CAPUT LXXXVI. De duobus generibus contemplationum
Two Kinds of Contemplation Above Reason
The chapter introduces two kinds of contemplation above reason: one that is above reason but not against it, and another that is both above and against reason, exemplified by the Trinity and the Body of Christ.
Still, through Rachel's death and through Benjamin's going beyond himself, we can quite fittingly understand different kinds of contemplation.✦ For it is clear that there are two kinds of contemplation above reason, and that both belong to Benjamin. The first is above reason but not against reason; the second, however, is both above reason and against reason.1 Those, to be sure, are above reason but not against it: things that, though reason allows them to be, still cannot be discovered or proven by any reasoning. Those things, however, we call both above reason and against reason—things to which all human reason seems opposed. These are the things we believe about the unity of the Trinity, and many things about the Body of Christ that we hold by the unquestionable authority of faith. For no human reason allows that in one simple nature there should be a threefold person, or that one and the same body could be in different places at the same time; and without a doubt all reasoning seems to cry out against claims of this kind.2 These, then, are those two kinds of contemplation: one belongs to Rachel's death, the other to Benjamin's going beyond himself.
Scriptural Signification and the Example of Benjamin
The pattern of the two kinds of contemplation is seen in Benjamin and his brothers, and Scripture uses various modes to signify meaning, as shown by Benjamin's descent into Egypt and his embrace with Joseph.
In the first, Benjamin kills his mother, where he rises above all reason; but in the second he even goes beyond himself, where, in what is known by divine revelation, he transcends the measure of human intelligence.✦ But this has to be noticed not only in Benjamin, but in all the brothers as well—indeed carefully observed even in countless places in the Scriptures: how divine Scripture, dealing with the same thing, will now expand a meaning, now restrict it, or even change it. And it usually fixes these modes of shifting meaning in many ways, and opens its sense now by place, now by action, or by any other circumstances. It is fixed by place, as when we read that Benjamin went down into Egypt. It is fixed by action, as when Joseph and Benjamin fall into each other's arms and exchange kisses.✦
Read the original Latin
Possumus tamen per mortem Rachel, et per excessum Benjamin, diversa contemplationum genera, non inconvenienter intelligere. Constat siquidem duo contemplationum genera, supra rationem esse, et utrumque ad Benjamin pertinere. Et primum quidem est supra rationem, sed non praeter rationem; secundum autem et supra rationem et praeter rationem. Illa sane supra rationem, sed praeter rationem non sunt; quae quamvis ratio patitur esse, nulla tamen ratione investigari vel convinci possunt. Illa autem dicimus, et supra rationem, et praeter rationem esse quibus videtur omnis ratio humana contraire. Qualia sunt ea, quae de Trinitatis unitate credimus, et multa quae de corpore Christi indubitata fidei auctoritate tenemus. Quod enim in una, et simplici natura triplex persona sit, vel quod unum idemque corpus eodem in tempore, in diversis locis esse possit, nulla humana ratio patitur, et hujusmodi assertionibus omnis absque dubio ratiocinatio reclamare videtur. Haec sunt itaque duo genera illa contemplationum, quorum unum ad mortem Rachel, alterum pertinet ad Benjamin excessum.
In primo Benjamin interficit matrem, ubi omnem supergreditur rationem; in secundo autem etiam seipsum excedit, ubi in eo, quod ex divina revelatione cognoscitur, humanae intelligentiae modum transcendit. Hoc autem non solum in Benjamin, sed et in omnibus fratribus oportet attendere, imo et in innumeris Scripturarum locis, diligenter observare, quomodo soleat Scriptura divina, circa eamdem rem, nunc significationem extendere, modo restringere, vel etiam mutare. Solet autem hos alternantium significationum modos, modis multis determinare, et modo per locum, modo per actum, vel aliis quibusque circumstantiis, sensum suum aperire. Per locum determinatur sicut est illud, ubi Benjamin in Aegyptum descendisse legitur. Per actum, sicut ibi, ubi Joseph et Benjamin, in mutuos amplexus ruunt, et alterna oscula jungunt.
Scripture echoes
- ↩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.
- ↩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.
- ↩Gen.45.14 — And he fell upon the neck of his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck.
Notes
- 1 ↩praeter rationem is rendered "against reason" (not merely "beyond") to preserve the contrast with supra rationem, confirmed by s5–s7 (ratio contraire / non patitur / reclamare).
- 2 ↩triplex persona rendered "a threefold person" (singular persona with triplex): Trinitarian threeness-in-unity, not three separate natures.
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