Chapter Three
CHAPTER THREE
CONTEMPLATING GOD
THROUGH HIS IMAGE
STAMPED UPON OUR NATURAL POWERS
1. The two previous stages, by leading us into God through his vestiges, through which he shines forth in all creatures, have led us to the point of reentering into ourselves, that is, into our mind, where the divine image shines forth.
Here it is that, now in the third stage, we enter into our very selves; and, as it were, leaving the outer court, we should strive to see God through a mirror in the sanctuary, that is, in the forward area of the tabernacle.
Here the light of truth, as from a candelabrum, glows upon the face of our mind, in which the image of the most blessed Trinity shines in splendor. 2
Enter into yourself, then, and see that your soul loves itself most fervently; that it could not love itself 1. On the description of the tabernacle in Scripture, cf. Exod. 26:33-35, 27:9-18, 37:17-24,
38:9-20.
Cf. Ps. 4:7.
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unless it knew itself, nor know itself unless it remembered itself, because our intellects grasp only what is present to our memory.
From this you can observe, not with the bodily eye, but with the eye of reason, that your soul has a threefold power.
Consider, therefore, the operations and relationships of these three powers, and you will be able to see God through yourself as through an image, which is to see through a mirror in an obscure manner . 3
2. The function of memory is to retain and represent not only present, corporeal and temporal things but also successive, simple and eternal things. For the memory retains the past by remembrance, the present by reception and the future by foresight.
It retains also simple things, such as the principles of continuous and discrete quantities like the point, the instant and the unit. Without these it is impossible to remember or to think of things which originate from them. The memory also retains the principles and axioms of the sciences, as everlasting truths held everlastingly. For while using reason, one can never so completely forget these principles that he would fail to approve and assent to them once they are heard, not as if he perceives them anew, but rather as if he recognizes them as innate and familiar. This is clearly shown when we propose to someone the following: "On any matter, one must either, affirm or deny," or "Every whole is greater than its part," or any other axiom which cannot be contradicted "by our inner reason." 4
In its first activity, therefore— the actual retention of all temporal things, past, present and future— the memory is an 3.
1 Cor.
13:12.
Aristotle, Anal. Post .
, I, t. 77, c.10 (76b 24-27); the first quote is a formulation of the principle of contradiction and is derived from Aristotle, Metapb., IV, t.
15, c. 4. (1006a 1-29); the second is derived also from Aristotle, ibid, V, t.
30f., c.
25f. (1023b 12-36).
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image of eternity, whose indivisible presence extends to all times. From its second activity, it is evident that memory is informed not only from outside by sensible images, but also from above by receiving and holding within itself simple forms which cannot enter through the doors of the senses by means of sensible images. From the third activity, we hold that the memory has an unchangeable light present to itself in which it remembers immutable truths. And so from the activities of the memory, we see that the soul itself is an image of God and a likeness so present to itself and having God so present that the soul actually grasps him and potentially "is capable of possessing him and of being a partaker in him." 5
3. The function of the intellective faculty consists in understanding the meaning of terms, propositions and inferences.
Now, the intellect grasps the meaning of terms when it comprehends in a definition what a thing is. But definitions are constructed by using more universal terms; and these are defined by more universal terms until we come to the highest and most universal. Consequently, unless these latter are known, the less universal cannot be grasped in a definition. Unless we know what being per se is, we cannot fully know the definition of any particular substance. We cannot know being per se unless we also know its properties, which are: one, true, good. Now, being can be considered as incomplete or complete, as imperfect or perfect, as being in potency or being in act, qualified being or unqualified being, partial being or total being, transient being or permanent being, being through another or being through itself, being mixed with nonbeing or pure being, dependent being or absolute being, posterior being or prior being, changeable being or unchangeable being, simple being or composite being. Since privations and defects can in no way be known except through something positive, our intellect does not come to the point of 5.
Augustine, De Trinitate , XIV, c.
8, no.
11.
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understanding any created being by a full analysis 6 unless it is aided by a knowledge of the Being which is most pure, most actual, most complete and absolute, which is unqualified and Eternal Being, in which are the principles of all things in their purity. How could the intellect know that a particular being is defective and incomplete if it had no knowledge of the Being which is free from all defect? The same holds true for the other properties previously mentioned.
The intellect can be said truly to comprehend the meaning of propositions when it knows with certitude that they are true.
To know this is really to know because the intellect cannot be deceived in this kind of comprehension. For it knows that this truth cannot be otherwise; therefore, it knows that this truth is unchangeable. But since our mind itself is changeable, it can see such a truth shining forth unchangingly only by means of some light which shines in an absolutely unchangeable way; and it is impossible for this light to be a changeable creature. Therefore our intellect knows in that Light which enlightens every man coming into this world , which is the true Light and the Word who was in the beginning with God (John 1:9, 1).
Our intellect truly grasps the meaning of an inference when it sees that the conclusion follows necessarily from the premises.
It sees this not only in necessary but also in contingent terms such as the following: If a man is running, the man is moving.
Our intellect perceives this necessary relationship not only in existing things, but also in nonexisting things. For if a man actually exists, it follows that if he is running, he is moving; the same conclusion follows even if he does not exist. The necessity, therefore, of this inference does not come from the existence of the thing in matter since it is contingent; nor from the existence of the thing in the soul because that would be a fiction if the thing did not exist in reality.
Therefore the necessity of such an 6. We translate by "full analysis" Bonaventure's technical termplene resolvens, which means a movement of the mind back to the absolute Being, whereby w hat is understood is known in relation to the absolute Being.
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inference comes from its exemplarity in the Eternal Art, according to which things are mutually oriented and related to one another because they are represented in the Eternal Art. As Augustine says in On the True Religion: The light of everyone who reasons truly is enkindled by that Truth which he also strives to reach. 7 From this it is obvious that our intellect is joined to Eternal Truth itself since it can grasp no truth with certitude if it is not taught by this Truth. You can see, therefore, through yourself the Truth which teaches you, if your desires and sensory images do not hinder you and interpose themselves like clouds between you and the rays of Truth.
4. The function of the power of choice is found in deliberation, judgment and desire.
Deliberation consists in inquiring which is better, this or that. But better has meaning only in terms of its proximity to best ; and this proximity is in terms of greater resemblance. No one, therefore, knows whether this is better than that unless he knows that it bears a greater resemblance to the best. No one knows that something bears a greater resemblance to another unless he knows the other. For I do not know that a certain man resembles Peter unless I know Peter or have some acquaintance with him. Therefore, the notion of the highest good is necessarily imprinted in everyone who deliberates.
A judgment of certitude on matters of deliberation is made according to some law. But no one judges with certitude according to law unless he is certain that the law is right and that he should not judge the law itself. But our mind judges about itself.
Since, then, it cannot judge about the law through which it judges, that law is higher than our mind; and our mind judges by means of that law insofar as it is imprinted on our mind. But nothing is higher than the human mind except him alone who made it. Therefore in judging, our deliberative power touches the divine laws if it reaches a solution by a full analysis. 8
Augustine, De vera religione , XXXIX, 72; this is a paraphrase, not a direct quotation.
8. The Latin is plena resolutione; cf. note 6, p.
82.
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Now desire tends principally toward what moves it most; but what moves it most is what is loved most, and what is loved most is happiness. But happiness is had only in terms of the best and ultimate end. Therefore human desire seeks nothing except the highest good or what leads to or has some likeness to it. So great is the power of the highest good that nothing can be loved by a creature except out of a desire for it. Creatures, when they take the image and copy for the Truth, are deceived and in error.
See, therefore, how close the soul is to God, and how, in their operations, the memory leads to eternity, the understanding to truth and the power of choice to the highest good.
5. These powers lead us to the most blessed Trinity itself in view of their order, origin and interrelatedness. From memory, intelligence comes forth as its offspring, since we understand when a likeness which is in the memory leaps into the eye of the intellect in the form of a word. From memory and intelligence love is breathed forth as their mutual bond.
These three— the generating mind, the word and love— are in the soul as memory, understanding and will, which are consubstantial, coequal and coeval, and interpenetrate each other. If, then, God is a perfect spirit, he has memory, understanding and will; and he has the Word generated and Love breathed forth, which are necessarily distinct since one is produced by the other— not in the order of essence, not in the order of accident, therefore in the order of persons.
When, therefore, the soul considers itself, it rises through itself as through a mirror to behold the blessed Trinity of the Father, the Word and Love: three persons, coeternal, coequal and consubstantial. Thus each one dwells in each of the others; nevertheless one is not the other but the three are one God.
6. When the soul considers its Triune Principle through the trinity of its powers, by which it is an image of God, it is aided by the lights of the sciences which perfect and inform it and represent the most blessed Trinity in a threefold way. For all philosophy is either natural or rational or moral. The first
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deals with the cause of being and therefore leads to the power of the Father; the second deals with the basis of understanding and therefore leads to the wisdom of the Word; the third deals with the order of living and therefore leads to the goodness of the Holy Spirit.
Again, the first, natural philosophy, is divided into metaphysics, mathematics and physics. The first deals with the essences of things; the second with numbers and figures; and the third with natures, powers and diffusive operations. Therefore the first leads to the First Principle, the Father; the second to his
Image, the Son; and the third to the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The second, rational philosophy, is divided into grammar, which makes men able to express themselves; logic, which makes them skillful in arguing; and rhetoric, which makes them capable of persuading and moving others. This likewise suggests the mystery of the most blessed Trinity.
The third, moral philosophy, is divided into individual, domestic and political. The first suggests the unbegottenness of the First Principle; the second, the relatedness of the Son; and the third, the liberality of the Holy Spirit.
All these sciences have certain and infallible rules, like rays of light shining down upon our mind from the eternal law.
And thus our mind, illumined and flooded by such brilliance, unless it is blind, can be led through itself to contemplate that Eternal Light.
The radiation and contemplation of this Light lifts up the wise in wonder; and on the contrary it leads to confusion the fools who do not believe so that they may understand.
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Thus this prophecy is fulfilled:
You enlighten wonderfully from the eternal hills; all the foolish of heart were troubled . 9
Ps. 75:5-6.