XXXI. De cura rerum ierrenarum.

XXXI. De cura rerum ierrenarum.

The fifth image represents the care for earthly matters and is accompanied by instability, because people who are inconsistent in their behavior and actions often get caught up in the instability that they frequently have in their minds; they are often entangled in earthly concerns, which also resist the heavenly, and they seek neither food nor nourishment for life. And just as you see the form of a man, namely the occupation with worldly and earthly matters, he has pale hair, which signifies foolishness, and a mind wandering in great noise, darting everywhere, because men, sweating under this vice, suffer the greatest unrest of both soul and body; yet in this, as if in great peace, they take delight. For just as the rest of others is a source of unrest, so their unrest is a source of rest; and what is rest for some is unrest for others because of this fault. So, in darkness, it stands naked like in a vat, because the senses and hearts of those same people are so weighed down and entangled by the blackness of worldly cares and troubles that they are as if stripped of the great delight of heavenly bliss, just as if they were lounging in a bath with comfort. Since they love the nakedness of their first ignorance, they neither seek nor ask for the garment of salvation from God, because all their intentions and all their efforts are directed toward worldly things, and because they insist on what is temporary and fleeting with the most fervent occupation; indeed, they even say the same thing in the words they speak, as has been shown above. To whom the heavenly desire responds, and to prevent people from postponing what is eternal and divine for what is temporary, they are urged. What good is it to you to be concerned about earthly things? But the sixth shows the stubbornness of the mind, as it pursues the care of earthly things, because those who immerse themselves completely in worldly concerns fall into a hardened mindset; so that in their hearts, as if their hearts were stained and glued together like pitch, they have no regard for God, and they speak and act as if God does not exist, since they do not know what is good, nor do they seek the softness of piety; but in their hardness, they are rebellious against God. The form of a wild ox makes people hard and harsh in their minds, leading them to rise into an insecure height of false security, so that they find no comfort and have no concern for the goodness of rational knowledge; instead, they confront each person with sharp words and bitter actions, governing no one and protecting no one, but instilling confusion and fear in everyone they can, just as this same vice is shown in their words, as has been previously indicated. But the compunction of the heart resists this, urging people to abandon their hardness and to frequently sigh for heavenly things, faithfully warning them and showing them how to ask from God, so that He may rescue them from the storms of evil spirits, just as the prophet David pleaded when he said: