Chapter LXXV
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tween earth and heaven is between body and spirit. Now the worth of human spirit is one thing, that of angehc spirit is another, and the excellence of divine spirit is far different.
Indeed, the worth of human spirit that endures punishment and guilt is far surpassed by the excellence of angelic nature, which is free from both. But that spirit which made angel and man precedes both of them incomparably. Any soul is truly raised up to any of these heavens when, as it abandons the lowest things of earthly thoughts, it is transfixed in contemplation of these heavens. And so knowledge of self pertains to the first heaven; contemplation of God pertains to the third. And who do you think ascends to this third heaven, except he who also descends—the Son of man who is in heaven? And so, if there are those who ascend to the heavens and descend into the depths, nevertheless they do not ascend except perhaps to the first and second for they are not able to ascend to the third. Certainly men can be snatched up to this heaven, but they are not at all able to ascend by themselves.
Nevertheless we are able to separate into three stages that knowledge of God which one is able to possess in this life, and according to the triple difference of stages we are able to divide the heavens by three inasmuch as God is seen one way by faith, is known another way by reason, and is discerned another way by means of contemplation. Thus the first vision pertains to the first heaven; the second, to the second heaven; the third, to the third heaven. The first is below reason; the second, with reason; the third, above reason. So people can surely ascend to the first and second heaven of contemplation; but none reach to that which is above reason except those snatched up above themselves by means of ecstasy. Moreover, we can conclude suitably enough from the death of his mother that we ought to understand by Benjamin that kind of contemplation which is above reason.
Chapter LXXV Concerning the supereminence of spiritual contemplations Compared to the height of such contemplation, any knowledge possessed by creatures is limited and lies in the depths and scarcely
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occupies the space of a point, as does the quality of the earth with respect to heaven.
Compared to knowledge possessed by the Creator, what is any knowledge however great possessed by creatures except that it is like earth in relation to heaven and the center of a circle in relation to the whole circumference? Nevertheless the earth, this lower knowledge of lower things, has these things: mountains and hills, fields and valleys. According to the difference of creatures there will be a difference of knowledges. In order that we may begin from the lowest, the difference between body and body is great since indeed there are celestial bodies, and there are also terrestrial bodies. Nevertheless, the difference between a body of any sort and a spirit is greater than that between any sort of bodies, however dissimilar.
But of spirits themselves, some are irrational, others are rational. Thus those who still marvel only at corporeal things seem to have fixed their eyes, as it were, on the lowest things. But those who turn themselves to the investigation of spiritual things already, as it were, ascend to high things. The first and principle thing for the soul that strives to ascend to the height of knowledge must be the effort to know itself. The great height of knowledge is to know the self perfectly. The full knowledge of a rational spirit is a mountain great and high. This mountain transcends the highest point of all mundane knowledges; from the height it looks down upon all philosophy, all knowledge of the world. What so excellent did Aristotle or Plato discover; what so excellent was such a crowd of philosophers able to discover? Truly, without doubt, if they had been able by the keenness of their natural ability to ascend this mountain, if their efforts had sufficed for them to discover themselves, if they had known themselves fully, they would never worship idols, never bow the neck to a creature, never raise up the neck against the Creator. Here those searching failed in the search. Here, I say, they failed and were not able at all to ascend the mountain. "Let man ascend to a high heart, and God shall be exalted" (Ps. 63:7, 8). O man, learn to know; learn to think about yourself and you have ascended to a high heart. The more you advance daily in the knowledge of yourself, the more you always tend to higher things. He who arrives at perfect knowledge of himself already takes possession of the summit of the mountain.
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Chapter LXXVI How rare and how delightful it is to bring spiritual contemplations into use and to turn them into pleasure O how few are those who ascend this far, either because they do not know or because they are not able.
It is very rare to ascend this mountain but much rarer to stand on its summit and to stay there for a while. However it is rarest of all to live there and rest in the mind: "Who," he says, "shall ascend the mountain of the Lx)rd, and who shall stand in His holy place?" (Ps. 23:3). The first thing is to ascend; afterward, to stand. Certainly there is labor in standing, but there is much more in ascending. Certainly many have failed in this ascent because of the excessive labor of ascending; many have descended quickly from its steep summit because of the labor of standing. Perhaps it seemed intolerable to them that not only can one not ascend this mountain except with great labor, but also in truth it is not given to one to stay there without great difficulty. But perhaps you already have ascended, and you already have learned to stand there—yet this ought not to suffice for you. Learn to live there, to make a dwelling place, and to return above to that place after being drawn away by whatever sort of wandering of the mind.
Without doubt, by much use it will at times be turned for you into pleasure, into so much that without any difficulty of labor you can exist there continually; indeed it would be greater pain for you elsewhere than to stay longer there.
It is a wonderful joy to be able to remain on this mountain without labor. Let Peter, who has been admitted to so great and so uncommon a pleasure, bear witness. He exclaims, "It is good for us to be here" (Matt.
17:4). O happy is he who is able to ascend this mountain and to rest in the mind. O how great! O how rare! "Lord who shall dwell in your tabernacle? And who shall rest on your holy mountain?" (Ps.
14:1). Certainly it is great to be able to ascend and to stand; nevertheless it is greater to be able to dwell and to rest. To ascend and stand belongs to virtue; to dwell and rest belongs to happiness. Each is great and is worthy of admiration. The Prophet marvels at each, the one for greatness of difficulty, the other for greatness of joy. Admiration of difficulty is that exclamation: "Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord,
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and who shall stand in His holy place?" (Ps.
23:3). Admiration of joy is that exclamation: "Lord, who shall dwell in your tabernacle, and who shall rest on your holy mountain?" (Ps.
14:1). O how great and what kind of fortitude, to ascend and stand; O how much and what kind of beatitude, to dwell and rest! Who is fit for this work, who is worthy to receive it? "Lord, who shall ascend; Lord, who shall stand on your holy mountain? Send forth your light and your truth; they have led me and brought me to your sacred mountain and into your tabernacle" (Ps. 42:3).
Chapter LXXVII That without prevenient grace we strive in vain for the summit Do you see that only Truth leads and brings one to this mountain? Truth leads; Truth is that which guides.
I gladly follow Truth; I do not hold suspect such a guide. Truth knows to lead; Truth does not know how to mislead. But what is Truth? What do you say, good Teacher, teacher Christ, what is Truth? "I am," he says, "the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6). Therefore let one who wishes to ascend the mountain follow Truth.
Follow Christ, whoever you are who wish to ascend this mountain. We have learned from the teaching of the Evangelist: "Then Jesus took his disciples, viz., Peter, James and John, and led them into a high mountain apart" (Matt.
17:1). Thus the disciples of Jesus are led above and apart, that they may take possession of this high mountain.
It is a steep way, a secret way unknown to many, which leads to the summit of this mountain.
I think only those run without error, only those arrive without impediment, who follow
Christ, who are led by Truth. Whoever hastens to high things, you go in security if Truth goes before you. Without it you labor in vain. As Truth does not wish to deceive, so it is not able to be deceived.
If you do not wish to err, follow Christ.
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Chapter LXXVHI How much full knowledge of self is effective Lest the labor of the journey and the difficulties of the ascent terrify you and draw you back, hear and give attention to what the result of arrival is. On the peak of this mountain Jesus is transfigured; on it Moses is seen with Elijah and each is recognized without a sign; on it the voice of the Father to the Son is heard. Which of these is not marvelous? Which of these is not desirable? Do you wish to see Christ transfigured? Ascend this mountain; learn to know yourself. Do you wish to see Moses and Elijah and recognize them without any sign?. Do you wish to understand the law and the prophets without a teacher, without an interpreter? Ascend this mountain; learn to know yourself. Do you wish to hear the mystery of the Father's secrets? Ascend this mountain; learn to know yourself. For he descended from heaven when he said: yviOTi creavrov; that is, "Know yourself." Do you now see how much the ascent of this mountain is effective, how useful full knowledge of self is?
Chapter LXXIX In what ways we reach to the height of knowledge But what do we say about the fact that Christ did not wish to ascend this mountain without three disciples, nor did he seek to take more than three with him? Perhaps in this work we are taught that without a threefold effort we are not brought to the height of this knowledge. Through the effort of work, through the effort of meditation and through the effort of prayer we are advanced little by little, and finally we are brought to perfection of knowledge. For we experience many things by working; we discover many things by investigation; we obtain many things by prayer. Since there are many things that we are not able to discover either through the experience of work or through the investigation of reason, we deserve through the importunity of prayer to be taught them from the showing of divine inspiration. When it joins these three compan-
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ions to itself, truth advances in us, raises itself up on high, and exalts itself up to that point by daily increments until at last it touches the summit of the above-mentioned mountain. O how many persons we see today, studious in reading, slothful in work, tepid in prayer, who nevertheless take it for granted that they are able to take possession of the peak of this mountain. But I ask, when will those who do not have Christ as leader take possession of it? For Christ who does not wish to ascend except with three disciples does not lead them. Therefore let one who seeks to have Christ as guide of the journey and leader of the ascent join the effort of work and prayer to the effort of reading. No doubt the mind is not lifted up to the complete height of knowledge without much exercise, without constant effort, without burning longing. This is because one who does not follow the footsteps of Christ perfectly does not enter the way of truth rightly.
Chapter LXXX How the divine showing happens at the highest point of our effort But it ought not to be passed over in silence that many persons believe that they have already taken possession of the highest point of this mountain when it is evident that they have scarcely touched the lowest portions of it.
It should be a sure sign to you that you have in no way taken possession of the top of this mountain if you have not yet deserved to see Christ glorified. As soon as Christ your leader has established you on the highest point. He appears to you in another condition. In your presence He puts on light as clothing, and just as the Evangelist bears witness, afterwards His garments become as white as snow and of such a sort as no fuller on the earth is able to make, since that splendor of divine wisdom which is seen from afar off from the high peak of speculation is not able to be defined at all by the prudence of human sense. Notice that Christ has one garment in the valley and another garment on the mountain. In the valley He surely has a seamless garment, but He has a glorious garment only on the mountain. Simple truth knows nothing of the divisions of schismatics, and therefore Christ is
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clothed with only seamless garments, whether in the valley or on the mountain. But there is a great difference between a seamless garment and a glorious garment. Do you wish to come to know the difference of His garments and to receive an open distinction between garment and garment.^ "If," He said, "I have told you earthly things, and you have not believed, how will you believe if I tell you celestial things?"
(John 3:12).
Distinguish between teaching and teaching, and you will discover the difference of garments. O how great is the difference between teaching in which earthly things are taught and teaching in which heavenly things are taught—and certainly not without Christ since without Truth neither the one nor the other is understood. For what is truly known where Truth does not speak? Thus it is Christ who teaches both— but earthly truth in the valley, heavenly truth on the mountain. Whenever you continue to remain in the valley, whenever you do not ascend to higher things, Christ does not teach you except concerning earthly and lowest things.
Chapter LXXXI How every showing that is not accompanied by the witness of Scripture ought to be suspect But if you already think that you have ascended to a high heart and have taken possession of that high and great mountain, if you already believe that you see Christ transfigured, you should not easily believe whatever you see on it or whatever you hear from Him—unless Moses and Elijah appear with Him. For we know that every testimony stands firm on the word of two or three. Every truth that the authority of Scripture does not confirm is suspect to me, nor do I accept Christ in His glorification if Moses and Elijah do not stand beside Him.
I often accept Christ without a witness, both in the valley and in the ascent of the mountain, but never on the summit of the mountain nor in His glorification.
If Christ teaches me concerning exterior things or concerning my innermost self I easily accept Him just as in those things which I can prove by my own experience. But truly where the mind is led to a high place,