SR
← Arbre de filosofia d'amor (Tree of the Philosophy of Love)/Book 1 · Arbre de filosofia d'amor
Chapter 86LlullArbreAmor.1.86

1. De les altees d'amor

The Heights of Love

Love's loftiness is defined by its goodness, duration, power, wisdom, and will, and the lover must fly through concord with the beloved, not through opposition or worldly concerns.

There is no loftiness in great goodness without loftiness of love and of loving. 2. The whole duration of good and great love is lofty. 3. That power is high, raising love and loving into an enduring state of great goodness.1 4. That wisdom is high which shows the high love of the lover and of the beloved. 5. Through high will, high willing takes flight — the willing that wants what the Beloved wants and does not want what the Beloved does not want to will.2 6. High virtues are heights by which lofty love flies. 7. Whoever fears to destroy falsehoods and errors — truth does not fly to the high love of his beloved. 8. Love that flies its loving in the low places of this world flies through toil; and love that flies its loving through the heights of the world to come flies to the glory of its beloved, in whom it has rest. 9. Anyone who makes a distinction between the hardships and the pleasures that come through love does not fly his loving to heaven. 10. That one flies through heaven who flies his loving toward the concord of lover and beloved. 11.3 Whoever flies through the opposition of lover and beloved flies over the plains with toil; and whoever flies through the concord of lover and beloved flies over the mountains with pleasure.45

Wings of Virtue and Ascent

The lover ascends through the virtues—prudence, fortitude, temperance, faith, hope, and charity—each providing wings to raise love toward the beloved.

12. Whoever begins their loving with high love as its goal begins to fly toward heaven where their beloved is.6 13. Love that is in the middle of high love flies by high love. 14. Anyone who directs their memory, understanding, and love toward the highest end of love flies above heaven. 15. Whoever doesn't have wings of greater love can't fly their loving to heaven. 16.7 Whoever flies by the equality of love and loving flies through heaven. 17. On wings of lesser love, the sinner flies into hell. 18. Without justice, no one places their love on a high seat.8 19. With the wings of prudence the lover raises his loving from lesser love to greater. 20. Anyone who raises their love to fortitude fears nothing at all. 21.9 Anyone who attains temperance is healthy. 22. Anyone who rises to faith raises their loving above their understanding. 23. Whoever raises their loving to hope lacks nothing.✦✦ 24. Whoever has charity rises to become lord of all things.10

The Ascent Through Humility and Penance

Humility, piety, abstinence, devotion, conscience, contrition, confession, and loyalty raise love to rest and security in the beloved.

25. On the wings of humility, the love of the lover and the beloved rises and descends. 26. Whoever rises to piety rises to sigh and weep for love. 27. Whoever abstains from doing evil and does not abstain from doing good raises their loving to rest.11 28. Devotion stirs up loving, sighing, and weeping toward the beloved, so that he may take pity on his friend. 29. Conscience raises fear, and fear raises love toward the beloved. 30. Contrition elevates love toward satisfaction, and satisfaction elevates love toward pardon.12 31. Prayer raises the friend to receive from his beloved grace, gift, mercy, and pardon.13 32. Confession raises love to counsel, and counsel raises love to obedience, and obedience raises love to penance, and penance raises love to rest.14 33. Whoever raises their love to loyalty has no fear of anything, and rises to stand secure and sleep in the lap of their beloved.15

Contemplating the Beloved's Secrets

The lover rises to know the beloved's secrets through understanding, memory, and imagination, and is called to lift love from earthly beauties to the Creator.

34. The one who loves Him rises to know the secrets of his Beloved.16 35. In the height of understanding and remembering lies the height of loving. 36. From high imagining come high remembering, understanding, and loving. 37. If you lift your eyes to see the beauties of the sky and the stars, lift your love to the beauties of the Creator.✦17 38. If you prick up your ears to hear your beloved's words, raise your love to those words. 39. If you climb the tree to smell the flowers, raise your loves to your beloved. 40. If you climb the tree to eat sweet apples, climb into your beloved to eat sweet promises.18

Rising from Worldly Conditions

In every worldly circumstance—rest, honor, riches, health, generosity, or power—the lover must remember humility, mortality, and the poor to raise love.

41. When you climb into the fine bed to rest and sleep, consider that the dead come down from the bed and go under the earth to stay and rot. 42. If you rise to honor, rise to humility, piety, and patience.1920 43. If you rise to riches, lift your memory to remember the poor.✦ 44. If you rise to health, remember illness. 45. If you rise to generosity, remember want.21 46. If you mount a horse, remember the oats.

Rising from Sin Through Virtue

When the lover falls into any sin—lust, avarice, gluttony, pride, sloth, envy, anger, lying, poverty, or dishonor—they must rise by loving the corresponding virtue and remembering the beloved.

47. If you sink into lust, rise to love chastity, remembering the beauty of your Beloved.22 48. If you fall into the sin of avarice, rise by practicing generosity, remembering the great gifts of the beloved.23 49. If you sink into gluttony, rise by loving temperance, remembering health. 50. If through pride you've sunk into sin, raise your love to the heights of your Beloved and of heaven, from which the demons fell through pride; and remember the king who has been cast down from his throne by death to rot in the earth. 51. If you sink into sloth, raise your love into diligence, remembering that after death neither repenting nor crying out for mercy is of any use. 52. If you find yourself sinking into envy, lift your love toward charity, remembering that it is full of every kind of riches. 53. If you sink into anger, turn your love toward patience and abstinence, and consider that dishonor and death can easily come upon you. 54. If you sink into lying, raise your loving by remembering truth and shame. 55. If you fall into poverty, lift your love toward the riches of your beloved. 56. If you sink into dishonor, rise to love the honor of your beloved, who is enough to honor all who love him.24

Ascent Through Adversity and Divine Dignities

In imprisonment, friendlessness, anger, temptation, betrayal, or fear, the lover ascends by loving the beloved's power, loyalty, and goodness, and by contemplating the divine dignities.

57. If you are imprisoned, rise to remember and love the power of your beloved. 58. If you have no friends, rise to love your beloved, who loves night and day.25 59. If you're angry, rise to soothe your love with your beloved.26 60. If you're tempted, raise prayers to your Beloved. 61. If down below you're deceived and betrayed, raise your love to the loyalty of your beloved, and you won't be deceived or betrayed.27 62. If you descend through fear, climb through love so you can be secure with your beloved. 63. If you want to have high goodness, have high making-good; and if you want to have high power, have high love and loving.28 64. Consider how the Beloved is in high goodness through high doing-good, and in high power through high empowering. 65. Consider how goodness stands high through high greatness, and consider how greatness stands high through high goodness. 66. Consider that just as your beloved is sovereignly good through sovereign making-good, he is sovereignly great through sovereign magnifying.29 67. Since your Beloved has high memorability, have high remembering; and since he has high intelligibility, have high understanding; and since he has high lovability, have high loving.30 The Lover spoke many other flowers about his Beloved, so that he might have lovers who would have high love for loving his heights.31

Read the original Catalan

Neguna altea es en gran bonea sens altea damor e d amar.

2. Tota duració de bona e gran amor està alta.

3. Aquel poder està alt qui puja amor e amar en duració de gran bontat.

4. Aquela saviea està alta qui mostra alta amor damic e d amat.

5. Per alta volentat vola alt voler, qui vol so que vol lamat e desvol so que lamat no vol voler.

6. Altes vertuts son altees ab que vola alt amar.

7. Qui tem destruir falsetats e errors, no vola veritat a la alta amor de son amat.

8. Amor qui vola son amar en les baxees d aquest mon, vola per trebayl; e amor qui vola son amar per les altees de l altre segle, vola a la glòria de son amat, en qui ha repòs.

9. Qui fa differencia enfre los trebails e plaers que ha per amor, no vola al cel son amar.

10. Aquel vola per lo cel, qui vola son amar a concordansa d amic e damat. 1 1. Qui vola per contrarietat damic e damat, vola per los plans ab trebayl; e qui vola per concordansa damic e damat, vola per les montanyes' ab plaer.

12. Qui comensa son amar ab fi dalta amor, comensa volar al cel on està son amat.

13. Amor qui està en lo mig dalta amor, vola per alta amor.

14. Qui vola son membrar entendre e amar a la pus alta fi damor, vola sobre! cel.

15. Qui no ha ales de major amor, al cel no pot volar son amar.

j6. Qui vola per egaltat damor e amar, vola per lo cel.

17. Ab ales de menor amor vola peccador en infern.

18. Sens justicia negú amar seu en alta cadira.

19. Ab ales de prudència puja lamic son amar de menor amor a major.

20. Qui puja a fortitudo son amar, no ha de res paor. 2 1. Qui puja a tempransa, ha sanitat.

22. Qui puja a fe, puja son amar sobre son entendre.

23. Qui puja a esperansa son amar, no ha de res fretura.

24. Qui ha caritat, puja esscr senyor de totes coses.

25. Ab ales de humilitat puja e avala amor d amic e d amat.

26. Qui puja a pietat, puja suspirar e plorar per amor.

27. Quis absté de fer mal e no de fer be, puja son amar a repòs.

28. Devoció puja amar suspirar e plorar a lamat, per so que de son amic aja pietat.

29. Conciencia puja temor, e temor puja l amor a lamat.

30. Contricció puja amar a satisfacció, e satisfacció puja amar a perdó.

31. Oració puja l amic a pendre, de son amat, gràcia do mercè e perdó.

32. Confessió puja lamar a consel, e conseyl puja lamar a obediència, e obediència puja lamar a penetencia, e penetencia puja lamar a repòs.

33. Qui puja sa amor a leialtat, no ha de res paor, e puja estar segur e durmir en la faula de son amat.

34. Aquel puja saber los secrets de son amat, qui Is ama.

35. En altea de entendre e membrar està altea d amar.

36. De alt ymagenar, alt membrar entendre e amar.

37. Si puges tos uyls a veer les belees del ceF e de les esteles, puja ton amar a les belees del creador.

38. Si puges tes oreyles a oir paraules de ton amat, puja amar aqueles.

39. Si pujes en l arbre per odorar les flors, puja a ton amat tes amors.

40. Si puges en l arbre menjar dolses pomes, puja en ton amat menjar douses promeses.

41. Con pujaràs en lo bel lit sejornar e durmir, consira que del lit devalen los homes morts, e van dejús la terra estar e pudrir.

42. Si pujcs a onrament, puja a humilitat pietat e paciència.

43. Si puges a riquees, puja ta memòria a membrar los pobres.

44. Si puges a sanitat, membra malautia.

45. Si puges a larguea, membra fretura.

46. Si puges en caval, membra civada.

47. Si devales a lucxuria, puja amar castetat menbrant la belea de ton amat.

48. Si devales a peccat davaricia, puja amar liberalitat,2 membrant los grans dons del amat.

49. Si devales a gulositat, puja amar temprança membrant sanitat.

50. Si per erguyl est devalat en peccat, puja amar les altees de ton amat e del cel, don son cahutz los demonis per erguyl; e membra lo rey qui de la cadira es devalat, per mort, en la terra pudrir.

51. Si devales a pigricia, puja a diligència ton amar, membrant que après la mort no val penedir ni mercè clamar.

52. Si devales a enveja, puja ton amar a caritat membrant que ela es plena de totes riquees.

53. Si devales a ira, puja ton amar a paciència e abstinència, e consira que desonor e la mort te pot leugerament venir.

54. Si devales a mentir, puja ton amar membrant veritat e vergonya.

55. Si devales a paupertat, puja amar les riquees de ton amat.

56. Si devales a desonor, puja amar lonor de ton amat, qui abasta a honrar tots sos amadors.

57. Si és encarserat, puja membrar e amar lo poder de ton amat.

58. Si no as amics, puja amar ton amat, qui ama de nit e de dia.

59. Si est irat, puja asolassar ton amar ab ton amat.

60. Si est temptat, puja oracions a ton amat.

61. Si sejús est enganat e traít, puja ton amar a la Icyaltat de ton amat, e no seràs enganat ni traít.

62. Si devales per paor, puja per amor estar segur ab ton amat.

63. Si vols aver alta bontat, ajes alt bonificar; e si vols aver alt poder, ajes alta amor e amar.

64. Consira con lamat està en alta bonea per alt bonificar, e en alt poder per alt possificar.

65. Consira com bonea està alta per alta granea, e consira com granea està alta per alta bonea.

66. Consira que enaxí com ton amat està subirà be per subirà bonificar, està subirà gran per subirà magnificar.

67. Pus que ton amat ha alta memorabilitat, ajes alt membrar; e pus que ha alta entelligibilitat, ages alt entendre; e pus que ha alta amabilitat, ajes alt amar.

Moltes d altres flors dix lamic de son amat, per so que agués amadors qui aguessen alta amor a amar ses altecs.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Ps.23.1 — A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I lack nothing.
  2. ↩1Cor.13.13 — And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
  3. ↩Ps.19.1 — To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
  4. ↩Prov.19.17;Gal.2.10 — Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and He will repay them for their deed. Gal.2.10 — They asked only that we remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Catalan keeps both amor (love as noun/essence) and amar (the act of loving); rendered as 'love and loving' to preserve Llull's distinction.
  2. 2 ↩Old Catalan volentat (will/volition) and voler (willing as a noun-power of love) are kept distinct: will as the high faculty, willing as the act/power that 'flies.' desvol is rendered 'does not want' to preserve Llull's paired vol / desvol against the Beloved's will.
  3. 3 ↩Source reading '1 1.' treated as corrupt section number '11.' (section 10 precedes; neighboring section begins '12.').
  4. 4 ↩Catalan contrarietat / concordansa rendered as opposition / concord to keep Llull's paired contrast; 'per' marks the path or mode of the flight, while s2's 'a concordansa' marks destination.
  5. 5 ↩Trailing apostrophe in source 'montanyes'' treated as typographical noise; read as 'montanyes' (mountains).
  6. 6 ↩Catalan 'fi' rendered as teleological 'end' (goal/purpose), not chronological finish; 'amar' kept as the act of loving to match Llull's amic/amat/amar vocabulary in neighboring sections.
  7. 7 ↩Source reads «j6.»; neighboring section numbers («15.» / «17.») make «16.» the intended reading.
  8. 8 ↩Catalan amar is Llull’s nominalized ‘loving’/act of love; cadira is seat/chair, here the elevated place of honor in the chapter’s ‘heights of love’ imagery.
  9. 9 ↩Source reads '2 1.'; neighboring numbering (20 before, 22 after) makes '21.' the intended section numeral.
  10. 10 ↩Source reads "esscr"; translated as Catalan "ésser" (to be / become), the most plausible intended form in "puja ésser senyor".
  11. 11 ↩Source Quis read as Qui·s (Qui + reflexive se), matching the chapter’s Qui-maxims; absté de X e no de Y = abstains from X and does not abstain from Y.
  12. 12 ↩Satisfacció keeps its penitential sense (making amends), not modern contentment; amar is rendered as the verbal noun 'loving' to match Llull's ladder of ascent.
  13. 13 ↩Old Catalan 'do' read as the noun 'gift' (donum), yielding four gifts from the beloved: grace, gift, mercy, and pardon. If a different reading is intended, review.
  14. 14 ↩Source writes 'lamar' without apostrophe; read as l'amar ('love'), matching the chapter's ascent of love. 'consel'/'conseyl' are orthographic doublets of consell ('counsel').
  15. 15 ↩Source reads faula. Rendered as lap, taking the most plausible intended reading as falda (Old Catalan 'lap/skirt'), the courtly-mystical image that fits 'stand secure and sleep' beside the beloved; literal faula ('fable/tale') is hard to construe here.
  16. 16 ↩Source 'Is' is read as a capitalized pronoun/abbreviation for the Beloved (likely Jesús); rendered as 'Him' to keep the referent aligned with 'amat'.
  17. 17 ↩Source reading `ceF` is taken as Old Catalan `cel` (sky/heaven), given the parallel with `esteles` (stars) and the chapter’s ascent theme.
  18. 18 ↩Source reading 'douses promeses' is taken as 'dolces promeses' (sweet promises), parallel to 'dolses pomes' (sweet apples); likely orthographic variation or scribal slip for dolces.
  19. 19 ↩Source reading 'pujcs' treated as corrupt for 'puges' (2sg present of pujar), matching the parallel next section 'Si puges a riquees'.
  20. 20 ↩Catalan 'pietat' may mean piety or pity/compassion; rendered as piety to keep the virtue triad with humility and patience.
  21. 21 ↩Catalan larguea = liberality/generosity (largesse); fretura = want, need, scarcity. Rendered as generosity/want to keep the contrast plain and parallel with neighboring counsel pairs.
  22. 22 ↩Source spellings normalized in sense: lucxuria → luxúria (lust); menbrant → membrant (remembering); belea → bellesa (beauty).
  23. 23 ↩Source reads 'peccat davaricia' (understood as 'peccat d'avarícia') and carries a printed ',2' after 'liberalitat', treated as an edition marker and omitted from the English.
  24. 24 ↩lonor read as l'onor ('the honor'), standard medieval Catalan article attachment; abasta a rendered as 'is enough to' (suffices to / has the capacity to).
  25. 25 ↩Old Catalan 'as' read as 'has' (2nd sg. of haver): 'si no as amics' = 'if you have no friends'.
  26. 26 ↩Old Catalan asolassar (from solaç, solace/delight) rendered as 'soothe'; alternatives include 'console' or 'give solace to,' depending on how strongly the comfort vs. delight sense is felt.
  27. 27 ↩Icyaltat is Old Catalan orthography for leialtat (loyalty/fidelity); rendered loyalty to match the established rendering of leialtat earlier in this chapter (LlullArbreAmor.1.86.31).
  28. 28 ↩Catalan bonificar is Llull’s technical act-name for the operation of goodness (bontat), correlative with amor / amar. Rendered as making-good to match established diction elsewhere in this run; alta amor e amar keeps the parallel noun-and-act pair love and loving.
  29. 29 ↩Catalan subirà is Llull’s sobirà (sovereign/supreme). Rendered as sovereignly / sovereign to match the run’s sobirà → sovereign diction; supreme is also possible. bonificar / magnificar are kept as the technical root-acts making-good and magnifying, parallel to neighboring heights-of-love sections.
  30. 30 ↩Llull pairs three passive capacities in the Beloved (memorabilitat, entelligibilitat, amabilitat) with three answering acts in the lover (membrar, entendre, amar). Rendered as memorability/remembering, intelligibility/understanding, and lovability/loving to keep that technical parallel.
  31. 31 ↩Source 'altecs' read as 'altees' (heights), matching the chapter title 'De les altees d'amor' and the run's heights/loftiness diction; OCR/spelling variant is likely.

Arbre de filosofia d'amor (Tree of the Philosophy of Love) companion

A daily portion of stillness

Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.

Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.

  • Daily bite-sized excerpts from the contemplative classics, never a wall of text
  • A built-in timed stillness practice that grows from 2 minutes to 10
  • Gentle progression through the tradition — the app remembers where you are on the ascent
Chosen Portion — Daily Prayer (free iOS app) →