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Chapter 74BenjaminMinor.1.74

CAPUT LXXIV. De illo contemplationis genere, quod est supra rationem

The Death of Reason at the Birth of Contemplation

When Benjamin is born, Rachel dies, signifying that human reason fails in the act of contemplation, as illustrated by Paul's rapture and the distinction between human, angelic, and divine spirits.

So when Benjamin is born, Rachel dies, because the mind, caught up into contemplation, experiences how great the failure of human reason is.✦ Wasn't Rachel dead then, and hadn't every sense of human reason failed in the Apostle when he said: Whether in the body or outside the body, I don't know—God knows.✦ So let no one imagine that by arguing he can force his way into the brilliance of that divine light; let no one believe he can grasp it by human reasoning. For if that divine light could have been approached by any line of argument, it certainly would not have been inaccessible. Finally the Apostle boasts that he did not, in fact, go there himself, but was without doubt caught up: I know a man, he says, whether in the body or outside the body—I don't know, God knows—who was caught up in this way as far as the third heaven.✦1 But this third heaven, which lies between earth and heaven, is what lies between body and spirit.✦2 But the dignity of the human spirit is one thing, that of the angelic spirit another, and far different still is the excellence of the divine Spirit. Indeed, the excellence of angelic nature, free of both, far surpasses the dignity of the human spirit, which is subject to punishment and guilt; but that Spirit who made both surpasses both beyond all comparison.

The Three Heavens of Contemplation

The mind ascends through three heavens corresponding to self-knowledge, contemplation of God, and ecstatic union; only the Son of Man can ascend to the third, though grace may catch up others.

So a person's mind is truly raised to whichever of these heavens when, leaving the lowest depths of earthly thoughts behind, it is fixed on contemplating them.3 So self-knowledge belongs to the first heaven, while the contemplation of God belongs to the third.4 So who do you think ascends to this third heaven, if not the one who also descended—the Son of Man, who is in heaven? And so even if there are those who go up as far as the heavens and go down as far as the depths, still they only ascend, if at all, to the first and second; for they cannot reach all the way to the third. People can, of course, be caught up to this heaven—for they cannot climb there themselves at all. Still, we can distinguish into three degrees that knowledge of God which can be had in this life, and, according to the threefold difference among those degrees, divide it among the three heavens.5 For God is seen one way through faith, known another way through reason, and discerned still another way through contemplation.6 So the first vision belongs to the first heaven, the second to the second, and the third belongs to the third. The first is below reason; the third is above reason.7

Contemplation Beyond Reason in Benjamin's Birth

People can climb to the first and second heavens, but only through ecstasy of mind are they carried into the third, which Benjamin's birth from Rachel's death fittingly symbolizes.

So people can certainly climb to the first and second heaven of contemplation, but they never reach the one that is above reason unless they are carried beyond themselves by an ecstasy of the mind.✦ But we can quite fittingly gather from his mother's death that by Benjamin we are to understand that kind of contemplation which is above reason.

Read the original Latin

Benjamin itaque nascente, Rachel moritur, quia mens ad contemplationem rapta, quantus sit humanae rationis defectus experitur. Nonne Rachel mortua tunc erat, et omnis humanae rationis sensus in Apostolo defecerat, cum dicebat: Sive in corpore, sive extra corpus, nescio, Deus scit. Nemo ergo se existimet ad illius divini luminis claritatem, argumentando posse penetrare; nemo se credat humana illud ratiocinatione posse comprehendere. Si enim aliqua argumentatione adiri potuisset lumen illud divinum, utique inaccessibile non fuisset. Denique Apostolus gloriatur, ad illud se non quidem, isse, sed absque dubio raptum fuisse: Scio, inquit, hominem, sive in corpore, sive extra corpus; nescio, Deus scit, raptum hujusmodi usque ad tertium coelum. Sed quod est coelum hoc tertium quod est inter terram et coelum, hoc est inter corpus et spiritum. Sed alia est dignitas spiritus humani, alia autem spiritus angelici, et longe alia est excellentia spiritus divini. Humani siquidem spiritus dignitatem qui subjacet poenae et culpae longe supergreditur utriusque expers, excellentia scilicet angelicae naturae, sed incomparabiliter, utrosque praecedit spiritus ille qui fecit utrumque.

Ad horum igitur coelorum quodlibet cujusvis animus, tunc veraciter exigitur, quando terrenarum cogitationum ima deserens, in eorum contemplatione defigitur. Ad primum itaque coelum pertinet cognitio sui, ad tertium autem pertinet contemplatio Dei. Ad hoc itaque tertium coelum quis putas ascendit, nisi qui et descendit Filius hominis qui est in coelo, itaque et si sint qui ascendunt usque ad coelos, et descendunt usque ad abyssos, non tamen ascendunt nisi forte ad primum et secundum, non enim possunt usque ad tertium. Ad hoc utique coelum homines rapi possunt: nam ipsi ascendere omnino non possunt. Possumus tamen illa quae in hac vita haberi potest, Dei cognitionem, tribus gradibus distinguere, et secundum triplicem graduum differentiam per tres coelos dividere. Aliter siquidem Deus videtur per fidem, aliter cognoscitur per rationem, atque aliter cernitur per contemplationem. Prima ergo visio ad primum coelum, secunda ad secundum, tertia pertinet ad tertium. Prima est infra rationem, tertia supra rationem.

Ad primum itaque et secundum contemplationis coelum, homines sane ascendere possunt, sed ad illud quod est supra rationem, nisi per mentis excessum supra seipsos rapti nunquam pertingunt. Quod autem per Benjamin illud contemplationis genus, quod supra rationem est, intelligere debeamus, ex matris ejus morte convenienter satis conjicere possumus.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Gen.35.16-Gen.35.19 — They set out from Bethel, and when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel went into labor and had difficulty giving birth. Gen.35.17 — And it came about, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said to her, "Do not be afraid, for this one also is a son for you." Gen.35.18 — And it came about as her life was departing—for she was dying—that she named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. Gen.35.19 — And Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem.
  2. ↩2Cor.12.2-2Cor.12.3 — I know a person in Christ fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know; God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. 2Cor.12.3 — And I know that such a person—whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know; God knows—
  3. ↩2Cor.12.2 — I know a person in Christ fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know; God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven.
  4. ↩2Cor.12.2 — I know a person in Christ fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know; God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven.
  5. ↩2Cor.12.2-2Cor.12.4 — I know a person in Christ fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know; God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. 2Cor.12.3 — And I know that such a person—whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know; God knows— 2Cor.12.4 — that he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a person to speak.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Normalized the awkward comma before isse as non quidem isse: he did not go of himself, but was rapt.
  2. 2 ↩The Latin identifies the third heaven with the intermediate between earth and heaven / body and spirit; the following sentences rank human, angelic, and divine spirit. Sense is clear enough to translate, but the cosmology is dense.
  3. 3 ↩exigitur is rendered as 'is raised' (drawn up toward). The passive of exigere more commonly means 'is required/exacted'; here the construction ad ... exigitur with a destination and the surrounding ascent imagery supports elevation rather than obligation.
  4. 4 ↩The Latin names only the first and third heavens here; the second is left for the later grading by faith, reason, and contemplation.
  5. 5 ↩illa quae ... Dei cognitionem is slightly awkward Latin (illa for expected illam, or a loose apposition). Sense is clear: the knowledge of God available in this life is graded in three degrees.
  6. 6 ↩Three distinct verbs are kept distinct: videtur (is seen), cognoscitur (is known), cernitur (is discerned/beheld).
  7. 7 ↩The second vision (through reason) is implied as the middle term but not stated in this sentence; the next section develops what lies above reason.

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