CAPUT XVIII. De gemina speculatione, quae surgit ex imaginatione
The Twofold Work of Rational Imagination
The author distinguishes two kinds of rational imagination—one that stays with visible things and one that rises to invisible—and identifies them with Dan (consideration of future evils) and Naphtali (contemplation of future goods).
We have said that only rational imagination seems to belong to Rachel, and that whatever is not rational is judged utterly unworthy of being adopted by her. But rational imagination is of two kinds: one ordered by reason, another mixed with understanding. We use the former when, following the known appearance of visible things, we arrange some other visible thing in the mind, and yet from that we don't think of anything invisible. We use the latter, though, when through the appearance of visible things we try to rise to knowledge of invisible things. In the former, imagination is not without reason; in the latter, understanding is not without imagination. These are the two sons of Bilhah: the firstborn is called Dan, and the later one is named Naphtali. So consideration of future evils belongs specially to Dan; but to Naphtali belongs contemplation of future goods. [c1]1 Dan knows nothing except bodily things, but he still probes those that are far removed from bodily sense.
Dan and Naphtali in Scripture: Hell and Heaven
Using the examples of hell and the heavenly Jerusalem, the author shows how Dan's imagination holds torments before the mind's eye in a literal sense, while Naphtali's imagination rises through visible descriptions to spiritual understanding.
Naphtali rises through the form of visible things to an understanding of invisible things. We don't doubt the torments of hell, as far removed as they are from bodily sense—for we can't see where they are or what they are like—and yet, whenever we want, through Dan's ministry we hold them before the eyes of the heart. No believer, when he reads of hell, the flame of Gehenna, and the outer darkness in the holy Scriptures, believes these things are said figuratively; rather, he is certain they truly and bodily exist somewhere. So of course it happens that although someone may set these things before the eyes of the heart through imagination, he doesn't at once seek their meaning through spiritual understanding, because he doesn't doubt that they are said not so much figuratively as historically. [c2]2 So we have rightly said that consideration belongs especially to Dan, where only imagination is needed—though in such work we don't handle it without reason's ordering. But when someone has read of a land flowing with milk and honey, of the walls of the heavenly Jerusalem built of precious stones, its gates of pearls, its streets of gold—what sensible person would want to take these things according to the letter? So he immediately turns back to spiritual understanding and asks what mystical meaning is held there. Do you see how a description of future things like this seems to belong only to Naphtali—where it is well known that imagination alone cannot suffice without understanding?
A Mystical and Simple Understanding
The author concludes by noting that many descriptions of torments are to be taken mystically, and many descriptions of future goods are to be understood simply, adding nuance to the earlier assignment.
So it's rightly said that consideration of the evils to come belongs especially to Dan, while contemplation of the goods to come belongs above all to Naphtali. Even so, many things—even those written about the torments of the wicked—are to be taken mystically; and many things likewise about the goods of the life to come, though they are described in bodily terms, are simply to be understood. [c3]3
Read the original Latin
Diximus quia sola rationalis imaginatio ad Rachel pertinere videatur, et quae rationalis non est, ejus adoptione prorsus indigna judicatur. Sed rationalis imaginatio alia est per rationem disposita, alia intelligentiae permista. Illa utimur, quando secundum visibilium rerum cognitam speciem visibile aliud aliquid mente disponimus, nec tamen ex eo invisibile aliquid cogitamus. Ista vero tunc utimur, quando per visibilium rerum speciem ad invisibilium cognitionem ascendere nitimur. In illa est imaginatio non sine ratione, in ista intelligentia non absque imaginatione. Isti sunt duo filii Balae, quorum primogenitus Dan dicitur, posterior Nephtalim nominatur. Ad Dan itaque specialiter pertinet consideratio futurorum malorum: ad Nephtalim autem speculatio futurorum bonorum. Dan nihil novit nisi corporalia, sed ea tamen rimatur quae longe sunt a sensu corporeo remota.
Nephtalim per rerum visibilium formam surgit ad rerum invisibilium intelligentiam. Infernalia tormenta longe a sensu corporeo remota non dubitamus, quia ubi vel qualia sint videre non possumus, sed tamen haec quoties volumus, per ministerium Dan prae oculis cordis habemus. Nemo fidelium cum infernum, flammam gehennae, tenebras exteriores in Scripturis sanctis legit, haec figuraliter dicta credit, sed ista veraciter et corporaliter alicubi esse non diffidit. Unde fit nimirum ut, quamvis quispiam haec ante oculos cordis per imaginationem ponat, non statim eorum significationem per spiritalem intelligentiam quaerat, quia haec non tam figuraliter quam historialiter dicta, non dubitat. Recte ergo considerationem ad Dan specialiter pertinere jam diximus, ubi sola imaginatione opus habemus, quamvis eam in tali negotio non sine rationis dispositione tractamus. Sed cum terram lacte et melle manantem, coelestis Hierusalem muros ex lapidibus pretiosis, portas ex margaritis, plateas ex auro legerit, quis sani sensus homo haec juxta litteram accipere velit? Unde statim ad spiritualem intelligentiam recurrit, et quid ibi mysticum contineatur, inquirit. Videsne quomodo haec talis futurorum descriptio ad Nephtalim tantum pertinere videatur, ubi sine intelligentia, sola imaginatio sufficere non posse minime ignoratur.
Recte ergo dictum est quod ad Dan specialiter pertineat consideratio futurorum malorum, ad Nephtalim autem maxime speculatio futurorum bonorum. Multa tamen, et quae de tormentis malorum scripta sunt, mystice accipienda sunt, et multa similiter de futurae vitae bonis (quamvis corporalia describantur) simpliciter intelligenda.
Notes
- 1 ↩consideratio and speculatio are kept distinct: consideration vs. contemplative gazing, matching the chapter's gemina speculatio.
- 2 ↩historialiter is rendered historically (as real history), not merely as narrative; the contrast is with figuraliter.
- 3 ↩simpliciter intelligenda: rendered as 'simply to be understood,' preserving the contrast with mystice accipienda. In context, simpliciter likely means straightforward spiritual understanding rather than a flatly literal/corporeal reading of heavenly goods.
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