De affectu carnali, quod nec omnino respuendus, nec plene sit admittendus
The Double Edge of Carnal Affection
Carnal affection is neither to be wholly rejected nor recklessly indulged, because unchecked feeling easily slides into vice.
Therefore, the carnal affection that a certain outward adornment of a person gives rise to is not to be entirely rejected, nor is it to be admitted in such a way that it pours itself out without restraint. For that affection which leads to vice is close to it; and unless this one is guarded against more prudently, the other will creep in almost without the person even sensing it.
Receiving Affection with Discernment
Affection is to be admitted with restraint and discernment, embracing virtue and correcting vice, and this same measured approach applies to all affections.
To this end, then, this affection is wholesomely admitted — if nevertheless it is received with restraint and in some measure temperately; so that, clearly, if virtue has shone forth in it, it may be more readily embraced; but if vice, then correction of it should be pressed more vigorously. Whatever we've said about the functional affection, we believe the same should be understood about this one as well.
Renunciation for the Spiritually Weak
Those still prone to carnal vice must deliberately reject carnal affection, since it rarely arises without stirring vice.
Still, those who are still drawn to physical vices deliberately reject this attraction — for they very rarely experience it without some stirring of vice.
Read the original Latin
Igitur carnalis affectus, quem parturit quidam hominis exterioris ornatus, nec omnino respuendus est, nec ita ut se profuderit, admittendus. Vicinus enim illi est affectus ille, qui ducit ad vitia ; et nisi iste prudentius caveatur, ille sine sensu pene patientis illabitur. Ad hoc igitur affectus iste salubriter admittitur, si tamen suspense et temperate quodammodo admittatur ; ut videlicet si virtus in eo claruerit, facilius amplectatur ; si vero vitium, correctioni ejus vehementius insistatur. Quidquid enim de officiali affectu diximus, de hoc quoque sentiendum nihilominus arbitremur. Ab his tamen, qui adhuc carnalibus vitiis appetuntur, consulte affectus iste respuitur, a quibus rarissime sine vitii titillatione sentitur.
Speculum caritatis (The Mirror of Charity) companion
Reorder one love at a time, daily
Use the study map with the free Chosen Portion app's daily readings to work through Aelred at a sustainable pace.
Aelred wrote the Mirror as a rule for daily interior discipline in community, and Chosen Portion carries that discipline forward as a short ordered reading each day.
- All 3 books and 102 chapters mapped into 4 weekly themes with page-level pointers
- Aelred's choice-motion-fruit test, turned into a one-page self-examination worksheet
- 16 discussion questions ready for personal journaling or a 4-session small group