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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. |