De ordine et dispositione cogitationum nostrarum, quae finitae non sunt, ut ex eis construatur domus Dei.
The Chaos of Infinite Thoughts
Because earthly desires are infinite, our thoughts become disordered and confused, so we must gather our hearts through stable, focused meditation.
The number of all things, as far as our mind's capacity goes, is infinite, because it cannot be grasped by us. But where there is no definition, there is no certainty; and where there is no certainty, there is confusion; where there is confusion, order cannot exist. From this it follows, then, that when we let our hearts go immoderately in pursuit of earthly things, a crowd of empty thoughts suddenly springs up, and our mind is so swept away in different directions that even the natural order of discernment is disturbed. For because the worldly things we desire inordinately are infinite, the thoughts we conceive inwardly from the memory of those things cannot be finite either. For as they keep emerging one from another at every moment and multiplying, we can't even grasp for ourselves in what order or how they come to the heart, or how they depart from it. Therefore, if we want to have ordered, stable, and quiet thoughts, we should strive to restrain our hearts from this immoderate distraction. But this will be possible if we set down for ourselves certain specific and determined things, in which the intention of our heart may dwell constantly and our meditation may be practiced. For there are three options: being distracted by infinite things, remaining always in the same state, or wandering moderately. We shouldn't have the first; we can't have the second here; and so only this third option remains: since we cannot yet be truly stable in heart, let us at least gather our hearts from immoderate distraction, so that as we always strive to become less unstable, we may always begin more and more to imitate true stability.
The Shape of the Ascent
Using the image of the ark, the text teaches that the mind rises from the world's confusion to God's unshaken stability through ordered stages of growth, yet God wills that His chosen pass through trials to be purified.
And so that what we're saying becomes clearer through an example, let's set up three things: one at the bottom, another at the top, and a third in the middle. At the bottom let's place the world, at the top God, and in the middle let's set the human mind. Next, let's consider the great and terrible confusion of all things down in this world, and the boundless distraction of human minds; but up above, with God, there is perpetual and unshaken stability. After this, let's imagine the human mind ascending upward from this world to God, and as it ascends, gathering itself together more and more into one—and then we'll be able to see spiritually the shape of our ark, which was wide at the bottom and rose upward into a narrow point, until it reached the measure of a single cubit at its peak.✦ For in the same way, we ascend from this deep valley of tears through certain increments of virtue—like steps arranged in our heart—and little by little we are gathered into one, until we reach that simple unity, true simplicity, and eternal stability which is with God.✦ No one becomes perfect suddenly, but by making progress each person strives toward perfection; as long as someone still has room to improve, they haven't yet reached the highest perfection. Here, if we want, we can consider the way we are restored. For almighty God, to whom nothing is impossible, could certainly—if he wanted—instantly and without delay transfer those he has resolved to have mercy on from the labors, hardships, and dangers of this present life, which is full of temptations, into the stability of eternal life. But he wills that his chosen ones pass through various tribulations and countless temptations to be purified, so that when they return to him through many sorrows, they may learn how far they departed from him by sinning.✦✦
Gathered from the Ends of the Earth
Through God's mercy the scattered soul is gathered back from afar, and by remembering this deliverance the soul is trained to rise from worldly distraction to the contemplation of God.
For while they walk the path by which they had gone astray through sin, not carried away but led back through repentance, they recognize, from the very weariness of the long journey, so to speak, that they have been brought from far off. And all of this happens so that God's grace may be commended to people, so that they may love God the more ardently, the less they see themselves abandoned by him, even when they have been far away, just as he himself promised through the prophet Isaiah, saying: I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north wind: Give; and to the south wind: Do not hinder. Bring my sons from far away, and my daughters from the ends of the earth (Isa. XLIII). Each one of us who remembers where he has been and recognizes where he is can perhaps see in himself how, through divine mercy, a person is brought back from far off and, from being scattered, is gathered into one. It remains now for us to consider what those things may be that we spoke of above, in which the soul must be exercised, so that it may gradually grow accustomed to drawing itself back from the distraction of this world and, strengthened, may rise to that highest stability—that is, the contemplation of God—which can be seen in this way.
Read the original Latin
Omnium rerum numerus quantum ad nostrae intelligentiae capacitatem pertinet infinitus est, quia a nobis comprehendi non potest. Ubi autem non est definitio, non est certitudo; et ubi certitudo non est, confusio est; ubi vero confusio est, ordo esse non potest. Hinc ergo procedit, quod, dum corda nostra ad appetitum terrenarum rerum immoderate laxamus, oborta mox inanium cogitationum turba, ita in diversa mens nostra rapitur, ut ipse quoque naturalis discretionis ordo perturbetur. Nam quia res mundanae, quas inordinate appetimus, infinitae sunt, cogitationes quoque, quas ex ipsarum rerum memoria intrinsecus concipimus, finitae esse non possunt. Nam dum per singula momenta aliae ex aliis orientes multipliciter prodeunt, nec ipsi nos comprehendere valemus, quo ordine, vel quomodo ad cor veniunt, aut a corde recedunt. Proinde si ordinatas, et stabiles, ac quietas cogitationes habere volumus ab hac immoderata distractione corda nostra cohibere studeamus. Hoc autem fieri poterit, si certas quasdam et determinatas res nobis praescribamus, in quibus assidue intentio cordis nostri versari, et meditatio exerceri possit. Tria enim sunt, id est per infinita distrahi, in eodem semper persistere, moderate vagari, quorum primum habere non debemus, secundum hic habere non possumus, et idcirco solum hoc tertium superest, ut quia adhuc vere corde stabiles esse non possumus, interim saltem ab immoderata distractione corda nostra colligamus, ut dum semper nitimur minus instabiles fieri, semper magis ac magis incipiamus veram stabilitatem imitari.
Et ut quod loquimur, per exemplum manifestius fiat, tres constituamus res; unam in imo, alteram in summo, tertiam in medio. In imo ponamus mundum, in summo Deum, et in medio collocemus humanum animum. Deinde consideremus deorsum in mundo isto magnam quamdam, et horribilem omnium rerum confusionem, et infinitam humanarum mentium distractionem; sursum autem apud Deum perpetuam et inconcussam stabilitatem. Post haec imaginemur quasi humanum animum de hoc mundo sursum ad Deum ascendentem, et in ascendendo magis semper ac magis in unum sese colligentem, et tunc spiritaliter videre poterimus formam arcae nostrae, quae in imo lata fuit, et sursum in angustum surrexit, quousque ad mensuram unius cubiti in cacumine suo perveniret. Similiter enim nos de hoc profundo, de hac convalle lacrymarum per quaedam incrementa virtutum, quasi per quosdam gradus in corde nostro dispositos, ascendentes paulatim in unum colligimur, quousque ad illam simplicem unitatem, et veram simplicitatem, aeternamque stabilitatem, quae apud Deum est, pertingamus. Nemo subito perfectus fit, sed proficiendo quisque ad perfectionem tendit, qui quandiu adhuc habet, in quo proficere possit, nondum ad summam perfectionem pervenit. Hic, si volumus, considerare possumus modum reparationis nostrae. Omnipotens enim Deus, cui nihil impossibile est, posset utique si vellet eos, quibus misereri proposuit, de laboribus, et aerumnis, et de periculis praesentis vitae, quae tentationibus plena est, subito et absque dilatione ad aeternae vitae stabilitatem transferre, sed vult ut electi sui per varias tribulationes, et tentationes plurimas purgandi transeant, ut cum per multos dolores ad eum redeunt, discant quam longe ab eo peccando discesserint.
Dum enim viam, per quam abierant peccando, poenitendo non translati, sed reducti pergunt, ex ipsa diuturna (ut ita dicam) itineris fatigatione agnoscunt, quod de longinquo adducti sunt. Et hoc totum fit, ut hominibus gratia Dei commendetur, ut tanto ardentius Deum diligant, quanto minus se ab eo etiam cum longe fuerint, vident derelictos, sicut per prophetam Isaiam ipse promisit dicens: Abducam ab oriente semen tuum, et ab occidente congregabo te. Dicam aquiloni: Da; et austro: Noli, prohibere. Affer filios meos de longinquo, et filias meas ab extremis terrae (Isa. XLIII). Potest unusquisque nostrum, qui memor est ubi fuerit, et agnoscit ubi sit, in seipso fortassis videre quomodo homo per divinam misericordiam de longinquo adducatur, et de dispersione sui unum colligatur. Restat nunc ut consideremus, quae sint illae res, quas supradiximus, in quibus exerceri oporteat animum, ut paulatim assuescat se ab hujus mundi distractione retrahere, ut ad illam summam stabilitatem, id est contemplationem Dei roboratus assurgat, quod sic videri potest.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Gen.6.16 — You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and the door of the ark you shall set in its side; with lower, second, and third stories you shall make it.
- ↩Ps.83.7 — the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites,
- ↩Luke.1.37 — For nothing will be impossible with God.
- ↩Acts.14.22 — strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to remain in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
De Arca Noe Morali et Mystica (On the Moral and Mystical Ark of Noah) companion
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