frequently overflows, as I
say, into the understanding; and this is normally a most sublime
perception of God, most delectable to the understanding, to which no
name can be given, any more than to the feeling whence it overflows.
And these manifestations of knowledge are sometimes of one kind and
sometimes of another; sometimes they are clearer and more sublime,
according to the nature of the touches which come from God and which
produce the feelings whence they proceed, and according also to their
individual characteristics.
4. It is unnecessary here to spend a great store of words in cautioning
and directing the understanding, through these manifestations of
knowledge, in faith, to union with God. For albeit the feelings which
we have described are produced passively in the soul, without any
effective assistance to that end on its own part, even so likewise is
the knowledge of them received passively in the understanding, in a way
called by the philosophers `passible,' wherein the understanding plays
no part. Wherefore, in order not to go astray on their account nor to
impede the profit which comes from them, the understanding must do
nothing in connection with these feelings, but must conduct itself
passively, and not interfere by applying to them its natural capacity.
For, as we have said is the case with successive locutions, the
understanding, with its activity, would very easily disturb and ruin
the effect of these delicate manifestations of knowledge, which are a
delectable supernatural intelligence that human nature cannot attain or
apprehend by its own efforts, but only by remaining in a state of
receptivity. [477] And thus the soul must not strive to attain them or
desire to receive them, lest the understanding should form other
manifestations of its own, or the devil should make his entry with
still more that are different from them and false. This he may very
well do by means of the feelings aforementioned, or of those which he
can himself infuse into the soul that devotes itself to these kinds of
knowledge. Let the soul be resigned, humble and passive herein, for,
since it receives this knowledge passively from God, He will
communicate it whensoever He is pleased, if He sees the soul to be
humble and detached. And in this way the soul will do nothing to
counteract the help which these kinds of knowledge give it in its
progress toward Divine union, which help is great; for these touches
are all touches of union, which is wrought passively in the soul. [478]
5. What has been said concerning this suffices, for no matter what may
happen to the soul with respect to the understanding, cautions and
instructions have been given it in the sections already mentioned. And
although a case may appear to be different and to be in no way included
herein, there is none that cannot be referred to one of these, and thus
may be deduced the instruction necessary for it. [479]
__________________________________________________________________
[475] A, B: `and how He wills.' Note that the Saint does not deprecate
good works, as did the Illuminists [alumbrados], who bade the perfect
soul set them aside for contemplation, even though they were works of
obligation. On the contrary, he asserts that good works have a
definite, though a preparatory, part to play in the life of a
contemplative.
[476] Alc. alone has: `which follows this.' The Saint does not, in
fact, return to this matter, either in the third book or elsewhere.
[477] [Lit., `or apprehend by doing, but by receiving.']
[478] Some editions here add a long paragraph, which, however, is the
work of P. Jeronimo de San Jose, who was responsible for the edition of
1630. It appears neither in the MSS. nor in e.p. It runs as follows:
All the instruction which has been given in this book on total
abstraction and passive contemplation, wherein, oblivious to all
created things and detached from images and figures, we allow ourselves
to be guided by God, dwelling with simple regard upon supreme truth, is
applicable not only to that act of most perfect contemplation, the
lofty and wholly supernatural repose of which is still prevented by the
daughters of Jerusalem (namely, good reflections and meditations), if
at that time the soul desires them, but also to the whole of the time
during which Our Lord communicates the simple, general and loving
attentiveness aforementioned, or during which the soul, aided by grace,
places itself in that state. For at that time the soul must always
strive to keep its understanding in repose, without the interference of
other forms, figures or particular kinds of knowledge, save very
fleetingly and quite superficially; and it must have a loving sweetness
which will enkindle it ever more. But, except at this time, in all its
exercises, acts and works, the soul must make use of good meditations
and remembrances, so as to experience the greater devotion and profit,
most of all with respect to the life, passion and death of Our Lord
Jesus Christ, so that its actions, practices and life may be made like
to His.
[479] Thus Alc. A, B, e.p. read: `This suffices to conclude (our
treatment of) the supernatural apprehensions of the understanding, so
far as concerns the guidance of the understanding, by their means, in
faith, to Divine union. And I think that what has been said with regard
to this suffices, for, no matter what happens to the soul with respect
to the understanding, instructions and cautions concerning it will be
found in the sections already mentioned. And, if something should
happen, apparently so different that none of them deals with it
(although I think there will be nothing relating to the understanding
which cannot be referred to one of the four kinds of distinct
knowledge), instructions and cautions concerning it can be deduced from
what has been said of others similar to it. And with this we will pass
to the third book, where, with the Divine favour, we shall treat of the
interior spiritual purgation of the will with regard to its interior
affections which we here call active night.' C, D have: `From what has
been said may be deduced instructions and cautions for guidance in
whatever may happen to the soul with regard to the understanding, even
if it seem so different that it includes none of the four distinct
kinds, although I think there will be nothing relating to the
understanding which cannot be referred to one of them. And so we will
pass to the third book.' The edition of 1630 follows A, B and e.p., and
adds further: `I therefore beg the discreet reader to read these things
in a benevolent and simple spirit; for, when this spirit is not
present, however sublime and perfect be the instruction, it will not
yield the profit that it contains, nor will it earn the esteem that it
merits. How much truer is this in the present case, since my style is
in so many ways deficient!'
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BOOK THE THIRD
Which treats of the purgation of the active night of the memory and
will. Gives instruction how the soul is to behave with respect to the
apprehensions of these two faculties, that it may come to union with
God, according to the two faculties aforementioned, in perfect hope and
charity.
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CHAPTER I
The first faculty of the soul, which is the understanding, has now been
instructed, through all its apprehensions, in the first theological
virtue, which is faith, to the end that, according to this faculty, the
soul may be united with God by means of the purity of faith. It now
remains to do likewise with respect to the other two faculties of the
soul, which are memory and will, and to purify them likewise with
respect to their apprehensions, to the end that, according to these two
faculties also, the soul may come to union with God in perfect hope and
charity. This will briefly be effected in this third book. We have now
concluded our treatment of the understanding, which is the receptacle
of all other objects according to its mode of operation; and in
treating of this we have gone a great part of the whole way. It is
therefore unnecessary for us to write at equal length with respect to
these faculties; for it is not possible that, if the spiritual man
instructs his understanding in faith according to the doctrine which
has been given him, he should not, in so doing, instruct the other two
faculties in the other two virtues likewise; for the operations of each
faculty depend upon the others.
2. But since, in order to follow our manner of procedure, and in order,
too, that we may be the better understood, we must necessarily speak of
the proper and determinate matter, we shall here be obliged to set down
the apprehensions proper to each faculty, and first, those of the
memory, making here such distinction between them as suffices for our
purpose. This we shall be able to deduce from the distinction between
their objects, which are three: natural, imaginary and spiritual;
according to which there are likewise three kinds of knowledge which
come from the memory, namely: natural and supernatural, [480] imaginary
and spiritual.
3. All these, by the Divine favour, we shall treat here in due course,
beginning with natural knowledge, which pertains to the most exterior
objects. And we shall then treat of the affections of the will,
wherewith we shall conclude this third book of the active spiritual
night.
__________________________________________________________________
[480] It will be seen from what follows that in practice the Saint
preserves the strictly tripartite division given in the text above,
supernatural knowledge being found in each of the sections.
__________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER II
Which treats of the natural apprehensions of the memory and describes
how the soul must be voided of them in order to be able to attain to
union with God according to this faculty.
It is necessary that, in each of these books, the reader should bear in
mind the purpose of which we are speaking. For otherwise there may
arise within him many such questions with respect to what he is reading
as might by this time be occurring to him with respect to what we have
said of the understanding, and shall say now of the memory, and
afterwards shall say of the will. For, seeing how we annihilate the
faculties with respect to their operations, it may perhaps seem to him
that we are destroying the road of spiritual practice rather than
constructing it.
2. This would be true if we were seeking here only to instruct
beginners, who are best prepared through these apprehensible and
discursive apprehensions. But, since we are here giving instruction to
those who would progress farther in contemplation, even to union with
God, to which end all of these means and exercises of sense concerning
the faculties must recede into the background, and be put to silence,
to the end that God may of His own accord work Divine union in the
soul, it is necessary to proceed by this method of disencumbering and
emptying the soul, and causing it to reject the natural jurisdiction
and operations of the faculties, so that they may become capable of
infusion and illumination from supernatural sources; for their capacity
cannot attain to so lofty an experience, but will rather hinder it, if
it be not disregarded.
3. And thus, if it be true, as it is, that the soul must proceed in its
growing knowledge of God by learning that which He is not rather than
that which He is, in order to come to Him, it must proceed by
renouncing and rejecting, to the very uttermost, everything in its
apprehensions that it is possible to renounce, whether this be natural
or supernatural. We shall proceed with this end in view with regard to
the memory, drawing it out from its natural state and limitations, and
causing it to rise above itself — that is, above all distinct
knowledge and apprehensible possession — to the supreme hope of God,
Who is incomprehensible.
4. Beginning, then, with natural knowledge, I say that natural
knowledge in the memory consists of all the kinds of knowledge that the
memory can form concerning the objects of the five bodily senses —
namely: hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch — and all kinds of
knowledge of this type which it is possible to form and fashion. Of all
these forms and kinds of knowledge the soul must strip and void itself,
and it must strive to lose the imaginary apprehension of them, so that
there may be left in it no kind of impression of knowledge, nor trace
of aught soever, but rather the soul must remain barren and bare, as if
these forms had never passed through it, and in total oblivion and
suspension. And this cannot happen unless the memory be annihilated as
to all its forms, if it is to be united with God. For it cannot happen
save by total separation from all forms which are not God; for God
comes beneath no definite form or kind of knowledge whatsoever, as we
have said in treating of the night of the understanding. And since, as
Christ says, no man can serve two masters, [481] the memory cannot be
united both with God and with forms and distinct kinds of knowledge
and, as God has no form or image that can be comprehended by the
memory, it follows that, when the memory is united with God (as is
seen, too, every day by experience), it remains without form and
without figure, its imagination being lost and itself being absorbed in
a supreme good, and in a great oblivion, remembering nothing. For that
Divine union voids its fancy and sweeps it clean of all forms and kinds
of knowledge and raises it to the supernatural.
5. Now there sometimes comes to pass here a notable thing; for
occasionally, when God brings about these touches of union in the
memory, the brain (where memory has its seat) is so perceptibly upset
that it seems as if it becomes quite inert, and its judgment and sense
are lost. This is sometimes more perceptible and sometimes less so,
according to the strength of this touch, and then, by reason of this
union, the memory is voided and purged, as I say, of all kinds of
knowledge. It remains in oblivion — at times in complete oblivion —
so that it has to put forth a great effort and to labour greatly in
order to remember anything.
6. And sometimes this oblivion of the memory and suspension of the
imagination reach such a point, because of the union of the memory with
God, that a long time passes without the soul's perceiving it, or
knowing what has taken place during that period. And, as the
imaginative faculty is then in suspension, it feels naught that is done
to it, not even things that cause pain; for without imagination there
is no feeling, not even coming through thought, since this exists not.
And, to the end that God may bring about these touches of union, the
soul must needs withdraw its memory from all apprehensible kinds of
knowledge. And it is to be noted that these suspensions come not to
pass in those that are already perfect, since they have attained to
perfect union, and these suspensions belong to the beginnings of union.
7. Someone will remark that all this seems very well, but that it leads
to the destruction of the natural use and course of the faculties, and
reduces man to the state of a beast — a state of oblivion and even
worse — since he becomes incapable of reasoning or of remembering his
natural functions and necessities. It will be argued that God destroys
not nature, but rather perfects it; and that from this teaching there
necessarily follows its destruction, when that which pertains to
morality and reason is not practised and is forgotten, neither is that
which is natural practised; for (it will be said) none of these things
can be remembered, as the soul is deprived of forms and kinds of
knowledge which are the means of remembrance.
8. To this I reply that, the more nearly the memory attains to union
with God, the more do distinct kinds of knowledge become perfected
within it, until it loses them entirely — namely, when it attains to
the state of union in perfection. And thus, at the beginning, when this
is first taking place, the soul cannot but fall into great oblivion
with respect to all things, since forms and kinds of knowledge are
being erased from it; and therefore it is very negligent concerning its
outward behaviour and usage — forgetting to eat or drink, and being
uncertain if it has done this or no, if it has seen this or no, if it
has said this or no — because of the absorption of the memory in God.
But when once it attains to the habit of union, which is a supreme
blessing, it no longer has these periods of oblivion, after this
manner, in that which pertains to natural and moral reason; actions
which are seemly and necessary, indeed, it performs with a much greater
degree of pection, although it performs them no longer by means of
forms and manners of knowledge pertaining to the memory. For, when it
has the habit of union, which is a supernatural state, memory and the
other faculties fail it completely in their natural functions, and pass
beyond their natural limitations, even to God, Who is supernatural. And
thus, when the memory is transformed in God, it cannot receive
impressions of forms or kinds of knowledge. Wherefore the functions of
the memory and of the other faculties in this state are all Divine;
for, when at last God possesses the faculties and has become the entire
master of them, through their transformation into Himself, it is He
Himself Who moves and commands them divinely, according to His Divine
Spirit and will; and the result of this is that the operations of the
soul are not distinct, but all that it does is of God, and its
operations are Divine, so that, even as Saint Paul says, he that is
joined unto God becomes one spirit with Him. [482]
9. Hence it comes to pass that the operations of the soul in union are
of the Divine Spirit and are Divine. And hence it comes that the
actions of such souls are only those that are seemly and reasonable,
and not those that are ill-beseeming. For the Spirit of God teaches
them that which they ought to know, and causes them to be ignorant of
that which it behoves them not to know, and to remember that which they
have to remember, with or without forms, and to forget that which they
should forget; and it makes them love that which they have to love, and
not to love that which is not in God. And thus, all the first motions
of the faculties of such souls are Divine and it is not to be wondered
at that the motions and operations of these faculties should be Divine,
since they are transformed in the Divine Being. [483]
10. Of these operations I will give a few examples. Let this be one. A
person asks another who is in this state to commend him to God. This
person will not remember to do so by means of any form or kind of
knowledge that remains in his memory concerning that other person; if
it be right that he should recommend him to God (which will be if God
desires to receive a prayer for that person), He will move his will and
give him a desire to pray for him; and if God desires not such prayer,
that other person will not be able nor will desire to pray,' though he
make great efforts to do so; and at times God will cause him to pray
for others of whom he has no knowledge nor has ever heard. And this is
because, as I have said, God alone moves the faculties of these souls
to do those works which are meet, according to the will and ordinance
of God, and they cannot be moved to do others; and thus the works and
prayers of these souls are always effectual. Such were those of the
most glorious Virgin Our Lady, who, being raised to this high estate
from the beginning, had never the form of any creature imprinted in her
soul, neither was moved by such, but was invariably guided by the Holy
Spirit.
11. Another example. At a certain time a person in this state has to
attend to some necessary business. He will remember it by no kind of
form, but, without his knowing how, it will come to his soul, at the
time and in the manner that it ought to come, and that without fail.
12. And not only in these things does the Holy Spirit give such persons
light, but also in many others, relating both to the present and to the
future, and even, in many cases, as regards those absent from them; and
although at times this comes to pass through intellectual forms, it
frequently happens without the intervention of any forms that can be
apprehended, so that these persons know not how they know. But this
comes to them from the Divine Wisdom; for, since these souls exercise
themselves in knowing and apprehending nothing with the faculties, they
come in general, as we have said in the Mount, [484] to know
everything, according to that which the Wise Man says: `The worker of
all things, who is Wisdom, taught me all things.' [485]
13. You will say, perhaps, that the soul will be unable to void and
deprive its memory of all forms and fancies to such an extent as to be
able to attain to so lofty a state; for there are two things so
difficult that their accomplishment surpasses human ability and
strength, namely, to throw off with one's natural powers that which is
natural, which is hard enough, [486] and to attain and be united to the
supernatural, which is much more difficult — indeed, to speak the
truth, is impossible with natural ability alone. The truth, I repeat,
is that God must place the soul in this supernatural state; but the
soul, as far as in it lies, must be continually preparing itself; and
this it can do by natural means, especially with the help that God is
continually giving it. And thus, as the soul, for its own part, enters
into this renunciation and self-emptying of forms, so God begins to
give it the possession of union; and this God works passively in the
soul, as we shall say, Deo dante, when we treat of the passive night of
the soul. And thus, when it shall please God, and according to the
manner of the soul's preparation, He will grant it the habit of perfect
and Divine union.
14. And the Divine effects which God produces in the soul when He has
granted it this habit, both as to the understanding and as to the
memory and will, we shall not describe in this account of the soul's
active purgation and night, for this alone will not bring the soul to
Divine union. We shall speak of these effects, however, in treating of
the passive night, by means of which is brought about the union of the
soul with God. [487] And so I shall speak here only of the necessary
means whereby the memory may place itself actively in this night and
purgation, as far as lies in its power. And these means are that the
spiritual man must habitually exercise caution, after this manner. All
the things that he hears, sees, smells, tastes, or touches, he must be
careful not to store up or collect in his memory, but he must allow
himself to forget them immediately, and this he must accomplish, if
need be, with the same efficacy as that with which others contrive to
remember them, so that there remains in his memory no knowledge or