COLLATION VIII.
On the gift of understanding.
Summary. - Introduction; it is useful for all to hear the word of God, 1. - Exposition of the text, in which is indicated the disposition on the part of the one receiving this gift, and the liberal diffusion on the part of the giver. First, by way of introduction, the threefold disposition on the part of the recipient is treated, 2. - The first is holiness of life, 3. - The second, the tractability of meekness, 4. - The third, the captivation of the intelligence, 5. - On the liberality on the part of the giver. From the first intelligence is all radiance of understanding; three are noted in particular, of which the first two are expounded, 6. - Part I. On the understanding which is the rule of moral circumspections. It is necessary that man be directed according to divine rules, in order to receive this gift, 7. - Understanding teaches three things: first, what is to be avoided, 8. - Second, what is to be carried out, 9. - Third, what is to be awaited, 10. - These are confirmed through Scripture, 11. - Part II. On the understanding which is the gateway of scientific considerations. This has a threefold root, 12. - First, it is partly from the dictate of nature, 13. - Second, partly from the frequency of experience, 14. - Third, partly from the illumination of the eternal light; threefold certitude; this illumination is aided through the Angels; God is the cause of being in the soul as principle, the order of living as an infused gift, the reason of understanding as the sun of intelligence, 15. - Against these three are three errors, namely concerning the eternity of the world, concerning fatal necessity, and concerning the unity of the intellect, 16-19. - How the three intellects differ, 20.
1. I will bless the Lord, who has given me understanding.
The wise man hearing shall be wiser, and the one who understands shall possess counsels. In the second word Solomon shows that it is useful to hear the word of God; and the reason is that in the hearing of the word of God both he who understands profits, and likewise he who does not understand: therefore both the wise and the simple ought to go to hear the word of God. That the wise profit by hearing the word of God is clear, because he says that the wise man hearing wisdom shall be wiser. Likewise, that the simple profit by hearing the word of God is clear, because it is said in the Psalm: The declaration of your words illuminates and gives understanding to the little ones. Little one is the name given here to one who on account of the smallness of his knowledge is called a little one, just as one who knows few things is said to have a small soul, and likewise one who knows many things is said to be of great understanding. Little one is also said of one who conducts himself humbly, even if he knows many things and is very understanding. Whence in the Gospel it is said: You have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, and have revealed them to the little ones, that is, to the humble. - For nothing so darkens the understanding in those things which are of God as presumption. We all praise humility and censure presumption; yet few are free from presumption. Richard of Saint Victor says that "in disputing against pride a man frequently becomes proud." Behold that the strong deceiver deceives many. No one can illuminate the hearts of men except he who knows the consciences of men. In the beginning let us beseech God, etc.
2. I will bless the Lord, etc. This brief word belongs to David himself, who through the Holy Spirit unfolds to us the very gift of understanding given to us by the Holy Spirit, and he unfolds it to us with respect to the humble gratitude of the recipient and with respect to the liberal diffusion of the giver. The humble gratitude of the recipient is noted when he says: I will bless the Lord; the liberal diffusion of the giver is noted when he adds: Who has bestowed upon me understanding. This gift requires that man be grateful to God, and brings it about that man recognizes himself and the gift and the source of the gift: and by understanding the source of the gift man recognizes himself, and so gives thanks. And then he blesses God and pours back the beauty of the gift upon the very author of the gift, and praises him, and does not assail the giver. - Moreover, we dispose ourselves to receive this gift through three things: first, through holiness of life; second, through the docility of meekness; and third, through the captivation of the understanding, so that we may bless the author of this gift.
3. First, I say, we dispose ourselves to receive this gift of understanding through holiness of life: whence Isaiah: Whom shall he teach knowledge, and whom shall he make to understand the message? Those weaned from milk and drawn away from the breasts. - Milk signifies the sweetness of carnal delights, by which sweetness the carnal and the infantile are nourished, that is, those who follow infantile impulses. And as long as a man is joined to these carnal consolations, he is called a nursing infant and is not fit to receive the solid food of life and understanding. If we wish to bless God and receive this gift, it is necessary that we be drawn away from these consolations and separate ourselves from the milk of concupiscences. Of Daniel and his companions, who were continent, it is said that God gave them knowledge and discipline in every book and wisdom. Delight concerning touch assails this gift most greatly: drunkenness from the anterior part and lust from the posterior part.
4. Second, a man is disposed to receive this gift through the docility of meekness. Whence in Ecclesiasticus: Be meek to hear the word, that you may understand. Concupiscence clouds the understanding, and fury impedes intelligence, "because anger impedes the mind, so that it cannot discern the truth." - The Philosopher says that "by being at rest the soul becomes prudent and knowing." When water is still, then a man sees his face well in it; but when it is disturbed, then he can see nothing in it. So, when a man is in anger, then he does not see the truth. The contentious impede understanding in themselves and in others. The angry man also pertinaciously defends what is false. Whence the Lawgiver was most meek. Isaiah says: Only vexation alone shall give understanding to the hearing. A tractable man learns and becomes gentle.
5. Third, a man is disposed to receive worthily the gift of understanding through the captivation of the intelligence. Whence Isaiah according to the Septuagint translation says: Unless you believe, you shall not understand. And Augustine says: "Unless a man captivates his understanding and follows through faith what he hears, he is not disposed to the gift of understanding." And the Apostle says: Bringing into captivity the understanding unto the obedience of Christ. He who wishes to search sacred Scripture according to the light of his own intelligence thinks the most false errors. In this life we are little ones, and "the learner must believe."
For it is necessary to believe God, and especially in sublime matters that transcend our understanding. The first Angel erred because he presumed upon himself. — The disordered concupiscible power impedes this gift; likewise also the irascible, when it is disordered; but when the rational power is disordered, it most greatly impedes this gift. It is necessary therefore that we bring our intellect into captivity, if we wish to receive this gift. He who despises all things is raging mad: he is not disposed to receive this gift, nor is the presumptuous one. It is necessary therefore that we bring our intellect into captivity, because he who believes himself to know more frequently knows less. — Through these three things a person is disposed to worthily receive the gift of understanding. The first is now clear, namely the humble gratitude of the one receiving.
6. There follows the liberality on the part of the giver, which is touched upon when he says: Who has bestowed understanding upon me. May God grant me something to say and bestow upon me understanding for saying something fitting about this gift of understanding. — All radiance of intelligence comes from that fountain of intelligence. And although the radiance of intelligence is manifold, I wish nevertheless at present to speak of three things, namely that understanding is the rule of moral circumspections, the gateway of scientific considerations, and the key of heavenly contemplations; and this is a gift.
7. First I shall begin with that which is the rule of moral circumspections. For it is necessary that you be well-ordered in conduct, if you wish to have this gift of understanding. The Psalm: I will give you understanding and I will instruct you in this way in which you shall walk; I will fix my eyes upon you. Do not become like the horse and the mule, which have no understanding. The Lord promises us this understanding and shows us how we ought to receive it. — I will fix, he says, my eyes upon you. The divine good pleasure accepts what we do, approving in the present and rewarding in the future. If you wish to be regulated according to this rule, take care that you be not bestial but well-ordered: that you be directed not according to the impulse of sense, but according to the judgment of reason; not according to bestial phantasms, but according to intellectual judgments. Otherwise what happened to Adam will happen to you, who, having despised the rule of truth, followed the instinct of the woman, and the woman followed the instinct of the serpent. The Psalm: Man, when he was in honor, did not understand; he was compared to the senseless beasts and was made like unto them. Man became brutish and subject to the passions.
8. This prudential understanding is that by which a person is instructed according to the dictate of the divine law to know what is to be avoided, namely every evil; what is to be carried out, namely every good; and what is to be awaited, namely the highest good. - First, I say, prudential understanding teaches what is to be avoided, namely every evil. Whence the Wise Man says : If you call upon wisdom and incline your heart to prudence and seek her as money and dig for her as for treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Whoever wishes to have this understanding must seek it with desire of heart and diligence of effort; and what then will you find? Certainly, the fear of the Lord and the knowledge of God. For every person who wishes to be directed toward the good must fear God, so as to avoid every evil. The Psalm says: Holy, he says, and terrible is his name; the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all who practice it. Behold, the fear of the Lord is wisdom, and to depart from evil is prudence, says the wise man. - Therefore prudential understanding teaches first what is to be avoided, namely every evil.
9. Second, it teaches what is to be carried out, namely every good, according to the way of interior thought and exterior action. It is written in Joshua: Do not turn aside from the law; it follows: so that you may understand all that you do. The wisdom of the shrewd is to understand his way, and the imprudence of fools is erring. It is written: If you have understanding, answer your neighbor; if not, let your hand be over your mouth. And in the book of Wisdom: The holy spirit of discipline will flee from the deceitful and will withdraw from thoughts that are without understanding. For God wills that we do all things reasonably. And blessed Ambrose says that we ought neither to do nor to speak anything about that for which we cannot give a reason. - This is the second part of moral understanding. Solomon says: For every matter there is a time and an opportunity.
10. Third, prudential understanding instructs what is to be awaited, namely the highest good. Whence in Proverbs: The expectation of the one who waits is a most precious gem; wherever he turns, he understands prudently. In all things that direct our understanding in what is to be done and what is to be avoided, a person must employ the counsel of the end. For it is necessary that a person expect something in what he does. If you aim at temporal advantage, you expect a worthless reward. A pleasing, indeed a most pleasing gem is the eternal good. Whence in Baruch: Learn where prudence is, where virtue is, where understanding is, so that you may know at the same time where length of life and sustenance is, where the light of the eyes and peace is. - He says: so that you may know where length of life and sustenance is, the light of the eyes and peace. And where is it? Certainly, length of days is in her right hand; and the Psalm says: With you is the fountain of life, etc. If you have the light of the eyes, you will act prudently.
11. This is the threefold prudential understanding, and whoever does not have this understanding cannot be set right. Hence it is written: It is a nation without counsel and without prudence: would that they were wise and understood and foresaw their last things. He touches upon the three parts of intelligence, namely memory of things past, understanding of things present, and circumspection regarding things future. - This understanding is the rule of moral circumspections with desire of heart and pursuit of work, so that a person may consider what is to be avoided, what is to be done, and what is to be awaited. For God gives this understanding, and it is a gift of God. Hence the Psalm: I will give you understanding and I will instruct you in this way in which you shall walk.
12. Another is the understanding which is the gateway of scientific considerations, of which it is said in Ecclesiasticus: In the treasures of wisdom is understanding, etc.; this is to say that the hidden treasures of knowledge either consist in the knowledge of the highest causes, or of conclusions, or of principles. And one must dig through the study of truth so that a person may arrive at this treasure. - This understanding, which is the gateway of scientific considerations, is partly from the dictate of nature, that is, from the interior light; partly from the frequency of experience, as from the exterior light; and partly from the illumination of the eternal light, as from the superior light.
13. That it is partly from the dictate of nature is evident in Ecclesiasticus, where it is said: God created man from the earth, namely as regards the body, and made him according to His own image, namely as regards the soul. There follows: He created from him a help like unto himself; counsel and a tongue and eyes and ears and a heart He gave them for thinking, and He filled them with the discipline of understanding. He gives us to understand that the human soul has three operations, according to its power and operation. "Every noble soul has three operations," by which it turns itself upon its own body, upon itself, and toward divine things. Sometimes it turns itself upon the body: it has the tongue for speaking, ears for hearing, etc.; sometimes it turns itself upon itself; sometimes toward understanding and knowing God. - And this is according to the threefold consideration of the soul; for the soul is considered as the form and perfection of the body, as a this-something, and as an image. - But that this understanding is partly from the dictate of nature is evident in Adam, because he imposed names upon all things. But that God filled him with the discipline of understanding, this was his privilege; hence it is not in us. But our soul has signed upon it a certain light of nature, through which it is apt for knowing first principles; but that alone does not suffice, because, according to the Philosopher, "we know principles insofar as we know terms." For when I know what a whole is, what a part is, I immediately know that "every whole is greater than its part."
14. Secondly, I say that it is partly from the frequency of experience; in Ecclesiasticus: A man experienced in many things will know many things. The Philosopher: From many sensations arises one memory; from many memories arises one experience; from many experiences arises one universal, which is the principle of art and science."
15. And however much a man may have a good natural judgment and along with this frequency of experience, they do not suffice unless there be illumination through divine influence. Whence it is said in Daniel: He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who understand learning. He reveals deep and hidden things and knows what is established in darkness: and the light is with him. He touches upon sapiential, sciential, and intellectual certitude. But whence comes this certitude? Certainly from God. He touches upon sapiential certitude when he says: He reveals deep things. The Apostle: He has shone in our hearts for the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God. This light is pure and is with him: whence in John: He is the true light, which illumines every man coming into this world. No one is illumined with certitude except through him. And Augustine in the fourteenth book of On the Trinity asks whence it comes that the impious sometimes judges well; whence he asks: "Where are those laws of justice written, according to which the impious judges well?" And he responds that "they are written in the book of eternal light, and they descend into the soul not by migrating but by impressing themselves, just as the image of a ring, which is impressed upon wax, does not leave the ring," etc. - This illumination, moreover, is aided through the Angels; in Daniel it is said: Now it came to pass, when I, Daniel, saw the vision and sought understanding: behold, there stood before me as it were the appearance of a man, etc.: and he cried out and said: Gabriel, make this one understand the vision. These visions descended from the Father of lights, and the Angel aids the intellect of Daniel, so that he might grasp the light of God and through it understand. The Gloss says that the intellect by nature has the power of understanding, according to which man is distinguished from beasts; but God alone illumines perfectly. It is true that man is instructed ministerially and supportively through an Angel, as was evident in Daniel: but effectively God alone has power over the rational soul itself, because it is immediately formed by God. For he illumines every man. Whence the Angel illumines in the way that one who opens a window is said to illuminate a house. "For he alone holds the chair in heaven who teaches man on earth." - Whence it is not true what the philosophers say, that one Intelligence creates another, because to create belongs to the omnipotent God, not to any created power; whence it belongs to that light, which is pure act, to do this. Paul said in the Acts of the Apostles: In him we live and move and have our being; and Augustine says that the Apostle does not speak there of corporeal life, but of intellectual life. Whence he speaks there of God, according as he is for all things "the cause of being, the reason of understanding, and the order of living." He is the cause of being, immediately producing all perpetual things, and mediately temporal things, yet immediately through elemental powers. He is the reason of understanding, because through him intelligences are made certain beyond the mutability of nature. If all creatures were to assail, God is nonetheless to be loved: nor can God bring it about that he is not to be loved. Though all things be corrupted, the certitude of truth remains. God is also the order of living: unless the gift of the Holy Spirit dwells in a man, he will not be governed according to the rule of upright life. - Insofar as God is the cause of being, he enters the soul as its principle; but insofar as he is the order of living, he enters the soul as an infused gift: insofar as he is the reason of understanding, he enters the soul as the sun of intelligence. This is the sun that illumines all: from which some go astray, according to what the impious say in the book of Wisdom: Therefore we have erred from the way of truth and justice: the light has not shone upon us, and the sun of intelligence has not risen upon us, etc.
16. Three are the errors to be guarded against in the sciences, which destroy sacred Scripture and the Christian faith and all wisdom: of which one is against the cause of being, another against the reason of understanding, and the third against the order of living. The error against the cause of being concerns the eternity of the world, namely to posit that the world is eternal. The error against the reason of understanding concerns fatal necessity, namely to posit that all things come about of necessity. The third concerns the unity of the human intellect, namely to posit that there is one intellect in all. — These errors are signified in the Apocalypse in the number of the name of the beast. It is said there that it had a name whose number is six hundred sixty-six, which is a cyclical number. The first group base themselves upon the circle of motion and time; the second, upon the motion of the stars; the third, upon one Intelligence, saying that it enters into and exits from the body. — All of this is false. The first error is refuted by what is written in the Old Testament: In the beginning God created heaven and earth . According to the second error, there is nothing of free will, the cross of Christ avails nothing. According to the third, there is no difference in merit and reward, if the soul of Christ and of Judas the traitor is one. All of this is heretical.
17. The first error, I say, destroys the cause of being: for you hold that God is the cause of all things either in part or in whole. If in part: then you take away from God his primacy of causing. If in whole: then God is the cause of every other thing; therefore he produces it not from himself, not from something else, because nothing else exists; therefore from nothing. — Likewise, it follows according to this error that a thing had being and non-being simultaneously, and that being was before non-being; and many other absurdities. Whence it is certain that God created all things. And therefore that good woman said to her son in the book of Maccabees that he should look upon all things, because God created them from nothing.
18. The second error concerns fatal necessity, as regarding the constellations: if a man is born under such a constellation, he will necessarily be a thief, or evil, or good. This empties free will and merit and reward of meaning: for if a man does of necessity what he does, what is the value of freedom of will? What will he merit? — It also follows that God would be the origin of all evils. It is true that some disposition is left by the stars; but nevertheless God alone rules over the rational soul. Jeremiah says: They shall be greatly confounded, because they have not understood everlasting reproach. Those who err thus shall have everlasting reproach.
19. The third error is the worst, which encompasses both of the former. Some madmen have badly understood regarding the intellect. Hence some said that it was fire: some, that it was water: these were refuted by the philosophers. - That this intellect should be one in all, this is against the root of distinction and individuation, because in diverse subjects the intellect has distinct being: therefore it has principles of its own essence that are proper and distinct and individuating. - What others say, that one Intelligence irradiates upon all; this is impossible: because no creature can do this. Hence this belongs to God alone.
20. "Every intellectual substance is knowing and returns upon itself with a complete return." Hence every intellectual substance understands itself and loves itself and judges. Hence it has the nature of a mirror and a light shining upon it. And this is indeed true in God, and in the Angel as well as in man; but in different ways: because in God the mirror and the light are the same in reality, but differ in concept. In the Angel, however, they differ in concept and in nature, but not in time, because it cannot understand more than it does understand, because "the intelligence is full of forms." But in man they differ both in concept and in nature and in time, because man does not immediately understand when he can understand. Thus therefore the human intellect has the character of apprehending and judging, the possible and the agent intellect: nor can this intellect be sufficiently illuminated without the aid of a higher and loftier light, because the Wise Man says: The body, which is corrupted, weighs down the soul, etc.; and the Philosopher says: "As the eye of the bat is related to the light of the sun, so is our intellect related to the things most manifest in nature."