Which begins to treat of the dark night of the will. Makes a
division between the affections of the will.
WE should have accomplished nothing by the purgation of the
understanding in order to ground it in the virtue of faith, and by
the purgation of the memory in order to ground it in hope, if we
purged not the will also according to the third virtue, which is
charity, whereby the works that are done in faith live and have
great merit, and without it are of no worth. For, as Saint James
says: 'Without works of charity, faith is dead.'[529] And, now that
we have to treat of the active detachment and night of this
faculty, in order to form it and make it perfect in this virtue of
the charity of God, I find no more fitting authority than that
which is written in the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy, where Moses
says: 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and
with thy whole soul and with thy whole strength.'[530] Herein is
contained all that the spiritual man ought to do, and all that I
have here to teach him, so that he may truly attain to God,
through union of the will, by means of charity. For herein man is
commanded to employ all the faculties and desires and operations
and affections of his soul in God, so that all the ability and
strength of his soul may serve for no more than this, according to
that which David says, in these words: Fortitudinem meam ad te
custodiam.[531]
2. The strength of the soul consists in its faculties,
passions and desires, all of which are governed by the will. Now
when these faculties, passions and desires are directed by the
will toward God, and turned away from all that is not God, then
the strength of the soul is kept for God, and thus the soul is
able to love God with all its strength. And, to the end that the
soul may do this, we shall here treat of the purgation from the
will of all its unruly affections, whence arise unruly operations,
affections and desires, and whence also arises its failure to keep
all its strength for God. These affections and passions are four,
namely: Joy, hope, grief and fear. These passions, when they are
controlled by reason according to the way of God, so that the soul
rejoices only in that which is purely the honour and glory of God,
and hopes for naught else, neither grieves save for things that
concern this, neither fears aught save God alone, it is clear that
the strength and ability of the soul are being directed toward God
and kept for Him. For, the more the soul rejoices in any other
thing than God, the less completely will it centre its rejoicing
in God;[532] and the more it hopes in aught else, the less will it
hope in God; and so with the other passions.
3. And in order to give fuller instructions concerning this,
we shall treat, in turn and in detail, as is our custom, of each
of these four passions and of the desires of the will. For the
whole business of attaining to union with God consists in purging
the will from its affections and desires; so that thus it may no
longer be a base, human will, but may become a Divine will, being
made one[533] with the will of God.
4. These four passions have the greater dominion in the soul,
and assail it the more vehemently, when the will is less strongly
attached to God and more dependent on the creatures. For then it
rejoices very readily at things that merit not rejoicing, hopes in
that which brings no profit, grieves over that in which perchance
it ought to rejoice, and fears where there is no reason for
fearing.
5. From these affections, when they are unbridled, arise in
the soul all the vices and imperfections which it possesses, and
likewise, when they are ordered and composed, all its virtues. And
it must be known that, if one of them should become ordered and
controlled by reason, the rest will become so likewise; for these
four passions of the soul are so closely and intimately united to
one another that the actual direction of one is the virtual
direction of the others; and if one be actually recollected the
other three will virtually and proportionately be recollected
likewise. For, if the will rejoice in anything it will as a result
hope for the same thing to the extent of its rejoicing, and herein
are virtually included grief and fear with regard to the same
thing; and, in proportion as desire for these is taken away, fear
and grief concerning them are likewise gradually lost, and hope
for them is removed. For the will, with these four passions, is
denoted by that figure which was seen by Ezechiel, of four beasts
with one body, which had four faces; and the wings of the one were
joined to those of the other, and each one went straight before
his face, and when they went forward they turned not back.[534] And
thus in the same manner the wings of each one of these affections
are joined to those of each of the others, so that, in whichever
direction one of them turns -- that is, in its operation -- the
others of necessity go with it virtually also; and, when one of
them descends, as is there said, they must all descend, and, when
one is lifted up, they will all be lifted up. Where thy hope is,
thither will go thy joy and fear and grief; and, if thy hope
returns, the others will return, and so of the rest.
6. Wherefore thou must take note that, wheresoever one of
these passions is, thither will go likewise the whole soul and the
will and the other faculties, and they will all live as captives
to this passion, and the other three passions will be living in it
also, to afflict the soul with their captivity, and not to allow
it to fly upward to the liberty and rest of sweet contemplation
and union. For this cause Boetius told thee that, if thou shouldst
desire to understand truth with clear light, thou must cast from
thee joys, hope, fear and grief.[535] For, as long as these passions
reign, they allow not the soul to remain in the tranquillity and
peace which are necessary for the wisdom which, by natural or
supernatural means, it is capable of receiving.