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Chapter 6SubidaCarmelo.1.6

CAPÍTULO 6. En que se trata de dos daños principales que causan los apetitos en el alma, el uno privativo y el otro positivo.

The Twofold Harm of Disordered Appetites

Disordered appetites cause a privative harm by blocking the soul's capacity for God, acting as a barrier to the divine spirit.

1. To understand what has been said more clearly and fully, it is helpful to explain how these appetites cause two main harms to the soul: first, they deprive it of the spirit of God; second, they wear out, torment, darken, defile, and weaken the soul where they live, wounding it, just as Jeremiah says in the second chapter (v. 13). Duo mala fecit populus meus: dereliquerunt fontem aquae vivae, et foderunt sibi cisternas dissipatas, quae continere non valent aquas—that is: "My people have done two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have dug for themselves broken cisterns that cannot hold water."✦ Those two evils—the privative and the positive—are caused by any disordered act of the appetite.1 First, regarding the privative harm: it is clear that the moment the soul becomes attached to anything that is a creature, the more that appetite takes hold, the less capacity the soul has for God. This is because, as philosophers say—and as we noted in the fourth chapter—two contraries cannot exist in the same subject.2 Attachment to God and attachment to a creature are contraries; therefore, they cannot both exist within the same will. For what does a creature have to do with the Creator? What does the sensual have to do with the spiritual, the visible with the invisible, the temporal with the eternal, pure spiritual heavenly food with the food of the senses, or the nakedness of Christ with clinging to anything?3 2. Just as in nature a new form cannot be introduced unless the previous, contrary form is first driven out—because while that form remains, it blocks the other due to their opposition—so, as long as the soul subjects itself to the sensual spirit, the pure spiritual spirit cannot enter it. That is why our Savior said in Matthew 15:26: 'Non est bonum sumere panem filiorum et mittere canibus'—which means: It isn't right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. Elsewhere, in the same Gospel (7:6), He says: 'Nolite sanctum dare canibus,' which means: Do not give what is holy to the dogs. In these authorities Our Lord compares those who, denying their appetites for creatures, prepare themselves to receive the spirit of God purely, to the children of God; and those who want to fatten their appetite on creatures, to dogs—because it is given to the children to eat with their Father at the table and from His plate, which is to feed on His spirit, and to the dogs, the crumbs that fall from the table.4 3. In this it should be known that all creatures are crumbs that fell from God's table. Therefore, anyone who goes around feeding on creatures is rightly called a dog, and for that reason, the children's bread is taken from them, since they won't rise from the crumbs of creatures to the table of their Father's uncreated Spirit.5 That is why they are always left hungry, like dogs, because crumbs do more to stir the appetite than to satisfy it. As David says of them (Ps. 58:15–16): They will suffer hunger like dogs and will go around the city. And if they aren't filled, they will grumble; that is, they will suffer hunger like dogs and go around the city, and when they don't find themselves full, they will grumble. For this is the way of the person who has appetites: he is always discontented and out of sorts, like someone who is hungry.6 So what does the hunger that all creatures produce have to do with the fullness that the Spirit of God causes?7 For that reason, this uncreated fullness can't enter the soul unless that other created hunger of the soul's appetite is first cast out; for, as we've said, two contraries can't dwell in one subject, and in this case, they are hunger and fullness.89 4. From what's been said, you can see how much more God does in cleansing and purging a soul of these contrary things than in creating it from nothing. For these contrarieties of contrary affections and appetites are more opposed and resistant to God than nothing is, because nothing does not resist.10 Let this be enough regarding the first principal harm that appetites cause the soul—resisting the Spirit of God—since we've already said much about it above.

The Weariness of Unsatisfied Desire

The positive harm of appetites is their tendency to weary, torment, and exhaust the soul through an endless, unsatisfiable hunger for creatures.

5. Now let's talk about the second effect they have on the soul, which takes many forms: these appetites weary the soul, torment it, darken it, soil it, and weaken it. We'll discuss each of these five things in turn. 6. As for the first, it's clear that appetites tire and wear out the soul, because they're like restless, hard-to-please little children who are always asking their mother for one thing after another and are never satisfied. And just as someone who digs greedily for treasure grows tired and worn out, the soul grows tired and worn out trying to get what its appetites demand. Even if it gets what it wants, it still ends up tired because it’s never satisfied; after all, it’s digging into broken cisterns that cannot hold water to quench its thirst (Jer.✦ 2:13). As Isaiah says (29:8): Lassus adhuc sitit, et anima eius vacua est; which means: His appetite is empty.11 And the soul that has appetites grows tired and worn out, because it's like someone sick with a fever, who never feels well until the fever is taken away, and every little while his thirst increases. Because, as it says in the book of Job (20:22): Cum satiatus fuerit, arctabitur, aestuabit, et omnis dolor irruet super eum; which means: When he has satisfied his appetite, he will be left more pressed and weighed down; the heat of appetite grew in his soul, and so every pain will fall upon him.12 The soul grows tired and worn out by its appetites, because they wound, stir, and disturb it just as the wind disturbs water; they agitate the soul, never letting it settle in one place or on one thing. Isaiah says of such a soul (57:20): Cor impii quasi mare fervens—the heart of the wicked is like a seething sea—and anyone who doesn't overcome their appetites is wicked. The soul that tries to satisfy its appetites grows tired and worn out, like a hungry person who opens their mouth to feed on the wind; instead of being filled, they only grow more parched, because that isn't their food. Jeremiah spoke to this point (2:24): In desiderio animae suae attraxit ventum amoris sui; which is to say, in the appetite of its will, it drew to itself the wind of its attachment.13 He continues (2:25) to clarify the dryness such a soul is left in, warning: Prohibe pedem tuum a nuditate, et guttur tuum a siti; meaning, keep your foot—that is, your thought—from nakedness, and your throat from thirst, which means keeping your will from fulfilling an appetite that only creates greater drought. And just as a lover grows tired and worn out on the day of hope when his venture comes up empty, so the soul grows tired and worn out with all its appetites and the fulfilling of them, since all of them leave it emptier and hungrier; because, as people commonly say, appetite is like fire: when you throw wood on it, it grows, and as soon as it has burned the wood up, it has to die down.14 7. And the appetite is even worse off in this respect; because fire, when the wood runs out, dies down; but the appetite does not die down in what grew when it was put into action, even though the matter is used up. Instead of dying down, as the fire does when its fuel is gone, it fails into fatigue, because hunger is left increased and the food diminished. Isaiah speaks of this (9:20), saying: 'He will turn to the right and go hungry; he will eat to the left and not be filled.' Because those who do not mortify their appetites, just when they turn aside, see the fullness of the sweet spirit of those who stand at God's right hand, which is not granted to them; and just when they run toward the left—that is, satisfying their appetite in some creature—they are not filled; for, leaving what alone can satisfy, they feed on what causes them still more hunger.✦15 It is clear, then, that the appetites weary and exhaust the soul.

Read the original Latin

1. Y para que más clara y abundantemente se entienda lo dicho, será bueno poner aquí y decir cómo estos apetitos causan en el alma dos daños principales: el uno es que la privan del espíritu de Dios, y el otro es que al alma en que viven la cansan, atormentan, oscurecen, ensucian y enflaquecen y la llagan, según aquello que dice Jeremías, capítulo segundo (v. 13): Duo mala fecit populus meus: dereliquerunt fontem aquae vivae, et foderunt sibi cisternas dissipatas, quae continere non valent aquas; quiere decir: Dejáronme a mí, que soy fuente de agua viva, y cavaron para sí cisternas rotas, que no pueden tener agua. Esos dos males, conviene a saber: privación y positivo, se causan por cualquiera acto desordenado del apetito. Y, primeramente, hablando del privativo, claro está que, por el mismo caso que el alma se aficiona a una cosa que cae debajo de nombre de criatura, cuanto aquel apetito tiene de más entidad en el alma, tiene ella de menos capacidad para Dios, por cuanto no pueden caber dos contrarios, según dicen los filósofos, en un sujeto, y tambien dijimos en el cuarto capitulo. Y afición de Dios y afición de criatura son contrarios; y así, no caben en una voluntad afición de criatura y afición de Dios. Porque ¿que tiene que ver criatura con Criador, sensual con espiritual, visible con invisible, temporal con eterno, manjar celestial puro espiritual con el manjar del sentido puro sensual, desnudez de Cristo con asimiento en alguna cosa?

2. Por tanto, así como en la generación natural no se puede introducir una forma sin que primero se expela del sujeto la forma contraria que precede, la cual estando, es impedimento de la otra, por la contrariedad que tienen las dos entre sí, así, en tanto que el alma se sujeta al espíritu sensual, no puede entrar en ella el espíritu puro espiritual. Que, por eso, dijo Nuestro Salvador por san Mateo (15, 26): Non est bonum sumere panem filiorum et mittere canibus, esto es: No es cosa conveniente tomar el pan de los hijos y darlo a los canes. Y tambien en otra parte dice por el mismo evangelista (7, 6): Nolite sanctum dare canibus, que quiere decir: No queráis dar lo santo a los canes. En las cuales autoridades compara Nuestro Señor al que, negando los apetitos de las criaturas, se disponen para recibir el espíritu de Dios puramente, a los hijos de Dios; y a los que quieren cebar su apetito en las criaturas, a los perros, porque a los hijos les es dado comer con su Padre a la mesa y de su plato, que es apacentarse de su espíritu, y a los canes, las meajas que caen de la mesa.

3. En lo cual es de saber que todas las criaturas son meajas que cayeron de la mesa de Dios. Por tanto, justamente es llamado can el que anda apacentándose en las criaturas, y por eso se les quita el de los hijos, pues ellos no se quieren levantar de las meajas de las criaturas a la mesa del espíritu increado de su Padre. Y por eso justamente, como perros, siempre andan hambreando, porque las meajas más sirven de avivar el apetito que de satisfacer el hambre. Y así, de ellos dice David (Sal. 58, 15-16): Famen patientur ut canes, et circuibunt civitatem. Si vero non fuerint saturati, et murmurabunt; quiere decir: Ellos padecerán hambre como perros y rodearán la ciudad y, como no se vean hartos, murmurarán. Porque esta es la propiedad del que tiene apetitos, que siempre está descontento y desabrido, como el que tiene hambre.

Pues, ¿que tiene que ver el hambre que ponen todas las criaturas con la hartura (que causa el espíritu de Dios? Por eso, no puede entrar esta hartura) increada en el alma si no se echa primero esotra hambre criada del apetito del alma; pues, como habemos dicho, no pueden morar dos contrarios en un sujeto, los cuales en este caso son hambre y hartura.

4. Por lo dicho se verá cuánto más hace Dios en limpiar y purgar una alma de estas contrariedades, que en criarla de nonada. Porque estas contrariedades de afectos y apetitos contrarios más opuestas y resistentes son a Dios que la nada, porque esta no resiste. Y esto baste acerca del primer daño principal que hacen al alma los apetitos, que es resistir al espíritu de Dios, por cuanto arriba está ya dicho mucho de ello.

5. Ahora digamos del segundo efecto que hacen en ella, el cual es de muchas maneras, porque los apetitos cansan al alma, y la atormentan, y oscurecen, y la ensucian, y la enflaquecen. De las cuales cinco cosas iremos diciendo de por sí.

6. Cuanto a lo primero, claro está que los apetitos cansan y fatigan al alma, porque son como unos hijuelos inquietos y de mal contento, que siempre están pidiendo a su madre uno y otro, y nunca se contentan. Y así como se cansa y fatiga el que cava por codicia del tesoro, así se cansa y fatiga el alma por conseguir lo que sus apetitos le piden. Y, aunque lo consiga, en fin, siempre se cansa, porque nunca se satisface; porque, al cabo, son cisternas rotas las que cava, que no pueden tener agua para satisfacer la sed (Jer. 2, 13). Y así, como dice Isaías (29, 8): Lassus adhuc sitit, et anima eius vacua est; que quiere decir: Está su apetito vacío. Y cánsase y fatígase el alma que tiene apetitos, porque es como el enfermo de calentura, que no se halla bien hasta que se le quite la fiebre, y cada rato le crece la sed. Porque, como se dice en el libro de Job (20, 22): Cum satiatus fuerit, arctabitur, aestuabit, et omnis dolor irruet super eum; que quiere decir: Cuando hubiere satisfecho su apetito, quedará más apretado y agravado; creció en su alma el calor del apetito y así caerá sobre el todo dolor.

Cánsase y fatígase el alma con sus apetitos, porque es herida y movida y turbada de ellos como el agua de los vientos, y de esa misma manera la alborotan, sin dejarla sosegar en (un) lugar ni en una cosa. Y de tal alma dice Isaías (57, 20): Cor impii quasi mare fervens: El corazón del malo es como el mar cuando hierve; y es malo el que no vence los apetitos. Cánsase y fatígase el alma que desea cumplir sus apetitos, porque es como el que, teniendo hambre, abre la boca para hartarse de viento, y, en lugar de hartarse, se seca más, porque aquel no es su manjar. A este propósito dijo Jeremías (2, 24): In desiderio animae suae attraxit ventum amoris sui; como si dijera: En el apetito de su voluntad atrajo a sí el viento de su afición. Y luego dice adelante (2, 25) para dar a entender la sequedad en que esta tal alma queda, dando aviso y diciendo: Prohibe pedem tuum a nuditate, et guttur tuum a siti; que quiere decir: Aparta tu pie, esto es, tu pensamiento, de la desnudez, y tu garganta de la sed, es a saber, tu voluntad del cumplimiento del apetito que hace más sequía. Y así como se cansa y fatiga el enamorado en el día de la esperanza cuando le salió su lance en vacío, (así) se cansa el alma y fatiga con todos sus apetitos y cumplimiento de ellos, pues todos le causan mayor vacío y hambre; porque, como comúnmente dicen, el apetito es como el fuego que, echándole leña, crece, y luego que la consume, por fuerza ha de desfallecer.

7. Y aun el apetito es de peor condición en esta parte; porque el fuego, acabándose la leña, descrece; mas el apetito no descrece en aquello que se aumentó cuando se puso por obra, aunque se acaba la materia, sino que, en lugar de descrecer, como el fuego cuando se le acaba la suya, el desfallece en fatiga, porque queda crecida el hambre y disminuido el manjar. Y de este habla Isaías (9, 20), diciendo: Declinabit ad dexteram, et esuriet; et comedet ad sinistram, et non saturabitur; quiere decir: Declinará hacia la mano derecha, y habrá hambre; y comerá hacia la siniestra, y no se hartará. Porque estos que no mortifican sus apetitos, justamente, cuando declinan, ven la hartura del dulce espíritu de los que están a la diestra de Dios, la cual a ellos no se le concede; y, justamente, cuando corren hacia la siniestra, que es cumplir su apetito en alguna criatura, no se hartan; pues, dejando lo que sólo puede satisfacer, se apacientan de lo que les causa más hambre. Claro está, pues, que los apetitos cansan y fatigan al alma.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Jer.2.13 — For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold the water.
  2. ↩Jer.2.13 — For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold the water.
  3. ↩Isa.9.20 — Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh; together they are against Judah. Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩privación y positivo: technical contrast of privative harm (depriving the soul of God's spirit) and positive harm (actively wounding and defiling the soul). Kept as 'privative' and 'positive' to match the chapter's scholastic framing.
  2. 2 ↩entidad: scholastic 'entity/being' — rendered as 'reality' for the appetite's substantial hold or presence in the soul.
  3. 3 ↩desnudez de Cristo: technical Carmelite term for Christ's spiritual poverty/nakedness (detachment); asimiento: clinging or attachment. Kept close to the source rather than paraphrased into generic 'freedom vs. possession'.
  4. 4 ↩Spanish has mixed number: singular 'al que' with plural 'se disponen'; rendered as plural 'those who,' matching the intended sense and the parallel 'a los que.'
  5. 5 ↩Spanish "se les quita el de los hijos" is elliptical; from the preceding Gospel citation (the children's bread), "el" is taken as "el pan"—the children's bread.
  6. 6 ↩"desabrido" literally suggests lack of savor; here figurative for peevish, sour, or ill-humored discontent.
  7. 7 ↩Source text opens a parenthesis mid-phrase (“la hartura (que causa…”) that only closes in the next sentence; translated as continuous sense without the orphaned parenthesis.
  8. 8 ↩Source begins with residual closing parenthesis after hartura (“esta hartura) increada”); treated as editorial debris from the split with s1 and rendered as “this uncreated fullness.”
  9. 9 ↩increada / criada contrast kept as uncreated / created: divine fullness vs. appetite-born hunger from creatures.
  10. 10 ↩Spanish 'contrariedades de afectos y apetitos contrarios' names interior oppositions formed by disordered affections and appetites; rendered as 'contrarieties' to keep the scholastic contrast with 'la nada' (nothing), which offers no resistance to God's creative act.
  11. 11 ↩John's Spanish gloss renders only part of the Latin (focusing on emptiness of appetite); the Latin itself more fully says the weary one still thirsts and his soul is empty.
  12. 12 ↩Source 'sobre el todo dolor' is read as 'sobre él todo dolor' (every pain upon him), matching the Latin 'omnis dolor irruet super eum'.
  13. 13 ↩afición rendered as attachment (disordered affection), not mere fondness; fits the negative appetitive context.
  14. 14 ↩lance rendered as venture (a hoped-for cast/attempt that fails); día de la esperanza kept as day of hope for the lover's expected fulfillment.
  15. 15 ↩justamente, cuando declinan parallels Isaiah's Declinabit: both 'precisely when they turn/decline' and the moral force of justly missing the sweet spirit at God's right hand.

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