VISIO QUARTA, cap. LXII
The Soul as the Heart of the Body
The soul governs a person's actions just as the heart warms the body, perfecting works through virtues given by God.
For the heart of a person shows heat, the liver dryness, and the lung its moisture, because just as the heat of the heart, the dryness of the liver, and the moisture of the lung sustain a person, so also the heat, dryness, and moisture of the air and breezes strengthen whatever exists in the world. In just the same way, as the heart warms and strengthens a person along with all the vital parts joined to it, so the soul, with the virtues gathered to it from God, perfects a person's actions, granting holy desire for good works.
From Compunction to Joyful Tears
When the soul recognizes evil desire, it drives a person through sorrow to tears, and then to the joy of good works.
But when it has recognized that this work of desire is evil, enduring with distress what it has done, it again drives a person through compunction to tears, and then such a one becomes like someone who weeps for joy, having delighted in good works.
The Soul's Shifting Rule Over the Flesh
The soul directs every human work, changing fleshly deeds now with joy, now with tears, as the air breathes upon all creatures.
The soul itself also directs every work of a person, whether good or evil, from whatever intention it is done, according to the desire of the flesh; and just as the aforementioned air breathes upon every creature, now sprouting and flourishing, now withering and fading, so the soul changes the works of the flesh, now with joys, but now with tears, as it shifts. And just as the sun and moon never complete their course without the alternation of clouds, so no person can lead any good work they have begun to the end in the purity they intended, without some storm frequently disturbing them. In the likeness, then, of day and night, which sometimes shine more brightly in their own light and sometimes fail in their own light by the shifting of clouds, a person has a struggle of body and soul. For through desire for the flesh a person falls short in what is good, but through desire for the soul, rejoicing in it, they make progress, because in all their works they are sustained by its heat, just as the aforementioned air moves with all creatures.
The Soul's Secret Ruminations
The soul should store thoughts of self-correction in the hidden place of memory and ruminate on them with careful discernment.
Just as the belly encloses and holds within itself the internal organs and the food ground by the mill of the teeth for the benefit of the whole body, so the soul should store up thoughts of its own correction in the secret place of memory and ruminate on them with careful discernment.
Read the original Latin
Nam cor hominis calorem, jecur siccitatem, pulmo humiditatem illius demonstrant, quia ut calor cordis, et siccitas jecoris, et humiditas pulmonis hominem vegetant, ita et calor, siccitas humiditasque aeris et aurarum ea quae in mundo sunt confortant. Pari ratione sicut cor cum omnibus sibi cohaerentibus vitalibus hominem calefacit et roborat, sic anima cum sibi collatis virtutibus a Deo actus hominis perficit, sanctum desiderium ad bona opera ei tribuens. Sed cum hoc opus desiderii malum esse cognoverit, moleste ferens quod gessit, hominem per compunctionem ad lacrymas rursus impellit, talisque tunc efficitur velut qui in bonis operibus delectatus pro gaudio lacrymatur. Ipsa quoque anima omne opus hominis, sive bonum sive malum, quocunque animo fiat, secundum desiderium carnis regit, et quemadmodum praedictus aer in omnem creaturam, modo germinantem et florentem, modo arescentem et deficientem, spirat, sic anima opera carnis modo gaudiis, nunc vero lacrymis variando commutat. Et sicut sol et luna cursum suum sine vicissitudine nubium nunquam perficiunt, sic homo nullum bonum opus quod facere inchoaverit, in tali puritate ut proposuit ad finem perducere valet, quin aliqua tempestas eum saepius perturbet. In similitudine namque diei et noctis, quae interdum in luce sua clarius lucent, et interdum ex vicissitudine nubium in luce sua deficiunt, homo certamen corporis et animae habet. Per desiderium enim carnis in bono deficit, sed per desiderium animae gaudens in ipso proficit, quia in omnibus operibus suis calore ipsius vegetatur, quemadmodum praedictus aer cum omnibus creaturis volat.
Quod sicut venter viscera et cibos molis dentium contritos in se ad utilitatem totius corporis claudit et retinet, ita et anima in arcano memoriae cogitationes correctionis suae reponere et sollicita discretione ruminare debeat.
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