The Literal Meaning of Genesis (continued)
CHAPTER 31
The soul longs to see the Light, which is God, illuminating the intellect, but cannot do so except when carried off in ecstasy.
59. So, also, among the objects of the intellect; there are some that are seen in the soul itself:!°> for example, the virtues (to which the vices are opposed), either virtues which will endure, such as piety, or virtues that are useful for this life and not destined to remain in the next, as faith, by which we believe what we do not see, and hope, by which we await with patience the life that shall be, and patience itself, by which we bear every adversity until we arrive at the goal of our desires.!°°
These virtues, of course, and other similar ones, which are quite necessary for us now in living out our exile, will have no place in the blessed life, for the attainment of which they are necessary. And yet even they are seen with the intellect; for they are not bodies, nor have they forms similar to bodies.
But distinct from these objects is the Light by which the soul is illumined, in order that it may see and truly understand everything, either in itself or in the light.157 For the Light is God
whereas the soul is a creature; yet, since it is rational and intellectual, it is made in His image. And when it tries to behold the Light, it trembles in its weakness and finds itself unable to do so.!59 Yet from this source comes all the understanding it is able to attain. When, therefore, it is thus carried off and, after being withdrawn from the senses of the body, is made present to this vision in a more perfect manner (not by a spatial relation, but in a way proper to its being), it also sees above itself that Light!©° in whose illumination it is enabled to see all the objects that it sees and understands in itself.1¢!