VISIO QUARTA, cap. XXX
The Clouded Soul and the Light of Repentance
When the light of reason is darkened by the storms of disordered desire, repentance clears the clouds and restores the soul's illumination.
Even when the sun is darkened by a black cloud, and buried under lightning and thunder and an excess of rain, it does not appear; but when all those things cease, it pours out its light again, showing the soul of a person that since it is pressed down through the body in this way, so that it acts according to the desire of the flesh, the light of reason is clouded over in it, because anger is like a flash of lightning, and greed is like thunder, and the illicit desires of the flesh are like an excess of rain. But when a person then cleanses themselves from these things through repentance, they are once again illuminated in the clarity of true light, hoping that they can be set free and saved.
The Soul's Reason and Eternal Destiny
Through the sparks of reason, the soul discerns all things, chooses its eternal destiny by its works, and humbly rejects the devil's pride by acknowledging its creatureliness.
Therefore the soul gives off reason, just as fire sends out sparks, and through it discerns heavenly things and earthly things. So even if the body is overcome through the soul in such a way that it performs just and good works, the soul will rejoice in eternal life; or if in this way it is weighed down through the body, so that neglecting good it does what is evil, it casts itself into hellish places. It also rejects the devil, who wanted to be like God, and through this is separated from the northern region, because whether it does good or evil, it does not call itself God, but knows through reason that it is a creature of God.
The Soul's Daily Rising and Setting
The soul continually wrestles its earthly vessel toward heaven, purifying it through repentance, which restores its brightness like the sun emerging from storms.
It also repeatedly teaches its earthly vessel to do the works that are heavenly, yet again consents to the desires of the flesh, and wrenching itself away from these, afflicts its vessel when it rises to its duties, wiping away all the evil in its own vessel through repentance, just as barley is separated from wheat. These are the works of the soul: when it does good, it is like the sun when it burns at noon; but when it pants after evil, it is like the sun when it declines toward sunset; and then it rises again through repentance, like the sun when it turns its brightness away from storms.
From Youthful Rest to Mature Struggle
In the weakness of youth the soul rests unafraid, but at full maturity it must continually compel the body toward good, restraining fleshly desires through the discipline of penance.
Yet when a person grows through the powers of the soul, with their veins and marrow not yet filled or strengthened, because of the tenderness of the body they cannot yet know the things that are heavenly, nor can they even discern the punishments of hell, because their body has not yet been refined to completion; and so the soul then has rest along with its vessel, because the same person has no fear then, just as people in the first age of the world had no fear of the law. In fact, when a person reaches full maturity, the soul grows strong along with the body and compels it to do good works; but the body turns away from the soul's will, spending its energy on the desires of the flesh, and it keeps this up for as long as it lives — unless it's held in check by penance through the strength of the soul.
The Microcosm of the Soul's Qualities
The physiological structures of the human head mirror cosmic realities, drawing the soul's many-sided consideration into its own profound qualities.
Because the forehead, sitting between the brain and the eyes, gathers up the weaknesses that arise from the brain and the stomach, just as the moon receives the things that descend from above and ascend from below; and because the eyes, through their white film and pupils set in their own moisture, introduce the pure upper air, the stars, and the vapor rising from the waters lying beneath — so the many-sided consideration of these things enters into the qualities of the soul.12
Read the original Latin
Sol etiam nigra nube obscuratus, atque fulgure et tonitru, et nimietate pluviarum obrutus non apparet, sed illis omnibus cessantibus iterum lumen suum effundit, in hoc animam hominis demonstrans, quia cum illa per corpus ita premitur, ut secundum concupiscentiam carnis operetur, rationalitatis lumen in ipsa obnubilatur, quoniam ira sicut fulgor, et avaritia velut tonitrus, et illicita carnis desideria, quemadmodum nimietates pluviarum sunt. Sed cum deinde per poenitentiam ab his se purgaverit, iterum in claritate veri luminis illustratur, sperando quod liberari et salvari possit. Rationalitatem itaque anima exspirat, velut ignis scintillas emittit, et per eam coelestia et terrestria discernit. Quapropter etiam si corpus per eam ita superatur, ut justa et bona opera operetur, de aeterna vita gaudebit; vel si hoc modo per corpus opprimitur, quatenus bona negligens id quod malum est faciat, semetipsam tartareis locis immittit. Diabolum quoque repudiat, qui Deo similis esse voluit, et per hoc a parte aquilonis separatur, quod sive bonum sive malum operetur, Deum se non nominat, sed a Deo creaturam per rationalitatem cognoscit. Ipsa quoque terrenum vas suum multoties docet ut opera quae coelestia sunt faciat, iterum concupiscentiis carnis consentit, de quibus se iterum extorquens, vas suum affligit, cum ad officia sua ascendit, omnia mala in eodem vase suo per poenitentiam excribrans, sicut hordeum a tritico ejicitur. Haec animae opera sunt, quoniam quando illa bonum operatur, est quasi sol cum in meridie ardet; cum autem ad malum anhelat, est velut sol cum ad occasum declinat; sed eum deinde per poenitentiam resurgit, est ut sol cum a tempestatibus splendorem suum avertit. Sed tamen cum homo per vires animae crescit, venis et medullis suis nondum impletis vel roboratis, propter teneritudinem corporis ea quae coelestia sunt nondum cognoscere potest, nec etiam poenas infernales discernere valet, quia corpus suum ad perfectionem nondum excoctum est; unde etiam anima cum vase suo tunc vacat, quoniam idem homo timorem tunc non habet, quemadmodum et homines in prima aetate mundi timore legis carebant.
In plena vero aetate hominis anima cum corpore roboratur, illudque bona opera facere cogit; sed corpus a voluntate ipsius declinat, vires suas secundum concupiscentias carnis exercens, et hoc quandiu vivit facere satagit, nisi per poenitentiam viribus animae refrenetur.
Quia frons inter cerebrum et oculos consistens, ita infirmitates quae de cerebro et stomacho nascuntur colligit, quemadmodum luna ea quae de superioribus descendunt et de inferioribus ascendunt recipit; et quod oculi albugine et pupillis in humore suo purum aetherem, stellas et vaporem de subjacentibus aquis ascendentem insinuent, et multiplex horum in qualitatibus animi consideratio.
Notes
- 1 ↩The sentence is a dense analogy: the forehead between brain and eyes is to bodily infirmities as the moon is to descending and ascending influences, and as the eyes (with their albugo, pupils, and moisture) are to pure air, stars, and rising vapor — all mapped onto the soul's 'consideratio' and its qualities. The syntax of the final clause (et quod... insinuent, et multiplex... consideratio) is uncertain: it may be two parallel indirect statements after an implied verb, or a result clause. The translation treats 'et quod oculi... insinuent' as a parallel 'because' clause and renders 'multiplex horum... consideratio' as the subject of an implied 'insinuat' (enters into), which is the most natural reading but remains debatable.
- 2 ↩Albugo (white spot/film) and pupilla (pupil) are rendered literally as anatomical terms; the moisture (humor) of the eyes is described as their own, preserving the Latin 'suo'. The rare word 'albugo' is kept as 'white film' rather than a clinical term, to stay readable.
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