John, Ascent of Carmel 2 17
Wherein is described the purpose and manner of God in His communication ofspiritual blessings to the soul by means of the senses. Herein is answeredthe question which has been referred to.
1 THERE is much to be said concerning the purpose of God, and concerning themanner wherein He gives these visions in order to raise up the soul fromits lowly estate to His Divine union. All spiritual books deal with thisand in this treatise of ours the method which we pursue is to explain it;therefore I shall only say in this chapter as much as is necessary to answerour question, which was as follows: Since in these supernatural visions thereis so much hindrance and peril to progress, as we have said, why does God,Who is most wise and desires to remove stumbling-blocks and snares from thesoul, offer and communicate them to it?
2. In order to answer this, it is well first of all to set downthree fundamental points. The first is from Saint Paul ad Romanos, wherehe says: Quae autem sunt, a Deo ordinatoe sunt.(333) Which signifies: Theworks that are done are ordained of God. The second is from the Holy Spiritin the Book of Wisdom, where He says: Disponit omnia suaviter.(334) And thisis as though He had said: The wisdom of God, although it extends from oneend to another -- that is to say, from one extreme to another -- orders allthings with sweetness. The third is from the theologians, who say that Omniamovet secundum modum eorum. That is, God moves all things according to theirnature.
3. It is clear, then, from these fundamental points, that if Godis to move the soul and to raise it up from the extreme depth of its lowlinessto the extreme height of His loftiness, in Divine union with Him, He mustdo it with order and sweetness and according to the nature of the soul itself.Then, since the order whereby the soul acquires knowledge is through formsand images of created things, and the natural way wherein it acquires thisknowledge and wisdom is through the senses, it follows that, if God is toraise up the soul to supreme knowledge, and to do so with sweetness, He mustbegin to work from the lowest and extreme end of the senses of the soul,in order that He may gradually lead it, according to its own nature, to theother extreme of His spiritual wisdom, which belongs not to sense. WhereforeHe first leads it onward by instructing it through forms, images and waysof sense, according to its own method of understanding, now naturally, nowsupernaturally, and by means of reasoning, to this supreme Spirit of God.
4. It is for this reason that God gives the soul visions and forms, imagesand other kinds of sensible and intelligible knowledge of a spiritual nature;not that God would not give it spiritual wisdom immediately, and all at once,if the two extremes -- which are human and Divine, sense and spirit -- couldin the ordinary way concur and unite in one single act, without the previousintervention of many other preparatory acts which concur among themselvesin order and sweetness, and are a basis and a preparation one for another,like natural agents; so that the first acts serve the second, the secondthe third, and so onward, in exactly the same way. And thus God brings manto perfection according to the way of man's own nature, working from whatis lowest and most exterior up to what is most interior and highest. First,then, He perfects his bodily senses, impelling him to make use of good thingswhich are natural, perfect and exterior, such as hearing sermons and masses,looking on holy things, mortifying the palate at meals and chastening thesense of touch by penance and holy rigour. And, when these senses are insome degree prepared, He is wont to perfect them still further, by bestowingon them certain supernatural favours and gifts, in order to confirm themthe more completely in that which is good, offering them certain supernaturalcommunications, such as visions of saints or holy things, in corporeal shape,the sweetest perfumes, locutions, and exceeding great delights of touch,wherewith sense is greatly continued in virtue and is withdrawn from a desirefor evil things. And besides this He continues at the same time to perfectthe interior bodily senses, whereof we are here treating, such as imaginationand fancy, and to habituate them to that which is good, by means ofconsiderations, meditations, and reflections of a sacred kind, in all ofwhich He is instructing the spirit. And, when these are prepared by thisnatural exercise, God is wont to enlighten and spiritualize them still moreby means of certain supernatural visions, which are those that we are herecalling imaginary; wherein, as we have said, the spirit, at the same time,profits greatly, for both kinds of vision help to take away its grossnessand gradually to reform it. And after this manner God continues to lead thesoul step by step till it reaches that which is the most interior of all;not that it is always necessary for Him to observe this order, and to causethe soul to advance exactly in this way, from the first step to the last;sometimes He allows the soul to attain one stage and not another, or leadsit from the more interior to the less, or effects two stages of progresstogether. This happens when God sees it to be meet for the soul, or whenHe desires to grant it His favours in this way; nevertheless His ordinarymethod is as has been said.
5. It is in this way, then, that God instructs(335)the soul and makes it more spiritual, communicating spirituality to it firstof all by means of outward and palpable things, adapted to sense, on accountof the soul's feebleness and incapacity, so that, by means of the outer huskof those things which in themselves are good, the spirit may make(336) particularacts and receive so many spiritual communications(337) that it may form ahabit as to things spiritual, and may acquire actual and substantialspirituality, which is completely removed from every sense. To this, as wehave said, the soul cannot attain except very gradually, and in its own way-- that is, by means of sense -- to which it has ever been attached. Andthus, in proportion as the spirit attains more nearly to converse with God,it becomes ever more detached and emptied of the ways of sense, which arethose of imaginary meditation and reflection. Wherefore, when the soul attainsperfectly to spiritual converse with God, it must of necessity have beenvoided of all that relates to God and yet might come under the head of sense.Even so, the more closely a thing grows attracted to one extreme, the fartherremoved and withdrawn(338) it becomes from the other; and, when it comesto rest perfectly in the one, it will also have withdrawn itself perfectlyfrom the other. Wherefore there is a commonly quoted spiritual adage whichsays: Gustato spiritu, desipit omni caro. Which signifies: After the tasteand sweetness of the spirit have been experienced, everything carnal is insipid.That is: No profit or enjoyment is afforded by all the ways of the flesh,wherein is included all communication of sense with the spiritual. And thisis clear: for, if it is spirit, it has no more to do with sense; and, ifsense can comprehend it, it is no longer pure spirit. For, the more can beknown of it by natural apprehension and sense, the less it has of spiritand of the supernatural, as has been explained above.
6. The spirit thathas become perfect, therefore, pays no heed to sense, nor does it receiveanything through sense, nor make any great use of it, neither does it needto do so, in its relations with God, as it did aforetime when it had notgrown spiritually. It is this that is signified by that passage from SaintPaul's Epistle to the Corinthians which says: Cum essem parvulus, loquebarut parvulus, sapiebam ut parvulus, cogitabam ut parvulus. Quando autem factussum vir, evacuavi quae erant parvuli.(339) This signifies: When I was a child,I spake as a child, I knew as a child, I thought as a child; but, when Ibecame a man, I put away(340) childish things. We have already explainedhow the things of sense, and the knowledge that spirit can derive from them,are the business of a child. Thus, if the soul should desire to cling tothem for ever, and not to throw them aside, it would never be aught but alittle child; it would speak ever of God as a child, and would know of Godas a child, and would think of God as a child; for, clinging to the outerhusk of sense, which pertains to the child, it would never attain to thesubstance of the spirit, which pertains to the perfect man. And thus thesoul must not desire to receive the said revelations in order to continuein growth, even though God offer them to it, just as the child must leavethe breast in order to accustom its palate to strong meat, which is moresubstantial.
7. You will ask, then, if, when the soul is immature, it musttake these things, and, when it is grown, must abandon them; even as an infantmust take the breast, in order to nourish itself, until it be older and canleave it. I answer that, with respect to meditation and natural reflectionby means of which the soul begins to seek God, it is true that it must notleave the breast of sense in order to continue taking in nourishment untilthe time and season to leave it have arrived, and this comes when God bringsthe soul into a more spiritual communion, which is contemplation, concerningwhich we gave instruction in the eleventh chapter of this book.(341) But,when it is a question of imaginary visions, or other supernatural apprehensions,which can enter the senses without the co-operation of man's free will, Isay that at no time and season must it receive them, whether the soul bein the state of perfection, or whether in a state less perfect -- not eventhough they come from God. And this for two reasons. The first is that, aswe have said, He produces His effect in the soul, without its being ableto hinder it, although, as often happens, it can and may hinder visions;and consequently that effect which was to be produced in the soul is communicatedto it much more substantially, although not after that manner. For, as wesaid likewise, the soul cannot hinder the blessings that God desires tocommunicate to it, since it is not in the soul's power to do so, save whenit has some imperfection and attachment; and there is neither imperfectionnor attachment in renouncing these things with humility and misgiving. Thesecond reason is that the soul may free itself from the peril and effortinherent in discerning between evil visions and good, and in deciding whetheran angel be of light or of darkness. This effort brings the soul no advantage;it merely wastes its time, and hinders it, and becomes to it an occasionof many imperfections and of failure to make pro gress. The soul concernsnot itself, in such a case, with what is important, nor frees itself of triflesin the shape of apprehensions and perceptions of some particular kind. Thishas already been said in the discussion of corporeal visions; and more willbe said on the subject hereafter.
8. Let it be believed, too, that, if OurLord were not about to lead the soul in a way befitting its own nature, aswe say here, He would never communicate to it the abundance of His Spiritthrough these aqueducts, which are so narrow -- these forms and figures andparticular perceptions -- by means whereof He gives the soul enlightenmentby crumbs. For this cause David says: Mittit crystallum suam sicutbuccellas.(342) Which is as much as to say: He sent His wisdom to the soulsas in morsels. It is greatly to be lamented that, though the soul has infinitecapacity, it should be given its food by morsels conveyed through the senses,by reason of the small degree of its spirituality and its incapacitationby sense. Saint Paul was also grieved by this lack of preparation and thisincapability of men for receiving the Spirit, when he wrote to the Corinthians,saying: 'I, brethren, when I came to you, could not speak to you as to spiritualpersons, but as to carnal; for ye could not receive it, neither can ye now.'Tamquam parvulis in Christo lac potum vobis dedi, non escam.(343) That is:I have given you milk to drink, as to infants in Christ, and not solid foodto eat.
9. It now remains, then, to be pointed out that the soul must notallow its eyes to rest upon that outer husk -- namely, figures and objectsset before it supernaturally. These may be presented to the exterior senses,as are locutions and words audible to the ear; or, to the eyes, visions ofsaints, and of beauteous radiance; or perfumes to the sense of smell; ortastes and sweetnesses to the palate; or other delights to the touch, whichare wont to proceed from the spirit, a thing that very commonly happens tospiritual persons. Or the soul may have to avert its eyes from visions ofinterior sense, such as imaginary visions, all of which it must renounceentirely. It must set its eyes only upon the spiritual good which they produce,striving to preserve it in its works and to practise that which is for thedue service of God, paying no heed to those representations nor desiringany pleasure of sense. And in this way the soul takes from these things onlythat which God intends and wills -- namely, the spirit of devotion -- forthere is no other important purpose for which He gives them; and it castsaside that which He would not give if these gifts could be received in thespirit without it, as we have said -- namely, the exercise and apprehensionof the senses.
Which treats of the harm that certain spiritual masters may do to souls whenthey direct them not by a good method with respect to the visions aforementioned.Describes also how these visions may cause deception even though they beof God.
1 IN this matter of visions we cannot be as brief as we should desire, sincethere is so much to say about them. Although in substance we have said whatis relevant in order to explain to the spiritual person how he is to behavewith regard to the visions aforementioned, and to the master who directshim, the way in which he is to deal with his disciple, yet it will not besuperfluous to go into somewhat greater detail about this doctrine, and togive more enlightenment as to the harm which can ensue, either to spiritualsouls or to the masters who direct them, if they are over-credulous aboutthem, although they be of God.
2. The reason which has now moved me to writeat length about this is the lack of discretion, as I understand it, whichI have observed in certain spiritual masters. Trusting to these supernaturalapprehensions, and believing that they are good and come from God, both mastersand disciples have fallen into great error and found themselves in dire straits,wherein is fulfilled the saying of Our Saviour: Si coecus coeco ducatum praestet,ambo in foveam cadunt.(344) Which signifies: If a blind man lead anotherblind man, both fall into the pit. And He says not 'shall fall,' but 'fall.'For they may fall without falling into error, since the very venturing ofthe one to guide the other is going astray, and thus they fall in this respectalone, at the very least. And, first of all, there are some whose way andmethod with souls that experience these visions cause them to stray, or embarrassthem with respect to their visions, or guide them not along the road in someway (for which reason they remain without the true spirit of faith) and edifythem not in faith, but lead them to speak highly of those things. By doingthis they make them realize that they themselves set some value upon them,or make great account of them, and, consequently, their disciples do thesame. Thus their souls have been set upon these apprehensions, instead ofbeing edified in faith, so that they may be empty and detached, and freedfrom those things and can soar to the heights of dark faith. All this arisesfrom the terms and language which the soul observes its master to employwith respect to these apprehensions; somehow it very easily develops asatisfaction and an esteem for them, which is not in its own control, andwhich averts its eyes from the abyss of faith.
3. And the reason why thisis so easy must be that the soul is so greatly occupied with these thingsof sense that, as it is inclined to them by nature, and is likewise disposedto enjoy the apprehension of distinct and sensible things, it has only toobserve in its confessor, or in some other person, a certain esteem andappreciation for them, and not merely will it at once conceive the same itself,but also, without its realizing the fact, its desire will become lured awayby them, so that it will feed upon them and will be ever more inclined towardthem and will set a certain value upon them. And hence arise many imperfections,at the very least; for the soul is no longer as humble as before, but thinksthat all this is of some importance and productive of good, and that it isitself esteemed by God, and that He is pleased and somewhat satisfied withit, which is contrary to humility. And thereupon the devil secretly setsabout increasing this, without the soul's realizing it, and begins to suggestideas to it about others, as to whether they have these things or have themnot, or are this or are that; which is contrary to holy simplicity and spiritualsolitude.
4. There is much more to be said about these evils, and of howsuch souls, unless they withdraw themselves, grow not in faith, and alsoof how there are other evils of the same kind which, although they be notso palpable and recognizable as these, are subtler and more hateful in theDivine eyes, and which result from not living in complete detachment. Letus, however, leave this subject now, until we come to treat of the vice ofspiritual gluttony and of the other six vices, whereof, with the help ofGod, many things will be said, concerning these subtle and delicate stainswhich adhere to the spirit when its director cannot guide it in detachment.
5. Let us now say something of this manner wherein certain confessors dealwith souls, and instruct them ill. And of a truth I could wish that I knewhow to describe it, for I realize that it is a difficult thing to explainhow the spirit of the disciple grows in conformity with that of his spiritualfather, in a hidden and secret way; and this matter is so tedious that itwearies me, for it seems impossible to speak of the one thing without describingthe other also, as they are spiritual things, and the one corresponds withthe other.
6. But it is sufficient to say here that I believe, if the spiritualfather has an inclination toward revelations of such a kind that they meansomething to him, or satisfy or delight his soul, it is impossible but thathe will impress that delight and that aim upon the spirit of his disciple,even without realizing it, unless the disciple be more advanced than he;and, even in this latter case, he may well do him grievous harm if he continuewith him. For, from that inclination of the spiritual father toward suchvisions, and the pleasure which he takes in them, there arises a certainkind of esteem for them, of which, unless he watch it carefully, he cannotfail to communicate some indication or impression to other persons; and ifany other such person is like-minded and has a similar inclination, it isimpossible, as I understand, but that there will be communicated from theone to the other a readiness to apprehend these things and a great esteemfor them.
7. But we need not now go into detail about this. Let us speakof the confessor who, whether or no he be inclined toward these things, hasnot the prudence that he ought to have in disencumbering the soul of hisdisciple and detaching his desire from them, but begins to speak to him aboutthese visions and devotes the greater part of his spiritual conversationto them, as we have said, giving him signs by which he may distinguish goodvisions from evil. Now, although it is well to know this, there is no reasonfor him to involve the soul in such labour, anxiety and peril. By payingno heed to visions, and refusing to receive them, all this is prevented,and the soul acts as it should. Nor is this all, for such confessors, whenthey see that their penitents are receiving visions from God, beg them toentreat God to reveal them to themselves also, or to say such and such thingsto them, with respect to themselves or to others, and the foolish souls doso, thinking that it is lawful to desire knowledge by this means. For theysuppose that, because God is pleased to reveal or say something by supernaturalmeans, in His own way or for His own purpose, it is lawful for them to desireHim to reveal it to them, and even to en treat Him to do so.
8. And, if itcome to pass that God answers their petition and reveals it, they becomemore confident, thinking that, because God answers them, it is His will andpleasure to do so; whereas, in reality, it is neither God's will nor Hispleasure. And they frequently act or believe according to that which He hasrevealed to them, or according to the way wherein He has answered them; for,as they are attached to that manner of communion with God, the revelationmakes a great impression upon them and their will acquiesces in it. Theytake a natural pleasure in their own way of thinking and therefore naturallyacquiesce in it; and frequently they go astray. Then they see that somethinghappens in a way they had not expected; and they marvel, and then begin todoubt if the thing were of God,(345) since it happens not, and they see itnot, according to their expectations. At the beginning they thought two things:first, that the vision was of God, since at the beginning it agreed so wellwith their disposition, and their natural inclination to that kind of thingmay well have been the cause of this agreement, as we have said; and secondlythat, being of God, it would turn out as they thought or expected.
9. Andherein lies a great delusion, for revelations or locutions which are of Goddo not always turn out as men expect or as they imagine inwardly. And thusthey must never be believed or trusted blindly, even though they are knownto be revelations or answers or sayings of God. For, although they may inthemselves be certain and true, they are not always so in their causes, andaccording to our manner of understanding, as we shall prove in the chapterfollowing. And afterwards we shall further say and prove that, although Godsometimes gives a supernatural answer to that which is asked of Him, it isnot His pleasure to do so, and sometimes, although He answers, He is angered.
Wherein is expounded and proved how, although visions and locutions whichcome from God are true, we may be deceived about them. This is proved byquotations from Divine Scripture.
1 FOR two reasons we have said that, although visions and locutions which comefrom God are true, and in themselves are always certain, they are not alwaysso with respect to ourselves. One reason is the defective way in which weunderstand them; and the other, the variety of their causes. In the firstplace, it is clear that they are not always as they seem, nor do they turnout as they appear to our manner of thinking. The reason for this is that,since God is vast and boundless, He is wont, in His prophecies, locutionsand revelations, to employ ways, concepts and methods of seeing things whichdiffer greatly from such purpose and method as can normally be understoodby ourselves; and these are the truer and the more certain the less theyseem so to us. This we constantly see in the Scriptures. To many of the ancientsmany prophecies and locutions of God came not to pass as they expected, becausethey understood them after their own manner, in the wrong way, and quiteliterally. This will be clearly seen in these passages.
2. In Genesis, Godsaid to Abraham, when He had brought him to the land of the Chanaanites:Tibi dabo terram hanc.(346) Which signifies, I will give thee this land.And when He had said it to him many times, and Abraham was by now very Domine,unde scire possum, quod possessurus sim eam? That old, and He had never givenit to him, though He had said this to him, Abraham answered God once againand said: Lord, whereby or by what sign am I to know that I am to possessit? Then God revealed to him that he was not to possess it in person, butthat his sons would do so after four hundred years; and Abraham then understoodthe promise, which in itself was most true; for, in giving it to his sonsfor love of him, God was giving it to himself. And thus Abraham was deceivedby the way in which he himself had understood the prophecy. If he had thenacted according to his own understanding of it, those that saw him die withoutits having been given to him might have erred greatly; for they were notto see the time of its fulfilment. And, as they had heard him say that Godwould give it to him, they would have been confounded and would have believedit to have been false.
3. Likewise to his grandson Jacob, when Joseph hisson brought him to Egypt because of the famine in Chanaan, and when he wason the road, God appeared and said: Jacob, Jacob, noli timere, descende inAegiptum, quia in gentem magnam faciam te ibi. Ego descendam tecum illuc.. . . Et inde adducam te revertentem.(347) Which signifies: Jacob, fear not;go down into Egypt, and I will go down there with thee; and, when thou goestforth thence again, I will bring thee out and guide thee. This promise, asit would seem according to our own manner of understanding, was not fulfilled,for, as we know, the good old man Jacob died in Egypt and never left it alive.The word of God was to be fulfilled in his children, whom He brought outthence after many years, being Himself their guide upon the way. It is clearthat anyone who had known of this promise made by God to Jacob would haveconsidered it certain that Jacob, even as he had gone to Egypt alive, inhis own person, by the command and favour of God, would of a certainty leaveit, alive and in his own person, in the same form and manner as he went there,since God had promised him a favourable return; and such a one would havebeen deceived, and would have marvelled greatly, when he saw him die in Egypt,and the promise, in the sense in which he understood it, remain unfulfilled.And thus, while the words of God are in themselves most true, it is possibleto be greatly mistaken with regard to them.
4. In the Judges, again, we readthat, when all the tribes of Israel had come together to make war againstthe tribe of Benjamin, in order to punish a certain evil to which that tribehad been consenting, they were so certain of victory because God had appointedthem a captain for the war, that, when twenty-two thousand of their men wereconquered and slain, they marvelled very greatly; and, going into the presenceof God, they wept all that day, knowing not the cause of the fall, sincethey had understood that the victory was to be theirs. And, when they enquiredof God if they should give battle again or no, He answered that they shouldgo and fight against them. This time they considered victory to be theirsalready, and went out with great boldness, and were conquered again the secondtime, with the loss of eighteen thousand of their men. Thereat they weregreatly confused, and knew not what to do, seeing that God had commandedthem to fight and yet each time they were vanquished, though they were superiorto their enemies in number and strength, for the men of Benjamin were nomore than twenty-five thousand and seven hundred and they were four hundredthousand. And in this way they were mistaken in their manner of understandingthe words of God. His words were not deceptive, for He had not told themthat they would conquer, but that they should fight; for by these defeatsGod wished to chastise a certain neglect and presumption of theirs, and thusto humble them. But, when in the end He answered that they would conquer,it was so, although they conquered only after the greatest stratagem andtoil.(348)
5. In this way, and in many other ways, souls are oftentimes deceivedwith respect to locutions and revelations that come from God, because theyinterpret them according to their apparent sense(349) and literally; whereas,as has already been explained, the principal intention of God in giving thesethings is to express and convey the spirit that is contained in them, whichis difficult to understand. And the spirit is much more pregnant in meaningthan the letter, and is very extraordinary, and goes far beyond its limits.And thus, he that clings to the letter, or to a locution or to the form orfigure of a vision, which can be apprehended, will not fail to go far astray,and will forthwith fall into great confusion and error, because he has guidedhimself by sense according to these visions, and not allowed the spirit towork in detachment from sense. Littera enim occidit, spiritus autemvivificat,(350) as Saint Paul says. That is: The letter killeth and the spiritgiveth life. Wherefore in this matter of sense the letter must be set aside,and the soul must remain in darkness, in faith, which is the spirit, andthis cannot be comprehended by sense.
6. For which cause, many of the childrenof Israel, because they took the sayings and prophecies of the prophets accordingto the strict letter, and these were not fulfilled as they expected, cameto make little account of them and believed them not; so much so, that theregrew up a common saying among them -- almost a proverb, indeed -- which turnedprophets into ridicule. Of this Isaias complains, speaking and exclaimingin the manner following: Quem docebit Dominus scientiam? et quem intelligerefaciet auditum? ablactatos a lacte, avulsos ab uberibus. Quia manda remanda,manda remanda, expecta reexpecta, expecta reexpecta, modicum ibi, modicumibi. In loquela enim labii, et lingua altera loquetur ad populum istum.(351)This signifies: To whom shall God teach knowledge? And whom shall He maketo understand His word and prophecy? Only them that are already weaned fromthe milk and drawn away from the breasts. For all say (that is, concerningthe prophecies): Promise and promise again; wait and wait again; wait andwait again;(352) a little there, a little there; for in the words of Hislips and in another tongue will He speak to this people. Here Isaias showsquite clearly that these people were turning prophecies into ridicule, andthat it was in mockery that they repeated this proverb: 'Wait and then waitagain.' They meant that the prophecies were never fulfilled for them, forthe y were wedded to the letter, which is the milk of infants, and to theirown sense, which is the breasts, both of which contradict the greatness ofspiritual knowledge. Wherefore he says: To whom shall He teach the wisdomof His prophecies? And whom shall He make to understand His doctrine, savethem that are already weaned from the milk of the letter and from the breastsof their own senses? For this reason these people understand it not, saveaccording to this milk of the husk and letter, and these breasts of theirown sense, since they say: Promise and promise again; wait and wait again,etc. For it is in the doctrine of the mouth of God, and not in their owndoctrine, and it is in another tongue than their own, that God shall speakto them.
7. And thus, in interpreting prophecy, we have not to consider ourown sense and language, knowing that the language of God is very differentfrom ours, and that it is spiritual language, very far removed from ourunderstanding and exceedingly difficult. So much so is it that even Jeremias,though a prophet of God, when he sees that the significance of the wordsof God is so different from the sense commonly attributed to them by men,is himself deceived by them and defends the people, saying: Heu, heu, heu,Domine Deus, ergone decipisti populum istum et Jerusalem, dicens: Pax eritvobis; et ecce pervenit gladius usque ad animam?(353) Which signifies: Ah,ah, ah, Lord God, hast Thou perchance deceived this people and Jerusalem,saying, 'Peace will come upon you,' and seest Thou here that the sword reachethunto their soul? For the peace that God promised them was that which wasto be made between God and man by means of the Messiah Whom He was to sendthem, whereas they understood it of temporal peace; and therefore, when theysuffered wars and trials, they thought that God was deceiving them, becausethere befell them the contrary of that which they expected. And thus theysaid, as Jeremias says likewise: Exspectavimus pacem, et non erat bonum.(354)That is: We have looked for peace and there is no boon of peace. And thusit was impossible for them not to be deceived, since they took the prophecymerely in its literal sense. For who would fail to fall into confusion andto go astray if he confined himself to a literal interpretation of that prophecywhich David spake concerning Christ, in the seventy-first Psalm, and of allthat he says therein, where he says: Et dominabitur a mari usque ad mare;et a flumine usque ad terminos orbis terrarum.(355) That is: He shall havedominion from one sea even to the other sea, and from the river even untothe ends of the earth. And likewise in that which he says in the same place:Liberabit pauperem a potente, et pauperem, cui non erat adjutor.(356) Whichsignifies: He shall deliver the poor man from the power of the mighty, andthe poor man that had no helper. But later it became known that Christ wasborn(357) in a low state and lived in poverty and died in misery; not onlyhad He no dominion over the earth, in a temporal sense, while He lived, butHe was subject to lowly people, until He died under the power of PontiusPilate. And not only did He not deliver poor men -- namely, His disciples-- from the hands of the mighty, in a temporal sense, but He allowed themto be slain and persecuted for His name's sake.
8. The fact is that theseprophecies concerning Christ had to be understood spiritually, in which sensethey were entirely true. For Christ was not only Lord of earth alone, butlikewise of Heaven, since He was God; and the poor who were to follow HimHe was not only to redeem and free from the power of the devil, that mightyone against whom they had no helper, but also to make heirs of the Kingdomof Heaven. And thus God was speaking, in the most important sense, of Christ,and of the reward of His followers,(358) which was an eternal kingdom andeternal liberty; and they understood this, after their own manner, in a secondarysense, of which God takes small account, namely that of temporal dominionand temporal liberty, which in God's eyes is neither kingdom nor libertyat all. Wherefore, being blinded by the insufficiency of the letter, andnot understanding its spirit and truth, they took the life of their God andLord, even as Saint Paul said in these words: Qui enim habitabant Jerusalem,et principes ejus, hunc ignorantes et voces prophetarum, quae per omne Sabbatumleguntur, judicantes impleverunt.(359) Which signifies: They that dwelt inJerusalem, and her rulers, not knowing Who He was, nor understanding thesayings of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath day, have fulfilledthem by judging Him.
9. And to such a point did they carry this inabilityto understand the sayings of God as it behoved them, that even His own disciples,who had gone about with Him, were deceived, as were those two who, afterHis death, were going to the village of Emmaus, sad and disconsolate, saying:Nos autem sperabamus quod ipse esset redempturus Israel.(360) We hoped thatit was He that should have redeemed Israel. They, too, understood that thisdominion and redemption were to be temporal; but Christ our Redeemer, appearingto them, reproved them as foolish and heavy and gross of heart as to theirbelief in the things that the prophets had spoken.(361) And, even when Hewas going to Heaven, some of them were still in that state of grossness ofheart, and asked Him, saying: Domine, si in tempore hoc restitues RegnumIsrael.(362) That is: Lord, tell us if Thou wilt restore at this time thekingdom of Israel. The Holy Spirit causes many things to be said which bearanother sense than that which men understand; as can be seen in that whichhe caused to be said by Caiphas concerning Christ: that is was meet thatone man should die lest all the people should perish.(363) This he said notof his own accord; and he said it and understood it in one sense, and theHoly Spirit in another.
10. From this it is clear that, although sayingsand revelations may be of God, we cannot always be sure of their meaning;for we can very easily be greatly deceived by them because of our mannerof understanding them. For they are all an abyss and a depth of the spirit,and to try to limit them to what we can understand concerning them, and towhat our sense can apprehend, is nothing but to attempt to grasp the air,and to grasp some particle in it that the hand touches: the air disappearsand nothing remains.
11. The spiritual teacher must therefore strive thatthe spirituality of his disciple be not cramped by attempts to interpretall supernatural apprehensions, which are no more than spiritual particles,lest he come to retain naught but these, and have no spirituality at all.But let the teacher wean his disciple from all visions and locutions, andimpress upon him the necessity of dwelling in the liberty and darkness offaith, wherein are received spiritual liberty and abundance, and consequentlythe wisdom and understanding necessary to interpret sayings of God. For itis impossible for a man, if he be not spiritual, to judge of the things ofGod or understand them in a reasonable way, and he is not spiritual whenhe judges them according to sense; and thus, although they come to him beneaththe disguise of sense, he understands them not. This Saint Paul well expressesin these words: Animalis autem homo non percipit ea quoe sunt spiritus Dei:stultitia enim est illi, et non potest intelligere: quia de spiritualibusexaminatur. Spiritualis autem judicat omnia.(364) Which signifies: The animalman perceives not the things which are of the Spirit of God, for unto himthey are foolishness and he cannot understand them because they are spiritual;but he that is spiritual judges all things. By the animal man is here meantone that uses sense alone; by the spiritual man, one that is not bound orguided by sense. Wherefore it is temerity to presume to have intercoursewith God by way of a supernatural apprehension effected by sense, or to allowanyone else to do so.
12. And that this may be the better understood letus here set down a few examples. Let us suppose that a holy man is greatlyafflicted because his enemies persecute him, and that God answers him, saying:I will deliver thee from all thine enemies. This prophecy may be very true,yet, notwithstanding, his enemies may succeed in prevailing, and he may dieat their hands. And so if a man should understand this after a temporal mannerhe would be deceived; for God might be speaking of the true and principalliberty and victory, which is salvation, whereby the soul is delivered, freeand made victorious(365) over all its enemies, and much more truly so andin a higher sense than if it were delivered from them here below. And thus,this prophecy was much more true and comprehensive than the man could understandif he interpreted it only with respect to this life; for, when God speaks,His words are always to be taken in the sense which is most important andprofitable, whereas man, according to his own way and purpose, may understandthe less important sense, and thus may be deceived. This we see in that prophecywhich David makes concerning Christ in the second Psalm saying: Reges eosin virga ferrea, et tamquam vas figuli confringes eos.(366) That is: Thoushalt rule all the people with a rod of iron and thou shalt dash them inpieces like a vessel of clay. Herein God speaks of the principal and perfectdominion, which is eternal dominion; and it was in this sense that it wasfulfilled, and not in the less important sense, which was temporal, and whichwas not fulfilled in Christ during any part of His temporal life.
13. Let us take another example. A soul has great desires to be a martyr. It mayhappen that God answers him, saying: Thou shalt be a martyr. This will givehim inwardly great comfort and confidence that he is to be martyred; yetit may come to pass that he dies not the death of a martyr, and notwithstandingthis the promise may b e true. Why, then, is it not fulfilled literally?Because it will be fulfilled, and is capable of being fulfilled, accordingto the most important and essential sense of that saying -- namely, in thatGod will have given that soul the love and the reward which belong essentiallyto a martyr; and thus in truth He gives to the soul that which it formallydesired and that which He promised it. For the formal desire of the soulwas, not that particular manner of death, but to do God a martyr's service,and to show its love for Him as a martyr does. For that manner of death isof no worth in itself without this love, the which love and the showing forththereof and the reward belonging to the martyr may be given to it more perfectlyby other means. So that, though it may not die like a martyr, the soul iswell satisfied that it has been given that which it sired. For, when theyare born of living love, such desires, and others like them, although theybe not fulfilled in the way wherein they are described and understood, arefulfilled in another and a better way, and in a way which honours God moregreatly than that which they might have asked. Wherefore David says: Desideriumpauperum exaudivit Dominus.(367) That is: The Lord has granted the poor theirdesire. And in the Proverbs Divine Wisdom says: Desiderium suum justisdabitur.(368) 'The just shall be given their desire.' Hence, then, sincewe see that many holy men have desired many particular things for God's sake,and that in this life their desires have not been granted them, it is a matterof faith that, as their desires were just and true, they have been fulfilledfor them perfectly in the next life. Since this is truth, it would also betruth for God to promise it to them in this life, saying to them: Your desireshall be fulfilled; and for it not to be fulfilled in the way which theyexpected.
14. In this and other ways, the words and visions of God may betrue and sure and yet we may be deceived by them, through being unable tointerpret them in a high and important sense, which is the sense and purposewherein God intends them. And thus the best and surest course is to trainsouls in prudence so that they flee from these supernatural things, byaccustoming them, as we have said, to purity of spirit in dark faith, whichis the means of union.
John, Ascent of Carmel 2 17