That a soule for defaute of knowynge of hitsilf wendith out bi the fyve wittes for to sek
The Danger of Seeking Outside
The soul that fails to recognize its own inward dignity and divine image is driven by ignorance to seek satisfaction in the fleeting pleasures of the senses.
external pleasure.1 But now, because you don't know it, you leave the inward sight of yourself and seek your food from outside, like an irrational beast. This is what our Lord says to a chosen soul in Holy Scripture: "If you do not know yourself, O fairest among women, go out and follow the tracks of your companions' flocks, and feed your kids" (Canticle 1:7).✦2 You fairest among women, if you don't know yourself, go out and follow the steps of your companions' flock, and feed your kids. And this is as much as to say: You soul, fair by nature, made in the likeness of God, frail as a woman in your body because of your first sin—because you do not know yourself, that angels' food should be your delights within—therefore you go out through your bodily senses and seek your food and your pleasure like a beast of the flock, that is, like one of the reprobate; and with that you feed your thoughts and your affections, which are unclean as kids.34
Read the original Latin
liking outward.
But now for thou knowest it not, therfore thou levest the inli sight of thisilf and sekest thi mete from withoutin as a beest unresonable. Thus seith oure Lord to a chosen soule in Hooli Writ: Si ignoras te, o pulcra inter mulieres, egredere et abi post vestigia gregum sodalium tuorum, et pasce edos tuos (Canticle 1:7). Thou faire amonge women, if thou knowe not thisilf, goo oute and walke aftir the steppis of the flok of thyne felawes and feede thy kedis. And it is thus moche for to seie: Thou soule faire in kynde, maad to the likenesse of God, freel as woman in thi bodi for thi first synne, bicause that thou knowist not thisilf, that aungels foode schulde be thi delites withinne, therfore thou goost out bi thi bodili wittes and sekest thi mete and thi likynge as a beest of the flook, that is, as oon of the reproved; and therwith thou fedist thi thoughtes and thyn affecciouns, whiche aren unclene as kides.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Song.1.7 — Tell me, whom my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down at noon; for why should I be like one who wanders beside the flocks of your companions?
Notes
- 1 ↩The supplied Middle English unit is only the phrase «liking outward.» Neighboring context and the chapter title («…for to sek») suggest it completes «to seek outward pleasure/delight» (ME liking = pleasure, delight, enjoyment), not modern «liking» as preference alone.
- 2 ↩Source cites Canticle 1:7 (Song of Songs / Song of Solomon); Latin Vulgate wording is given in the Middle English text and rendered here into modern English for the target register.
- 3 ↩Middle English 'freel as woman in thi bodi for thi first synne' keeps Hilton's traditional figure of postlapsarian bodily frailty under the Song of Songs address to the 'fair among women'; rendered 'frail as a woman in your body because of your first sin,' not as a claim about women alone.
- 4 ↩'aungels foode' (angels' food) is kept for Hilton's spiritual interior nourishment; later stages may resolve possible Psalm/manna echo.
Scala Perfectionis (The Scale of Perfection) companion
A daily portion of stillness
Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.
Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.
- Daily bite-sized excerpts from the contemplative classics, never a wall of text
- A built-in timed stillness practice that grows from 2 minutes to 10
- Gentle progression through the tradition — the app remembers where you are on the ascent