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Chapter 178LDO.1.178

VISIO QUARTA, cap. XCV

The Soul's Hidden Breath

The soul is likened to unseen winds and sunlight, rising in good intention and descending in evil, with the western wind and its companions symbolizing the moral movements of the inner life.

All of these things look to the soul. That is, the soul in the body, in the likeness of the winds whose blowing is not seen but heard, abides — and because it is airy, it spreads its own breathing, sigh, and thoughts just as flying air expands; and through the moisture of wisdom it is compared to dew, through which it holds good intentions toward God.1 For just as the splendor of the sun illuminates the whole world and yet is not diminished in itself, so the soul itself is whole in the brief stature of a human being; and though through its thoughts it will fly everywhere — rising through holy works in praise of God toward the stars, but descending through the evil works of sinners into darkness.2 The sun also represents one who shines with his own powers by day over the earth and by night beneath the earth. It is the soul itself that rises with good intention and descends with evil intention when working perversely, just as the legs along with the knees are moved now higher, now lower, in various activities. For the western wind, which is somewhat to be feared, shows the good intention of a human being — which ought never to exist without fear — through whom a person, while still in the stench of sins, is sustained as if by a knee; and its ankle and foot demonstrate the will and desire through which good intention is accomplished with works.3 And just as the winds collateral to the western wind assist it in its office, so will and desire are present to the work. For the right collateral of the western wind signifies that a person, as if on the right side of the soul, overcomes sins in himself by consenting; but the left signifies that, overcome by sins, one lives as if on the left side in forgetfulness of God.4

The North Wind and the Soul's Drying Up

The north wind represents the person who indulges fleshly desire and loses heavenly joy, while reason restrains evil; the soul governs the body through four elemental powers, and the course of the sun from dawn to evening traces the soul's movement from contrition to the completion of good works.

The north wind, however, which by its own blast dries up every greenness of the earth and is assisted in this by its attending winds, shows us the person who, according to the will and delight of the heart, carries out the desires of the flesh — and is thereby robbed of every happiness that comes from heavenly honors. But when the same person, as one who does evil on the left side, does not consent to the soul, the power of reason itself, as if from the right side, restrains them from it; and yet every work, both good and bad, is accomplished through that same power — just as through summer all the fruits of the earth are brought forth. God also created the soul, through the four powers it has from fire, from air, from water, and from earth, to wisely govern its vessel — that is, the body — and with these same powers, working alongside the body, it accomplishes all the duties of that same body. Indeed, before it is sent into the body, the soul has done no work at all; and likewise, when it has put off the body, it will do no more work. For in the joints of a person's limbs God has marked out the four winds with their attending companions — in the shoulders, in the forearms, in the hands, and in the loins, in the knees, and in the feet — of which winds one, namely the eastern wind, is joined to the strength of the dawn, which holds the dew that comes from the chill of night and sends it down upon the earth. For in the morning the dawn shines; in the early sun it lights the day; the earth begins to burn, and at the sixth hour it seizes the fullness of that burning heat. Through this it is signified that through a good intention a person first sighs, then weeps, and after the tears begins good works — which, after that, are brought to completion with great zeal born of a good intention. For a person who burns strongly in a holy way of life and good works is like the south wind, which first, through sighs and a good intention, as it were in the east, began to live holily; but afterward, as if in the west, the restless wars by which the soul was taming the body come to a stop — just as the heat of the sun, which begins in the east and burns fully in the south, grows cool in the west.

The Soul's Four Wings

The soul adds virtue to virtue like the joining of east and south winds, yet carnal living turns day to night; the soul is like a tree with four wings—sense, knowledge, will, and understanding—by which it flies through the knowledge of good and evil.

For just as the east wind and the south wind join together in the heat of the day, so the soul adds virtue to virtue and brings all good works to completion like hands together with arms. But when the day is done, the sun descends into the west, just as the knees of human beings run over the ground along with the feet. By evening, too, the joy of the day turns to weariness, and a person no longer delights in the daylight but finds only weariness in sleep. This means that a person who acts according to the desire of the flesh, absorbed in carnal pursuits and forgetful of heavenly goods, becomes like the night; but when through the soul that same person works holy virtues in the fire of the Holy Spirit, in the love of Christ the craving of the flesh grows cold. For the rational soul, when it multiplies words with sound, brings them forth just as a tree multiplies its branches, and from it all the powers of a human being proceed like branches from a tree; and whatever works it produces with a person, of whatever kind they may be, are recognized like the fruit of a tree. For it has four wings: namely, sense and knowledge, will, and understanding. Through the wing of sense it feels itself wounded and turns away from what the flesh loves, because it is always a shifting breath; through the wing of knowledge as well, the body has the desire to act, because it recognizes that it lives through the soul; through the wing of will, the soul desires to work with the body, since it sees that it was made; but through the wing of understanding it knows the fruit of every work, whether it is useful or useless, because the soul itself remains in the life that is finite. By these four wings, then, with eyes before and behind in the knowledge of good and evil, it flies like a bird: by good knowledge, as it were facing forward with good works, and by evil knowledge, as it were facing backward with evil works.

The North Wind's Deeper Wound

A concluding note points forward to the harsh and injurious work of the north wind, both outwardly on creatures and inwardly through the devil's suggestions that provoke soul and body to vice.

Likewise, the things that must be understood about the creation of the north wind, and how creatures are outwardly done harshly and injuriously through it, and about the suggestions of vices by which soul and body are inwardly provoked by the devil — these are to be understood.

Read the original Latin

Haec omnia ad animam prospiciunt. Quae scilicet anima in corpore, in similitudine ventorum quorum flatus non videtur sed auditur, manens, per hoc quod aeria est, sufflatum et suspirium et cogitationes suas quemadmodum aer volans dilatat, et quae etiam per humiditatem sapientiae rori assimilatur, per quam bonas intentiones ad Deum habet. Sicut enim splendor solis totum mundum illuminat, et tamen in se non minuitur sic ipsa in brevi statura hominis tota est; quamvis per cogitationes suas ubique volet, per sancta quidem opera in laude Dei ad sidera ascendens, per mala autem opera peccatorum in tenebras descendens. Quod etiam sol designat, qui viribus suis in die super terram, et in nocte sub terra lucet. Ipsa quoque bona intentione ascendit, et mala intentione perverse operando descendit, sicut et crura cum poplitibus superius et inferius in diversis negotiis agitantur. Occidentalis enim ventus, qui aliquantum timendus est, bonam intentionem hominis, quae nunquam sine timore esse debet, per quem homo dum adhuc in fetore peccatorum est, sicut per poplitem sustinetur ostendit, cujus talus et pes voluntatem et desiderium, per quae bona intentio cum operibus perficitur, demonstrant. Et sicut vento occidentali collaterales sui in officio suo assistunt, sic voluntas et desiderium operi adsunt. Dexter quippe collateralis occidentalis venti designat quod homo velut in dextra parte animae consentiendo peccata in se ipso devincit; sinister vero quod peccatis superatus velut in sinistra parte in oblivione Dei vivit, ostendit.

Aquilo autem, qui flatu suo omnem viriditatem terrae arefacit, ad quod eum collaterales venti sui adjuvant, ostendit hominem secundum voluntatem et delectationem cordis sui desideria carnis perficientem, per quae ab omni felicitate coelestium honorum destituitur. Sed cum idem homo velut homo sinistra parte mala perpetrando animae non consentit, vis rationalitatis ipsius quasi in dextra parte ab hoc eum prohibet, et tamen omnia opera bona et mala per ipsam perficiuntur, sicut per aestatem omnes fructus terrae proferuntur. Deus etiam animam per quatuor vires quas de igne, de aere, de aqua et de terra habet, sapientem ad regendum vas suum, scilicet corpus, creavit, cum quibus etiam omnia officia ejusdem corporis cum ipso operando perficit. Ipsa vero antequam in corpus mittatur, nihil operata est, sicut etiam cum illud exuerit, nihil amplius operabitur. In flexuris namque membrorum hominis Deus quatuor ventos cum collateralibus ipsorum signavit, in humeris, in ulnis, in manibus et in lumbis, in genibus ac in pedibus, quorum unus, scilicet orientalis ventus, fortitudini aurorae adjunctus est, quae de frigiditate noctis rorem habet, quem super terram mittit. In mane enim aurora lucet, in prima sol diem illuminat, in terra ardere incipit, et in sexta plenitudinem ardoris apprehendit. Per quod designatur quod homo per bonam intentionem primum suspirat, postea lacrymatur, post lacrymas bona opera incipit, quae post ea magno studio bonae intentionis complet. Homo namque qui in sancta conversatione bonorum operum fortiter ardet, velut auster est, qui prius per suspiria et bonam intentionem velut in oriente sancte vivere incepit; sed postea velut in occidente inquieta bella, quibus anima corpus domabat cessant, quemadmodum aestus solis, qui in oriente incipit, et in austro pleniter ardet, in occidente tepescit.

Sicut enim oriens et auster in calore diei se conjungunt, ita anima virtutem virtuti adjungit, et omnia bona opera sicut manus cum brachiis perficit. Sol autem finito die in occidente descendit, sicut et genua hominum cum pedibus super terram currunt. Ad vesperum etiam jocunditas diei in taedium ducitur, nec homo in luce diei tunc gaudet, sed taedium dormiendo habet. Hoc est quod homo secundum gustum carnis operans, et carnalibus operibus occupatus, coelestium bonorum obliviscens, nocturnalis efficitur; cum autem per animam in igne Spiritus sancti sanctas virtutes operatur, in amore Christi a concupiscentia carnis refrigescit. Anima quippe rationalis cum sono verba multiplicando profert, quemadmodum arbor ramos multiplicat, et ab ea omnes vires hominis sicut ab arbore rami procedunt, ipsiusque opera, qualiacunque sint, quae cum homine operatur, sicut fructus arboris cognoscuntur. Ipsa namque quatuor alas habet, scilicet sensum et scientiam, voluntatem et intellectum. Per alam sensus se vulneratam sentit, et quae caro diligit, declinat, quia semper mobile spiramen est; per alam quoque scientiae corpus desiderium operandi habet, quia se per animam vivere cognoscit; per alam autem voluntatis anima cum corpore operari desiderat, quoniam illud factum videt; sed per alam intellectus fructus cujusque operis, sive utile, sive inutile sit, quoniam ipsa in finita vita manet cognoscit. Per istas itaque quatuor alas, ante et retro cum scientia boni et mali oculos habens, per bonam quidem scientiam, quasi ante cum bonis operibus; per malam autem quasi retro malis operibus velut avis volat.

Item de creatione aquilonis, et quomodo ea quae specialiter de asperitate ejus et laesionibus quae per eum exterius in creaturis fiunt, de suggestionibus vitiorum, quibus anima et corpus a diabolo interius irritantur, intelligenda sint.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The Latin imagery is dense: the soul is figured as airy breath and as dew. 'sufflatum' is rendered as 'breathing' (could also mean 'blowing' or 'inflation'); 'aeria' is taken as 'airy' (from aereus/aerius). The dew image links wisdom's moisture to good intentions toward God.
  2. 2 ↩'volet' is ambiguous between future indicative ('it will fly') and subjunctive ('it might fly'); taken here as future. The semicolon marks a shift from the sun simile to the soul's own movement through good and evil works.
  3. 3 ↩The anatomy metaphor is compressed: the western wind's 'knee' (poples) sustains the person in sin, while its 'ankle and foot' (talus et pes) display will and desire. 'cujus' likely refers back to the wind (ventus), not the person. 'per quem' is taken as referring to the good intention through which the person is upheld.
  4. 4 ↩The right/left contrast maps onto the soul's orientation: the right side represents consent that conquers sin, the left represents defeat by sin and forgetfulness of God. 'vero' is adversative, marking the contrast between dexter and sinister.

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