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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. |