VISIO QUARTA, cap. XLVIII
The Body as a Compass of the Winds
A human being standing with outstretched arms mirrors the separation of the south and north winds.
So then, a human being turned toward the east and, as it were, facing west while looking east, stretching out both arms just as the south wind and the north wind are separated from each other, directs the right arm toward the south and the left, by contrast, toward the north.
The Soul Between East and West
The soul, through knowledge of good and evil, turns toward the east or the west, experiencing the warmth of holy works or the chill of sin.
In this way, too, the soul, with its powers and the four elements, flies through the knowledge of good and evil at work in the human being: through the knowledge of good it looks toward the east, and through the knowledge of evil it looks toward the west, so that a person, set ablaze by the knowledge of good through the fire that is God, flies with the south wind in the perfection of most holy works, but in the outcome of evil works is punished in the punishments of the north wind, according to what that person will have sinned. For the soul itself, which makes the body capable of sensation, makes a person cold or hot in its powers, so that through the soul a person perceives the heat of the south and the cold of the north wind — something that can be proven in the breath of the human being, which the soul itself sends out, whether hot or cold, according to what it has willed.
Grace Overcoming Evil
The soul works with the body in the fear and love of God, and by grace evil knowledge is overcome as the stronger right hand presses down the left.
A human being, too, in the creature that the flesh longs for — good or evil as discerned through sight — works with the soul, and the soul itself does good in the fear and love of God, as if in the right-hand part. And so evil knowledge through good is overcome in a person with the help of the grace of God, just as the left hand, too, is pressed down by the right, which is of greater strength.
The Hidden Breath of the Soul
The soul, like the wind, moves the body invisibly and is known only by reason, surpassing full human comprehension.
For the soul, which is breath from God, remaining invisibly in the body and moving it toward whatever work, is recognized not by sight but by the power of reason, just as the wind, too, is not perceived by sight but by sound and motion in its own breath; and yet what these things are, human knowledge is neither able to comprehend nor to understand.
The Four Winds and the Four Powers
The four principal winds and the four human powers—thought, speech, intention, and groaning—are joined together, with the right hand's greater strength revealing their moral meaning.
Because just as the shoulders and arms are joined to the neck along with the hands, so the four principal winds cleave to the firmament along with their collateral winds; and in the same way the four powers in human beings—namely thought, speech, intention, and groaning—are likened to those same four winds, and what is signified by the fact that the power in the right hand is greater than in the left.
Read the original Latin
Homo itaque ad orientem versus et velut occidens ad orientem respiciens, brachiaque sua extendens, quemadmodum auster et septentrio ab invicem separati sunt, brachium suum dextrum ad austrum, sinistrum vero ad septentrionem dirigit. Hoc modo et anima cum viribus suis et quatuor elementis per scientiam boni et mali operando in homine volat, per scientiam boni ad orientem, et per scientiam mali ad occidentem respiciens; ita ut homo scientia boni per ignem, qui Deus est, accensus, in perfectione sanctissimorum operum cum austro volet, in effectu vero malorum operum in poenis aquilonis, secundum quod peccaverit, puniatur. Ipsa enim anima, quae corpus sensibile reddit, hominem in viribus suis frigidum aut calidum facit, ita ut per ipsam calorem austri, et frigus aquilonis sentiat, quod in flatu hominis probari potest, quem ipse secundum quod voluerit sive calidum sive frigidum emittit. Homo etiam in creatura, quam per visum discernit, secundum quod caro desiderat, bonum vel malum cum anima operatur, ipsaque anima in timore et amore Dei bonum quasi in dextera parte facit. Unde et mala scientia per bonam auxilio gratiae Dei in homine superatur sicut etiam sinistra manus per dexteram, quae majoris fortitudinis est, premitur. Anima enim, quae spiramen a Deo est, in corpore invisibiliter manens, illud ad quodlibet opus movendo, non visu sed virtute rationalitatis agnoscitur; quemadmodum et ventus non per visum, sed per sonum et motum in flatu suo sentitur: sed tamen quid ista sint, humana scientia nec comprehendere, nec intelligere valet.
Quia, sicut collo humeri et brachia cum manibus, sic firmamento quatuor principales venti cum collateralibus suis inhaereant; et quomodo iisdem quatuor ventis quatuor vires in homines, scilicet cogitatio, locutio, intentio et gemitus assimilentur; et quid significet quod in dextra quam in sinistra vis major sit.
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