Chapter XX
THE MYSTICAL ARK
not three gods, but one God. According to the second cherub we confess that the substance of the Son has been united with our substance in one person. According to the first cherub we affirm with certainty that the substance of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is one and indivisible. Then according to mutual regard we confess openly that the Son alone truly was incarnate.
And so cherub looks at cherub when what one says, the other does not contradict. Cherub looks at cherub when the fifth kind of contemplation asserts those things which are for its consideration in such a way that it does not wish in any way to empty out those things which belong to the other cherubim. The cherubim look at each other mutually when the last two kinds of contemplation come to meet each other by turns and allude to sharing with each other and to the harmony of truth. Again: One cherub looks at the other when (as usually happens) our speculation begins with the penultimate kind and concludes with the last.
Or, on the contrary, it begins from the last and descends to the penultimate.
Chapter XX Concerning the mutual coming together of the three last speculations However, the two cherubim not only ought to look at each other; they certainly also ought to turn their faces toward the propitiatory in looking at one another. The designated cherubim turn their faces toward the propitiatory when they draw a similitude of reason from those things which are subject to the fourth kind of contemplation in order to support their assertion in what they jointly agree about with respect to sublime and divine things. For indeed, we understand the fourth kind of contemplation by the propitiatory, just as in the two cherubim we understand the fifth and sixth. Now, just as it has been said above, the fourth kind of contemplation is engaged especially with those things which are usually considered about the rational but created spirit. In contrast, the fifth and sixth are engaged principally with those things which are properly considered about the divine and uncreated Spirit.
Therefore, since we know that the rational creature has been made
RICHARD OF ST. VICTOR
according to the image of the Creator, from that nature we rightly seek in a more familiar manner the rational principle of a similitude and we form the mode of our investigation. From that nature, I say, in whose created condition, we ought not to doubt, traces of the divine image have been impressed more forcefully and expressed most clearly. And so what else does it mean that the cherubim turn their faces toward the propitiatory, other than in the speculation and investigation of divine things to pay attention to the rational creature and to advance higher toward an understanding of Divinity from the examination of a similitude? If you marvel how God the Maker of everything brought into actuality from nothing at the very beginning of the world so much and so many various species of things just as He willed, think how easy it is for the human soul to fashion by means of the imagination any representations of things whatsoever at any hour and to form some unique creatures, as it were, as often as it wishes, without preexisting material and from nothing, as it were. What at first perhaps seemed unbelievable will begin to be a little less marvelous. In the foregoing you will discover a very remarkable thing: that God reserved the truth of things, which is the supreme truth, for Himself; but He conceded to His image the formation of images of things at whatever time.
If you marvel how one and the same God is able to exist in all places when He has not been divided into parts but is everywhere complete, pay attention to the fact that one and the same soul is diffused through all members of the body and yet itself is not divided into parts but is whole and undivided in the individual members. Therefore, in this way the soul exists in its own body according to its own measure; that is, it exists in a world of its own control, which it also receives to be ruled. If you marvel how without any opposition and by only the nod of His will God inclines to His good pleasure all things that are done in the world, consider that the soul moves, moderates and sets in order every member of its body by means of only the decision of the will. And so in both as far as similitude is concerned there is one mode of action, although it is diverse in the comparison of equality. In all these things the first cherub directs itself to the propitiatory when it draws a rational principle of similitude from the rational creature for contemplation of the Creator. In this rational creature itself, if we pay careful attention, we can find, we
THE MYSTICAL ARK
believe, some trace of the supreme Trinity. For there is something there from the mind itself, namely its wisdom; and there is something there from both the mind and its wisdom, namely their love.
For every mind loves its wisdom and for that reason love of its wisdom proceeds from both. For wisdom is from the mind alone, but love is from mind and wisdom equally. So the Son (that is, the wisdom of the Father) is from the Father alone; however the Holy
Spirit (that is, the love of both) is from the Father and the Son. In this way the second cherub discovers how beneficially it is able to turn the face of its consideration toward the propitiatory, if it seeks the support of a similitude in the speculation of divine things.
Surely it ought to be noted that these three things that come together in the consideration of the soul do not make a Trinity of persons; just as those three in God divide into three persons according to a difference of individual properties. See, therefore, that in these things that have been drawn forth in the soul by means of a similitude, the dissimilarity is greater than the similarity to that supreme Trinity. Do not marvel that the second cherub more nearly touches the side of dissimilitude in our propitiatory.
It looks at the side of similitude as if from afar. If it is marvelous to you how the Son (namely, the wisdom of the Father) alone has become incarnate, how He came to us in flesh and nevertheless did not depart from the Father, reflect on the fact that in the image-Trinity of the mind only wisdom is embodied in the human voice and comes forth by means of the bodily voice. After it has come forth it is recognized; when it is recognized it is retained in the mind; yet it is not separated even a little bit from that mind from which it was born. There are many such things in the rational mind according to which the second cherub ought to direct itself toward the propitiatory. Behold, now by means of an exposition we know according to the Lord's testimony how the two cherubim are to look at each other; and no less do we know for what reason and benefit they ought to turn their faces toward the propitiatory.