|
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] |