Quid de his affectibus sentiendum sit
The Roots of Love in Meditation
Affections that arise in meditation are described as origins or roots of love, not yet love itself.
These affections come upon a person in the midst of meditation; I would call them certain origins, or rather roots, of love — not yet loves themselves.
Being Moved vs. Being Moved According to the Affections
It is not praiseworthy merely to be stirred by affections; what matters is whether one is moved according to them, and whether that movement is beneficial or harmful.
We don't consider it especially praiseworthy to be stirred up or struck hard by these affections — not if they are good ones, and not destructive either, if they are bad.1 Many people abuse even that affection which we placed first — though it is the best — to their own ruin, as we showed in the earlier treatise. And even this last one, which is judged more fearsome than the rest, sometimes stirs up the best of men to a testing that proves their worth.2 So we judge it not a matter of being moved by these affections, but of being moved according to them — and that this is either beneficial or harmful.
Visitation, Temptation, and the Will's Consent
When affections move the soul it is a visitation or temptation; when the soul moves according to them it is an act of will, either hidden in desire or open in outward action.
When these affections move the soul, it is either a visitation or a temptation. But when the soul is moved according to these affections, it is a full act of the will's own consent. Now consent is either hidden or even open. It is hidden when desire is inwardly stirred up by the consent of longing. It is open when that desire breaks forth outwardly into action.
Love's Proper Measure: A Question for Investigation
The chapter turns to the question of whether and how far love ought to be moved according to these affections, pending a further discussion of reason as another cause of movement.
We shall try to investigate whether our love ought to be moved according to these affections, and how far — if, however, we first set forth a few things about the reason, which we have said is another cause of this movement.
Read the original Latin
Hi affectus interim meditanti occurrunt ; quos amoris origines quasdam dixerim, sive radices, non amores. Non enim his affectibus excitari vel pulsari valde laudabile existimamus, si boni sunt, nec exitiabile, si mali. Nam et eo quem primo loco posuimus, quanquam optimo, plerique in sui perniciem, ut superiori libello docuimus, abutuntur : et hoc ultimo, qui ceteris formidabilior judicatur, aliquando viri optimi ad probationis meritum titillantur. Quocirca non his affectibus moveri, sed secundum hos affectus moveri, aut utile judicamus, aut noxium. Quando enim hi affectus movent animum, aut visitatio est, aut tentatio : quando secundum hos affectus movetur, plena est ipsius voluntatis consensio. Consensio autem aut occulta est, aut etiam manifesta. Occulta cum ex consensu desiderii agitatur interius; manifesta, cum ipsum desiderium ad actum prorumpit exterius. Utrum autem secundum hos affectus moveri debeat amor noster, vel quantum moveri debeat, investigare conabimur ; si tamen prius de ratione, quam aliam ipsius motus causam diximus, pauca praemiserimus.
Notes
- 1 ↩Excitari vel pulsari: the two passive infinitives overlap in sense ('stirred up or struck/assailed'). Rendered as 'stirred up or struck hard' to preserve both the gentler and more forceful register.
- 2 ↩Titillantur: rare verb, literally 'are tickled/titillated.' Rendered as 'stirs up … to a testing that proves their worth' to capture the sense of incitement toward probationis meritum.
Speculum caritatis (The Mirror of Charity) companion
Reorder one love at a time, daily
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