Liber Quintus, Caput Primum. De his quae supra nos sunt, id est de Deo rebusque divinis, considerationem instituit, ad quas modo per creaturas erigimur.
The Book of Pure Contemplation
Bernard distinguishes this fifth book as devoted solely to contemplation, since the eternal things above us require not action but contemplation, for they exist unchangingly and from eternity.
The earlier books, even though they're titled On Consideration, still have a lot of action mixed in, since they teach or advise you about things that aren't just to be considered, but to be done.1 But the one that's now in your hands will be engaged solely in consideration. For the things that are above (and indeed, that is what presses upon us) don't need action, but contemplation. There's nothing for you to do regarding them, since they exist in one way always, and into eternity; furthermore, some of them are from eternity as well.2
The Exile and Return of Consideration
Consideration goes into exile whenever it is diverted to lower visible things, but when it uses created things as stepping-stones to perceive the invisible things of God, it returns home.
And I'd like you to notice this shrewdly, most perceptive Eugene: your consideration goes into exile as often as it's diverted from those higher things to these lower and visible ones—whether to be looked at for knowledge, or to be sought for use, or to be arranged for duty, or even to be carried out.3 If, however, it's engaged with these things in such a way that it seeks those higher things through them, it isn't far from home. To consider in this way is to return home. That use of present things is more sublime and more worthy, when, according to the wisdom of Paul, the invisible things of God are perceived, understood through the things that have been made.✦
How Heavenly Beings Behold God
Citizens of heaven need no ladder of created things to know God; the blessed see the Word directly and in the Word behold all that was made through the Word, perceiving themselves by themselves without any bodily sense as intermediary.
Truly, citizens have no need of this ladder, but exiles do. The author of this teaching saw as much himself, who, when he said that invisible things are seen through visible things, pointedly added, "from the creation of the world."✦4 And truly, what need is there of ladders for one who already holds the throne? The heavenly creature is right there, having at hand that very thing through which it may rather behold these realities. It sees the Word, and in the Word sees the things made through the Word.✦5 Nor does it need to beg knowledge of the Maker from these things that have been made. For it does not descend to those very things it sees there in order to know them by them, where they exist far better than they do in themselves.6 Hence it requires no bodily sense as a medium to reach those things: it is perception itself to itself, perceiving itself by itself.7
The Perfect Freedom of Self-Sufficient Vision
True perfection is to see without needing help from anyone else; to depend on external aid is to become less free than what is already perfect.
The best way to see is if you don't need anything from anyone else, being content with whatever pleases you. Otherwise, to be helped from elsewhere is to become dependent and less free than that which is perfect.
The Injustice of Needing What Is Lower
It is backwards and unjust for higher beings to need the help of lower ones, yet no human is fully freed from this except in the freedom of the children of God, when all are taught by God alone with no creature standing in between.
What of the fact that you need the help of those below you as well? Isn't this both backwards and unworthy? Clearly it is a kind of injustice on the part of higher beings to need the help of lower ones — an injustice from which no human being will ever be completely set free, except when each one has escaped into the freedom of the children of God. Surely all these will be taught by God, and, with no creature standing in the way, they will be blessed by God alone.
Home to God in the Valley of Tears
To come home is to pass from the body's homeland into the region of spirits, where God himself is our dwelling; yet in this valley of tears the bodily sense dominates while the spiritual eye is darkened, so it is no wonder a stranger needs the native's help.
To have come home will be this: to have gone out from the homeland of bodies into the region of spirits. God himself is our home, the greatest spirit, the greatest dwelling place of the blessed spirits — and so that neither sense nor imagination may usurp anything for itself here, he is truth, he is wisdom, he is power, he is eternity, the highest good. So while we are away from there — and where we are now is a valley of tears, where sensuality reigns and contemplation is in exile — in this place the bodily sense freely and powerfully reaches out on its own, but the spiritual eye, entangled, is darkened. So what's surprising if a stranger needs the help of a native?
Using the World Without Clinging to It
The happy traveler uses the kindness of heavenly citizens to serve the journey without clinging, pressing forward without demanding, and exacting without begging.
And happy the traveler who, in this passing season, could turn the kindness of the citizens—without whom he cannot make his journey—into service: using without clinging, pressing forward without demanding, exacting without begging.
Read the original Latin
Libri superiores, etsi de consideratione inscribantur, plurimum tamen habent actionis admistum dum res aliquas non considerandas tantum, sed agendas docent vel monent. At qui in manibus modo est, sola in consideratione versabitur. Quae enim supra sunt (id quidem instat) actu non indigent, sed inspectu. Non est quod in eis actites, quae uno modo semper sunt, et in aeternum; porro aliqua et ab aeterno. Et hoc velim solerter advertas, vir sagacissime Eugeni, quia toties peregrinatur consideratio tua, quoties ab illis rebus ad ista deflectitur inferiora et visibilia, sive intuenda ad notitiam, sive appetenda ad usum, sive pro officio disponenda vel actitanda. Si tamen ita versatur in his, ut per haec illa requirat, haud procul exsulat. Sic considerare, repatriare est. Sublimior iste praesentium ac dignior usus rerum, cum juxta sapientiam Pauli, invisibilia Dei, per ea quae facta sunt, intellecta conspiciuntur.
Sane hac scala cives non egent, sed exsules. Quod vidit ipse hujus sententiae auctor, qui cum diceret invisibilia per visibilia conspici, signanter posuit, a creatura mundi. Et vere quid opus scalis tenenti jam solium? Creatura coeli illa est, praesto habens per quod potius ista intueatur. Videt Verbum, et in Verbo facta per Verbum. Nec opus habet ex his quae facta sunt, Factoris notitiam mendicare. Neque enim ut vel ipsa noverit, ad ipsa descendit, quae ibi illa videt, ubi longe melius sunt quam in se ipsis. Unde nec medium requirit ad ea corporis sensum: sensus ipsa sibi, se ipsa sentiens.
Optimum videndi genus, si nullius egueris, ad omne quod libuerit, te contentus. Alioquin juvari aliunde, obnoxium fieri est minusque a perfecto istud, et minus liberum.
Quid, quod et inferioribus eges? nonne praeposterum hoc et indignum? Plane superiorum quaedam injuria est, inferiorum operam desiderare: a qua injuria nemo hominum perfecte vindicabitur, nisi cum quisque evaserit in libertatem filiorum Dei. Nempe erunt hi omnes docibiles Dei, et nulla interveniente creatura, solo beati Deo. Repatriasse erit hoc, exisse de patria corporum in regionem spirituum. Ipsa est Deus noster, maximus spiritus, maxima mansio spirituum beatorum: et ne quid hic sibi usurpet sensus seu imaginatio, veritas est, sapientia est, virtus, aeternitas, summum bonum. Unde interim absumus: et ubi sumus, vallis est lacrymarum, in qua sensualitas regnat, et consideratio exsulat: in qua libere quidem et potestative se exserit sensus corporeus, sed intricatus caligat oculus spiritualis. Quid igitur mirum, si ope indigenae advena indiget?
Et felix secundum tempus viator, qui civium beneficium, sine quo transire non potest, in obsequium convertere potuit, utens, non fruens; urgens, non petens; exactor, non supplex.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Rom.1.20 — For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes have been clearly perceived, being understood through the things that have been made: both his eternal power and divine nature. So they are without excuse.
- ↩Rom.1.20 — For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes have been clearly perceived, being understood through the things that have been made: both his eternal power and divine nature. So they are without excuse.
- ↩John.1.1-John.1.3 — In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John.1.2 — He was in the beginning with God. John.1.3 — All things came into being through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into being that has come into being.
Notes
- 1 ↩The source text reads 'admistum', an unusual form likely representing 'admixtum' (admixture/mixed in). Translated here as 'mixed in' to reflect the most plausible intended sense.
- 2 ↩The source text reads 'actites', a rare or uncertain form. Translated here as 'for you to do' based on context and likely derivation from 'actito' (to practice/perform).
- 3 ↩The source text reads 'actitanda', a rare gerundive form. Translated as 'to be carried out' to fit the sequence of practical actions.
- 4 ↩The clause 'invisibilia per visibilia conspici... a creatura mundi' echoes Romans 1:20 (Vulgate). Final resolution deferred to Moses stage.
- 5 ↩Verbum is rendered as 'Word' with capitalization to signal the theological reference to Christ, the divine Logos, in keeping with Johannine and patristic usage.
- 6 ↩The thought is that the heavenly creature beholds created realities in their divine archetype (in the Word), where they exist more truly and excellently than in their own created being.
- 7 ↩The heavenly creature's mode of knowing is direct and self-present, without the mediation of bodily senses that embodied creatures require.
De consideratione (On Consideration) companion
Make consideration a daily appointment
Bernard told Eugene to set aside time every day. Chosen Portion holds that time for you, free.
Bernard's core prescription — a fixed daily time reserved for examining the soul — is exactly the habit Chosen Portion installs with its daily devotional portion.
- One 10-minute daily portion for self-examination and prayer
- Reflection prompts drawn from historic texts, not improvised journaling
- A visible streak that protects the daily interval Bernard insisted on