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Chapter 9SubidaCarmelo.1.9

CAPÍTULO 9. En que se trata cómo los apetitos ensucian al alma. Pruebalo por comparaciones y autoridades de la Escritura sagrada.

The Defiling Nature of Appetite

The soul is stained by disordered appetites just as pitch soils whatever touches it.

1. The fourth harm that appetites cause the soul is that they soil and stain it, as Ecclesiasticus (13:1) teaches: "Whoever touches pitch will be soiled by it." A person touches pitch whenever they satisfy the appetite of their will with some creature.1 It's worth noting here that the Wise Man compares creatures to pitch, because there is a greater difference between the excellence of the soul and even the best of those creatures than there is between a clear diamond or fine gold and pitch.2 Just as gold or a diamond, if placed hot upon pitch, would come away ugly and smeared—because the heat softens the pitch and draws it—so the soul that is hot with appetite for a creature draws filth and stain from that creature into itself through the heat of its desire.34 There is a greater difference between the soul and other bodily creatures than there is between a perfectly clear liquid and filthy mire. So, just as such a liquid would be soiled if it were mixed with mire, the soul that clings to a creature is soiled, because in that act of clinging, it becomes like that creature. And just as soot marks would disfigure a beautiful, finished face, disordered appetites uglify and soil the soul—which is, in itself, a most beautiful and finished image of God.

The Ruin of the Soul's Beauty

Jeremiah's lament illustrates how disordered affections transform the soul's natural radiance into darkness.

2. And so Jeremiah, weeping (Lam. 4:7–8) over the ruin and ugliness these disordered affections cause in the soul, first recounts its beauty and then its ugliness, saying: Candidiores sunt nazarei eius nive, nitidiores lecte, rubicundiores ebore entiquo, saphiro pulchriores.5 Denigrata est super carbones facies eorum, et non sunt cogniti in plateis; which means: Their hair—that is, the soul's—is loftier in whiteness than snow, more radiant than milk, redder than ancient ivory, and more beautiful than the sapphire stone.6 Their face has grown blacker than coals, and they aren't recognized in the streets. By hair we understand here the soul's affections and thoughts, which, ordered toward what God orders them for—that is, toward God himself—are whiter than snow, clearer than milk, ruddier than ivory, and more beautiful than sapphire. By these four things is meant every kind of beauty and excellence in a bodily creature, and above them all, he says, stand the soul and its operations—the Nazirites or hair just named. When these are disordered and set on what God did not order them for—that is, employed on creatures—Jeremiah says their face is left and made blacker than coals.7 3. For disordered appetites fixed on the things of this world do all this harm and more to the beauty of the soul. So much so that if we had to speak deliberately of the ugly, filthy form appetites can put on the soul, we would find nothing we could compare it to—not anything however thick with cobwebs and vermin, not the ugliness of a dead body, nor any other unclean and filthy thing that can exist or be imagined in this life.8 For although it is true that the disordered soul, as to its natural being, remains as perfect as God created it, still, as to its rational being, it is ugly, abominable, and filthy in form, and marked by all the evils being described here—and much more.9 For even a single disordered appetite alone, as we will say later—even if it is not matter of mortal sin—is enough to leave a soul so bound, filthy, and ugly that it can in no way be joined with God in union until that appetite is purified. What, then, will the ugliness be of the soul that is wholly disordered in its own passions and given over to its appetites—and how far will it be from God and from his purity?

The Multiplicity of Interior Filth

The variety of disordered appetites creates a complex and wretched landscape of uncleanness within the soul.

4. You can't put into words — you can't even grasp with the mind — the variety of uncleanness that the variety of appetites causes in the soul. For if it could be said and made understandable, it would be a marvelous thing, and one of deep pity too, to see how each appetite, according to its quantity and quality — greater or lesser — draws its own line and settles its seat of uncleanness and ugliness in the soul, and how in a single disorder of reason the soul can hold within itself countless different kinds of filth, greater and lesser, each in its own way.10 Just as the soul of a just person, in its single perfection of uprightness, possesses countless rich gifts and beautiful virtues—each distinct and gracious according to the many ways it has directed its love toward God—so the disordered soul, through its various appetites for created things, holds within itself a wretched variety of uncleanness and baseness, exactly as those appetites have painted them there.

The Temple of the Soul Desecrated

Ezekiel's vision of the temple serves as an allegory for how the soul's powers are corrupted by worldly attachments.

5. This variety of appetites is well illustrated in Ezekiel (8:10–16), where it is written that God showed the prophet, inside the temple, every likeness of vermin crawling on the earth painted all around the walls, along with the whole abomination of unclean animals. Then God said to Ezekiel: Son of man, have you really not seen the abominations these people do, each one in the secrecy of his private chamber?✦11 (3:12).✦12 And when God commanded the prophet to go farther in and he would see greater abominations, it says that there he saw the women sitting, weeping for the god of loves, Adonis (8:15).13 And when God commanded him to go still farther in and he would see even greater abominations, it says that there he saw twenty-five old men who had their backs turned against the temple (8:16). 6. The various crawling creatures and unclean animals painted in the first chamber of the temple are the thoughts and notions the understanding forms about the low things of the earth and about every creature—which, just as they are, get painted in the temple of the soul when she encumbers her understanding with them, for the understanding is the first room of the soul.14 The women farther inside, in the second room, weeping for the god Adonis, are the appetites that live in the second power of the soul, which is the will. These appetites are as if weeping, in that they covet what the will is attached to—namely the crawling creatures already painted in the understanding. And the men who were in the third room are the images and representations of creatures that the third part of the soul—the memory—keeps and turns over within itself. These men are said to have their backs turned to the temple because, once the soul has fully and completely embraced some earthly thing through these three powers, it can be said that she has her back to the temple of God—which is the soul's right reason, which admits nothing of the creature into itself.

The Necessity of Total Purification

Even the smallest imperfection stains the soul, necessitating a complete detachment from all appetites.

7. And to understand something of this ugly disorder of the soul in its appetites, what has been said is enough for now, because if we had to treat in particular of the lesser ugliness that imperfections produce and cause in the soul, and of their variety, and of that which venial sins produce—which is already greater than that of the imperfections—and of their great variety, and also of that which the appetites of mortal sin produce, which is total ugliness of the soul, and of their great variety, according to the variety and multitude of all these three things, there would be no end to it, nor would an angelic intellect be enough to grasp it. What I am saying, and what matters for my purpose, is that any appetite, even for the slightest imperfection, stains and soils the soul.

Read the original Latin

1. El cuarto daño que hacen los apetitos al alma es que la ensucian y manchan, según lo enseña el Eclesiástico (13, 1), diciendo: Qui tetigerit picem, inquinabitur ab ea; quiere decir: El que tocare a la pez, ensuciarse ha de ella; y entonces toca uno la pez cuando en alguna criatura cumple el apetito de su voluntad. En lo cual es de notar que el Sabio compara las criaturas a la pez, porque más diferencia hay entre la excelencia del alma y todo lo mejor de ellas, que hay del claro diamante fino oro a la pez. Y así como el oro o diamante, si se pusiese caliente sobre la pez, quedaría de ella feo y untado, por cuanto el calor la regaló y atrajo, así el alma que está caliente de apetito sobre alguna criatura, en el calor de su apetito saca inmundicia y mancha de el en sí. Y más diferencia hay entre el alma y las demás criaturas corporales que entre un muy clarificado licor y un cieno muy sucio. De donde, así como se ensuciaría el tal licor si le envolviesen con el cieno, de esa misma manera se ensucia el alma que se ase a la criatura, pues en ella se hace semejante a la dicha criatura. Y de la misma manera que pondrían los rasgos de tizne a un rostro muy hermoso y acabado, de esa misma manera afean y ensucian los apetitos desordenados al alma que los tiene, la cual en sí es una hermosísima y acabada imagen de Dios.

2. Por lo cual, llorando Jeremías (Lm. 4, 7-8) el estrago y fealdad que estas desordenadas afecciones causan en el alma, cuenta primero su hermosura y luego su fealdad, diciendo: Candidiores sunt nazarei eius nive, nitidiores lecte, rubicundiores ebore entiquo, saphiro pulchriores. Denigrata est super carbones facies eorum, et non sunt cogniti in plateis; que quiere decir: Sus cabellos, es a saber, del alma, son más levantados en blancura que la nieve, más resplandecientes que la leche, y más bermejos que el marfil antiguo, y más hermosos que la piedra zafiro. La haz de ellos se ha ennegrecido sobre los carbones, y no son conocidos en las plazas. Por los cabellos entendemos aquí los afectos y pensamientos del alma, los cuales, ordenados en lo que Dios los ordena, (que es en el mismo Dios) son más blancos que la nieve, y más claros que la leche, y más rubicundos que el marfil, y hermosos sobre el zafiro. Por las cuales cuatro cosas se entiende toda manera de hermosura y excelencia de criatura corporal, sobre las cuales, dice, es el alma y sus operaciones, que son los nazareos o cabellos dichos, los cuales, desordenados y puestos en lo que Dios no los ordenó, que es empleados en las criaturas, dice Jeremías que su haz queda y se pone más negra que los carbones. 3.

Que todo este mal y más hacen en la hermosura del alma los desordenados apetitos en las cosas de este siglo. Tanto, que, si hubiesemos de hablar de propósito de la fea y sucia figura que al alma los apetitos pueden poner, no hallaríamos cosa, por llena de telarañas y sabandijas que este, ni fealdad de cuerpo muerto, ni otra cosa cualquiera inmunda y sucia cuanto en esta vida la puede haber y se puede imaginar, a que la pudiesemos comparar. Porque, aunque es verdad que el alma desordenada, en cuanto al ser natural, está tan perfecta como Dios la crió, pero, en cuanto al ser de razón, está fea, abominable, sucia, figura y con todos los males que aquí se van escribiendo y mucho más. Porque, aun sólo un apetito desordenado, como despues diremos, aunque no sea de materia de pecado mortal, basta para poner un alma tan sujeta, sucia y fea, que en ninguna manera puede convenir con Dios en una unión hasta que el apetito se purifique. ¿Cuál será la fealdad de la que del todo está desordenada en sus propias pasiones y entregada a sus apetitos, y cuán alejada de Dios estará y de su pureza?

4. No se puede explicar con palabras, ni aun entenderse con el entendimiento, la variedad de inmundicia que la variedad de apetitos causan en el alma. Porque, si se pudiese decir y dar a entender, sería cosa admirable y tambien de harta compasión ver cómo cada apetito, conforme a su cuantidad y calidad, mayor o menor, hace su raya y asiento de inmundicia y fealdad en el alma, y cómo en una sola desorden de razón puede tener en sí innumerables diferencias de suciedades mayores y menores, y cada una de su manera. Porque, así como el alma del justo en una sola perfección, que es la rectitud del alma, tiene innumerables dones riquísimos y muchas virtudes hermosísimas, cada una diferente y graciosa en su manera, según la multitud y diferencia en los afectos de amor que ha tenido en Dios, así el alma desordenada, según la variedad de los apetitos que tiene en las criaturas, tiene en sí variedad miserable de inmundicias y bajezas, tal cual en ella la pintan los dichos apetitos.

5. Esta variedad de apetitos está bien figurada en Ezequiel (8, 10-16), donde se escribe que mostró Dios a este profeta en lo interior del templo, pintadas en derredor de las paredes, todas las semejanzas de sabandijas que arrastran por la tierra, y allí toda la abominación de animales inmundos. Y entonces dijo Dios a Ezequiel: Hijo del hombre, ¿de veras no has visto las abominaciones que hacen estos, cada uno en lo secreto de su retrete? (3, 12). Y mandando Dios al profeta que entrase más adentro y vería mayores abominaciones, dice que vio allí las mujeres sentadas llorando al dios de los amores, Adonis (8, 15). Y mandándole Dios entrar más adentro y vería aún mayores abominaciones, dice que vio allí veinticinco viejos que tenían vueltas las espaldas contra el templo (8, 16).

6. Las diferencias de sabandijas y animales inmundos que estaban pintados en el primer retrete del templo, son los pensamientos y concepciones que el entendimiento hace de las cosas bajas de la tierra y de todas las criaturas, las cuales, tales cuales son, se pintan en el templo del alma cuando ella con ella embaraza su entendimiento, que es el primer aposento del alma. Las mujeres que estaban más adentro, en el segundo aposento, llorando al dios Adonis, son los apetitos que están en la segunda potencia del alma, que es la voluntad. Los cuales están como llorando, en cuanto codician a lo que está aficionada la voluntad, que son las sabandijas ya pintadas en el entendimiento. Y los varones que estaban en el tercer aposento, son las imágenes y representaciones de las criaturas, que guarda y revuelve en sí la tercera parte del alma, que es la memoria. Las cuales se dice que están vueltas las espaldas contra el templo porque, cuando ya según estas tres potencias abraza el alma alguna cosa de la tierra acabada y perfectamente, se puede decir que tiene las espaldas contra el templo de Dios, que es la recta razón del alma, la cual no admite en sí cosa de criatura.

7. Y para entender algo de esta fea desorden del alma en sus apetitos, baste por ahora lo dicho, porque, si hubieramos de tratar en particular de la fealdad menor que hacen y causan en el alma las imperfecciones, y su variedad, y la que hacen los pecados veniales - que es ya mayor que la de las imperfecciones- y su mucha variedad, y tambien la que hacen los apetitos de pecado mortal, que es total fealdad del alma, y su mucha variedad, según la variedad y multitud de todas estas tres cosas, sería nunca acabar, ni entendimiento angelico bastaría para lo poder entender. Lo que digo y hace al caso para mi propósito es que cualquier apetito, aunque sea de la más mínima imperfección, mancha y ensucia al alma.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Ezek.8.12 — And he said to me, "Have you seen, O son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each one in the rooms of his vision? For they say, 'The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.'"
  2. ↩Ezek.8.12 — And he said to me, "Have you seen, O son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each one in the rooms of his vision? For they say, 'The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.'"

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Spanish pez here is pitch/tar (Latin picem), not fish; the comparison depends on sticky defilement.
  2. 2 ↩claro diamante fino oro is elliptical Golden Age Spanish; rendered as clear diamond and fine gold set against pitch, matching the next sentence's oro o diamante.
  3. 3 ↩regaló here is the older sense 'softened/melted by heat,' not 'gave a gift'; heat liquefies the pitch so it clings.
  4. 4 ↩de el en sí is slightly awkward Spanish; sense taken as drawing uncleanness from the creature into the soul itself.
  5. 5 ↩Source Latin has lecte and entiquo; the intended Vulgate reading is almost certainly lacte and antiquo (milk; ancient).
  6. 6 ↩Juan de la Cruz takes nazarei as the soul's cabellos (hair), which he later glosses as affections and thoughts.
  7. 7 ↩nazareos is kept as Nazirites (consecrated ones); Juan equates them with the soul's operations/hair from the Lamentations image.
  8. 8 ↩Older Spanish 'por llena de telarañas y sabandijas que este' is read as concessive ('however full of cobwebs and vermin it may be'), taking 'este' as archaic 'esté'.
  9. 9 ↩'Ser natural' vs. 'ser de razón': the soul’s created natural substance remains intact; the disorder is in its rational/moral life and ordered acts. 'Figura' continues the earlier 'fea y sucia figura' image of outward form or appearance.
  10. 10 ↩"hace su raya y asiento" rendered as "draws its own line and settles its seat": each appetite leaves its mark and takes lodging as a stain of uncleanness and ugliness.
  11. 11 ↩Spanish retrete here means a private inner room or chamber (biblical 'chambers'), not a modern toilet.
  12. 12 ↩The source prints '(3, 12)' as a freestanding citation immediately after the Ezekiel speech. In context the preceding words match Ezekiel 8:12, not 3:12; the printed reference may be corrupt or mis-split.
  13. 13 ↩dios de los amores, Adonis names the fertility/love-god of the women's mourning rite in the vision (cf. Tammuz/Adonis).
  14. 14 ↩Spanish 'embaraza' here means encumbers/occupies/obstructs the understanding, not modern 'impregnates'.

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