CAPUT LXXV. De supereminentia spiritualium theoriarum
The Surpassing Height of Contemplation
Knowledge of the Creator so towers over knowledge of creatures that the latter seems nothing more than an earthly point.
So then, next to a height of contemplation like this, any knowledge of creatures is narrow and lies at the bottom: compared with heaven, it's only an earthly sojourn, and it barely holds the place of a single point.1 Indeed, next to knowledge of the Creator, knowledge of creatures—however great—what else is it but what the earth is to heaven, what the center is to the whole circle's circumference?
The Gradations of Lower Knowledge
Within knowledge of creatures there are many degrees, from bodies to spirits, and from irrational to rational spirits.
Still, this earth has—this lower knowledge of lower things has—mountains and hills, plains and valleys. According to the difference among creatures, there will also be a difference among the forms of knowledge. For, to begin from the bottom, there is a great distance between one body and another. Indeed, there are heavenly bodies, and there are earthly bodies too. Still, the distance from any body to a spirit is greater than the distance between any bodies at all, however unlike they may be. But even among the spirits themselves, some are irrational and others rational.
From Bodily Wonder to Spiritual Ascent
Those who marvel only at bodily things are fixed on the ground, while those who investigate spiritual things begin to climb toward the heights.
So those who still marvel only at bodily things seem to have their eyes fixed, so to speak, on the lowest ground. But those who turn to investigating spiritual things are already climbing, so to speak, toward the heights.
The Mountain of Self-Knowledge
The first and chief study of the mind is to know itself, a height surpassing all worldly science, which the ancient philosophers could not attain.
For the mind that strives to climb to the height of knowledge, let its first and chief study be to know itself. It is a great height of knowledge to have known yourself perfectly. A great and high mountain: the full knowledge of a rational spirit. This mountain rises above the peaks of every worldly science; from on high it looks down on all philosophy and all the knowledge of the world.2 What did Aristotle find of that sort? What did Plato find? What could that whole crowd of philosophers manage to find? Truly, without a doubt: if with the sharpness of their intellect they could have climbed this mountain; if their studies had been enough to help them find themselves; if they had fully known themselves—they would never have worshiped idols, never bowed down to a creature, never raised a stiff neck against the Creator.3
Perfection in Knowing Yourself
The philosophers failed to climb this mountain, but whoever learns to think about himself rises to a high heart and reaches the summit of self-knowledge.
Here, those who search with scrutiny have failed.✦ Here, I say, they failed, and they couldn't climb this mountain at all. Let a person rise to a high heart, and God will be exalted.4 Learn, human being, to think; learn to think about yourself, and you have risen to a high heart. The more you advance each day in knowing yourself, the higher you reach toward what is above. Whoever has come to perfect knowledge of himself has already taken hold of the mountain's summit.
Read the original Latin
Ad hujusmodi ergo contemplationis celsitudinem quaelibet creaturarum cognitio angusta est, et in imo jacet, terrae morae in coeli respectu, et vix puncti vicem tenet. Ad cognitionem siquidem Creatoris, quantalibet cognitio creaturarum, quid aliud est quam quod terra ad coelum, quod centrum ad totius circuli ambitum? Habet tamen haec terra, habet haec inferior inferiorum scientia, montes et colles, campos et valles. Secundum differentiam creaturarum, erit et differentia scientiarum. Ut enim ab imo incipiamus, magna est distantia inter corpus et corpus. Siquidem sunt corpora coelestia, sunt et corpora terrestria. Major tamen est distantia cujuslibet corporis ad spiritum, quam quorumlibet, et quamlibet dissimilium corporum. Sed et ipsorum spirituum alii sunt irrationales, alii sunt rationales.
Oculos ergo quasi in imo defixos habere videntur, qui sola adhuc corporea mirantur. Sed jam quasi ad alta ascendunt, qui se ad spiritualium investigationem convertunt. Animus qui ad scientiae altitudinem nititur ascendere, primum et principale sit ei studium seipsum cognoscere. Magna altitudo scientiae seipsum perfecte cognovisse. Mons magnus et altus, plena cognitio rationalis spiritus. Omnium mundanarum scientiarum cacumina mons iste transcendit, omnem philosophiam, omnem mundi scientiam ab alto despicit. Quid tale Aristoteles, quid tale Plato invenit, quid tanta philosophorum turba, tale invenire potuit? Vere, et absque dubio, si hunc montem ingenii sui acumini ascendere potuissent, si ad seipsos inveniendos, eorum eis studia sufficerent, si seipsos plene cognovissent nunquam idola coluissent, nunquam creaturae collum inclinassent, nunquam contra Creatorem cervicem erexissent.
Hic defecerunt scrutantes scrutinio. Hic, inquam, defecerunt, et hunc in montem minime ascendere poterant. Ascendat homo ad cor altum, et exaltabitur Deus. Disce homo cogitare, disce cogitare teipsum, et ascendisti ad cor altum. Quantum quotidie in tui cognitionem proficis, tantum ad altiora super tendis. Qui ad perfectam sui cognitionem pervenit, jam montis verticem apprehendit.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.64.7 — They search out iniquities; we have completed a careful search; and the inward part of a man, and the heart, are deep.
Notes
- 1 ↩Latin terrae morae is taken as an earthly sojourn/abode (mora = stay, dwelling) set over against heaven; the exact surface is slightly stiff, but the earth-vs-heaven contrast is clear from the following sentence.
- 2 ↩despicit with ab alto primarily means spatial looking-down from a height; a note of contempt is possible but secondary to the mountain image.
- 3 ↩Three parallel si-clauses lead into three nunquam results. ingenii sui acumini taken as means ('with the sharpness of their intellect'); eorum eis studia as 'their studies… for them.'
- 4 ↩cor altum is kept as "high heart" (interior elevation / profundity of heart), matching the psalm phrase rather than flattening it to "deep thought" alone.
Benjamin Minor (The Twelve Patriarchs / Preparation of the Mind for Contemplation) 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