Ch. I.
On the stages of the ascent into God and on the contemplation of Him through His vestiges in the universe.
1. Blessed is the man whose help is from You; he has disposed ascents in his heart, in the valley of tears, in the place which he has appointed. Since blessedness is nothing other than the enjoyment of the highest good, and the highest good is above us, no one can be made blessed unless he ascends above himself, not by a bodily ascent, but by one of the heart. But we cannot be raised above ourselves except by a higher power lifting us up. For however much the interior steps may be disposed, nothing is accomplished unless divine help accompanies them. But divine help accompanies those who seek it from a humble and devout heart; and this is to sigh toward Him in this valley of tears, which is done through fervent prayer. Prayer, therefore, is the mother and origin of the upward-lifting. Therefore Dionysius, in his book On Mystical Theology, wishing to instruct us in mental ecstasies, first sets forth prayer. Let us therefore pray and say to the Lord our God: Lead me, O Lord, in Your way, and I shall walk in Your truth; let my heart rejoice, that it may fear Your name.
2. In praying this prayer, we are illuminated to know the stages of the divine ascent. For since, according to the state of our condition, the universe of things is itself a ladder for ascending into God, and among things some are vestiges, some are images, some are corporeal, some spiritual, some temporal, some aeviternal, and accordingly some are outside us, some within us: in order that we may arrive at the consideration of the First Principle, which is most spiritual and eternal and above us, we must pass through the vestige, which is corporeal and temporal and outside us, and this is to be led in the way of God: we must enter into our own mind, which is the image of God, aeviternal, spiritual and within us, and this is to walk in the truth of God: we must transcend to the eternal, most spiritual, and above us, looking toward the First Principle, and this is to rejoice in the knowledge of God and in the reverence of His majesty.
3. This, therefore, is the way of the three days in the wilderness; this is the threefold illumination of one day, and the first is as evening, the second as morning, the third as midday; this regards the threefold existence of things, namely in matter, in intelligence, and in the eternal art, according to which it was said: let it be made, He made, and it was made; this also regards the threefold substance in Christ, who is our ladder, namely the corporeal, the spiritual, and the divine.
4. According to this threefold progress, our mind has three principal aspects. One is toward exterior corporeal things, according to which it is called animality or sensuality; another within itself and in itself, according to which it is called spirit; the third above itself, according to which it is called mind. - From all of which it ought to dispose itself for ascending into God, so that it may love Him with all its mind, with all its heart, and with all its soul, in which consists the perfect observance of the Law and, together with this, Christian wisdom.
5. Since, moreover, each of the aforesaid modes is doubled, inasmuch as it happens that one considers God as the Alpha and the Omega, or inasmuch as it happens that one sees God in each of the aforesaid modes as through a mirror and as in a mirror, or because each of these considerations must be mingled with the other conjoined to it and must be considered in its purity: hence it is necessary that these three principal stages ascend to the number six, so that, just as God completed the whole world in six days and rested on the seventh, so the lesser world may be led in most orderly fashion through six stages of successive illuminations to the repose of contemplation.
As a figure of this, one ascended by six steps to the throne of Solomon; the Seraphim that Isaiah saw had six wings; after six days the Lord called Moses from the midst of the cloud, and Christ after six days, as is said in Matthew, led the disciples up the mountain and was transfigured before them.
6. According, therefore, to the six stages of ascension into God, there are six stages of the powers of the soul, through which we ascend from the lowest to the highest, from exterior things to innermost things, from temporal things we ascend to eternal things, namely sense, imagination, reason, understanding, intelligence, and the apex of the mind or the spark of synderesis. These stages we have planted in us by nature, deformed by sin, reformed by grace; to be purged by justice, exercised by knowledge, and perfected by wisdom.
7. For according to the first institution of nature, man was created fit for the repose of contemplation, and therefore God placed him in a paradise of delights. But turning away from the true light toward a changeable good, he was bent over by his own fault, and his entire race by original sin, which infected human nature in a twofold manner, namely the mind with ignorance, and the flesh with concupiscence; so that man, blinded and bent over, sits in darkness and does not see the light of heaven, unless grace with justice comes to his aid against concupiscence, and knowledge with wisdom against ignorance. All of which comes about through Jesus Christ, who was made for us by God wisdom and justice and sanctification and redemption. Who, since He is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and is the incarnate Word full of grace and truth, brought about grace and truth: He poured in the grace, namely, of charity, which, since it proceeds from a pure heart and a good conscience and an unfeigned faith, rectifies the whole soul according to its threefold aspect mentioned above; and He taught the knowledge of truth according to the threefold mode of theology, namely symbolic, proper, and mystical, so that through symbolic theology we might rightly use sensible things, through proper theology we might rightly use intelligible things, and through mystical theology we might be rapt to supermental ecstasies.
8. Whoever therefore wishes to ascend to God must, having avoided the fault that deforms nature, exercise the aforementioned natural powers toward reforming grace, and this through prayer; toward purifying justice, and this in conduct of life; toward illuminating knowledge, and this in meditation; toward perfecting wisdom, and this in contemplation. Just as therefore no one comes to wisdom except through grace, justice, and knowledge, so one does not arrive at contemplation except through clear meditation, holy conduct, and devout prayer. Just as therefore grace is the foundation of uprightness of the will and of clear illumination of reason, so first we must pray, then live in holiness, third attend to the spectacles of truth, and by attending ascend step by step, until one arrives at the lofty mountain, where the God of gods is seen in Sion.
9. Since therefore one must first ascend before descending on the ladder of Jacob, let us place the first step of ascent at the bottom, setting this entire sensible world before us as a mirror, through which we may pass over to God, the supreme Artificer, so that we may be true Hebrews passing over from Egypt to the land promised to the Fathers, and also Christians passing over with Christ from this world to the Father, and also lovers of wisdom, who calls and says: Pass over to me, all you who desire me, and be filled from my generations. For from the greatness of the beauty and of the creature, the Creator of these things can be knowably seen.
10. Now the supreme power, wisdom, and benevolence of the Creator shines forth in created things, inasmuch as the bodily sense announces this in a threefold manner to the interior sense. For the bodily sense serves the intellect either rationally investigating, or faithfully believing, or intellectually contemplating. The one contemplating considers the actual existence of things; the one believing, the habitual course of things; the one reasoning, the potential excellence of things.
11. In the first mode, the gaze of the one contemplating, considering things in themselves, sees in them weight, number, and measure: weight with respect to the position toward which they incline, number, by which they are distinguished, and measure, by which they are limited. And thereby it sees in them mode, species, and order, as well as substance, power, and operation. From which one can rise as from a vestige to understanding the immense power, wisdom, and goodness of the Creator.
12. In the second mode, the gaze of the faithful, considering this world, attends to its origin, course, and end. For by faith we believe that the ages were fashioned by the Word of life; by faith we believe that the times of the three laws, namely of nature, of Scripture, and of grace, succeed one another and have run their course in most perfect order; by faith we believe that the world is to be brought to an end through the final judgment: perceiving in the first the power, in the second the providence, and in the third the justice of the supreme Principle.
13. In the third mode, the gaze of one rationally investigating sees that certain things merely exist, certain things however exist and live, and certain things indeed exist, live, and discern: and the first are indeed lesser, the second intermediate, the third better. — It sees again that certain things are only corporeal, certain things partly corporeal, partly spiritual: from which it perceives that some things are purely spiritual as being better and more worthy than both.
It sees nonetheless that certain things are mutable and corruptible, as terrestrial things; certain things mutable and incorruptible, as celestial things; from which it perceives that certain things are immutable and incorruptible, as supercelestial things.
From these visible things, therefore, one rises to considering the power, wisdom, and goodness of God as being, living, and intelligent, purely spiritual and incorruptible and unchangeable.
14. Now this consideration is expanded according to the sevenfold condition of creatures, which is a sevenfold testimony to the divine power, wisdom, and goodness, if one considers the origin, magnitude, multitude, beauty, fullness, operation, and order of all things. - For the origin of things according to creation, distinction, and adornment, with respect to the works of the six days, proclaims the divine power producing all things from nothing, the wisdom lucidly distinguishing all things, and the goodness lavishly adorning all things. - The magnitude of things, however, according to the mass of their length, breadth, and depth; according to the excellence of a power extending itself far, wide, and deep, as is evident in the diffusion of light; according to the efficacy of an operation that is intimate, continuous, and diffused, as is evident in the operation of fire, manifestly indicates the immensity of the power, wisdom, and goodness of the triune God, who exists in all things through power, presence, and essence, uncircumscribed.
The multitude of things, according to their general, specific, and individual diversity in substance, in form or figure, and in efficacy, beyond all human estimation, manifestly intimates and shows the immensity of the three aforesaid conditions in God.
The beauty of things, according to the variety of lights, figures, and colors in simple, mixed, and even complexioned bodies, as in celestial bodies and minerals, as in stones and metals, plants and animals, evidently proclaims the three aforesaid.
The fullness of things, inasmuch as matter is full of forms according to seminal reasons; form is full of power according to active potency; power is full of effects according to efficiency, manifestly declares the same.
Operation, which is manifold, inasmuch as it is natural, inasmuch as it is artificial, inasmuch as it is moral, by its most manifold variety shows the immensity of that power, art, and goodness which is indeed for all things "the cause of being, the ground of understanding, and the rule of living." - Order, moreover, according to the measure of duration, position, and influence, namely through prior and posterior, higher and lower, nobler and less noble, in the book of creation manifestly intimates the primacy, sublimity, and dignity of the first principle with respect to the infinity of power; the order of divine laws, precepts, and judgments in the book of Scripture intimates the immensity of wisdom; and the order of divine Sacraments, benefits, and retributions in the body of the Church intimates the immensity of goodness; so that order itself most evidently leads us by the hand to the first and highest, the most powerful, the most wise, and the best.
15. He therefore who is not illumined by such great splendors of created things is blind; he who is not awakened by such great cries is deaf; he who does not praise God on account of all these effects is mute; he who from such great signs does not advert to the first principle is a fool.
Open therefore your eyes, bring near your spiritual ears, loose your lips, and apply your heart, that in all creatures you may see, hear, praise, love, and worship, magnify and honor your God, lest perchance the whole world rise up against you. For on this account the whole world shall fight against the senseless, and conversely for the wise it shall be matter of glory, who according to the Prophet can say: Thou hast given me delight, O Lord, in thy making, and in the works of thy hands I shall rejoice. How great are thy works, O Lord! Thou hast made all things in wisdom, the earth is filled with thy possession.