Of the third evil that may come to the soul from the devil,
through the imaginary apprehensions of the memory.
FROM all that has been said above it may be clearly
understood and inferred how great is the evil that may come to the
soul from the devil by way of these supernatural apprehensions.
For not only can he represent to the memory and the fancy many
false forms and ideas, which seem true and good, impressing them
on spirit and sense with great effectiveness and certifying them
to be true by means of suggestion (so that it appears to the soul
that it cannot be otherwise, but that everything is even as he
represents it; for, as he transfigures himself into an angel of
light, he appears as light to the soul); but he may also tempt the
soul in many ways with respect to true knowledge, which is of God,
moving its desires and affections, whether spiritual or sensual,
in unruly fashion with respect to these; for, if the soul takes
pleasure in such apprehensions, it is very easy for the devil to
cause its desires and affections to grow within it, and to make it
fall into spiritual gluttony and other evils.
2. And, in order the better to do this, he is wont to suggest
and give pleasure, sweetness and delight to the senses with
respect to these same things of God, so that the soul is corrupted
and bewildered[509] by that sweetness, and is thus blinded with that
pleasure and sets its eyes on pleasure rather than on love (or, at
least, very much more than upon love), and gives more heed to the
apprehensions than to the detachment and emptiness which are found
in faith and hope and love of God. And from this he may go on
gradually to deceive the soul and cause it to believe his
falsehoods with great facility. For to the soul that is blind
falsehood no longer appears to be falsehood, nor does evil appear
to be evil, etc.; for darkness appears to be light, and light,
darkness; and hence that soul comes to commit a thousand foolish
errors, whether with respect to natural things, or to moral
things, or to spiritual things; so that that which was wine to it
becomes vinegar. All this happens to the soul because it began
not, first of all, by denying itself the pleasure of those
supernatural things. At first this is a small matter, and not very
harmful, and the soul has therefore no misgivings, and allows it
to continue, and it grows, like the grain of mustard seed, into a
tall tree. For a small error at the beginning, as they say,
becomes a great error in the end.
3. Wherefore, in order to flee from this great evil, which
comes from the devil, the soul must not desire to have any
pleasure in such things, because such pleasure will most surely
lead it to become blind and to fall. For of their own nature, and
without the help of the devil, pleasure and delight and sweetness
blinds the soul. And this was the meaning of David when he said:
'Perhaps darkness shall blind me in my delights and I shall have
the night for my light.'[510]