Chapter XL
Exposition Concerning The Degrees Of The Path, Namely Concerning The Power Of Ministration Of Each Of Them
Bodily discipline in solitude purifies the body from the material elements in it. Mental discipline makes the soul humble and purifies it from the material impulses that tend towards decaying things, by changing their affectible nature into motions of contemplation. And this will bring the soul near to the nakedness of the mind that is called immaterial contemplation; this is spiritual discipline. It elevates the intellect above earthly things and brings it near to primordial spiritual contemplation; it directs the intellect towards God by the sight of unspeakable glory and it delights spiritually in the hope of future things, [thinking of] what and how each of them will be 1). Bodily labours are called bodily discipline unto God. For 304 they serve for the purification of the body through the service of excellence which is manifest personal works, by which man is purified from the pus of the flesh. Mental discipline is labour of the heart. It is the thinking, without cessation, of the great coming judgment, in constant prayer of the heart, and of God's providence and care for this world in its individuals and in its
I) The Greek translation has the right division of the text here
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species. This is also the regarding of the domain of the inner affections, lest any of them pass into the hidden and spiritual place. This is the labour of the heart which is called mental discipline. By this labour of discipline, which is called psychic service, the heart is subtilized and torn away from participation in decay, viz. in the praeternatural affections; from here onwards the heart begins to be often set in emotion by insight into the things of the senses which were created to the purpose of the education of the body and which administer strength to the four elements which are in the body. Spiritual discipline is service without the senses; this is what has been written by the Fathers, that when the mind of the saints was gifted with personal contemplation, then the heaviness of body was taken away. And further on sight will be spiritual sight. Personal contemplation he uses in the sense of contemplation concerning the primordial creation of nature. From there one is easily moved onwards toward what is called solitary knowledge which is, according to a clear interpretation, ecstasy in God, this is the order of that high future state which will be given in freedom that lives in immortality, in that way of life 305 which will be after the resurrection. It will consist therein, that from that point onwards human nature will not be cut off from constant ecstasy in God, to mingle itself with any created being. If there were any other thing equal to Him, nature would sometimes follow Him, sometimes His equals. When, however, the beauty of all which exists in that future order of things, is inferior to His beauties, how should it be possible for the mind not to fix its gaze exclusively on Him? What then? Should mortality trouble it, or the heaviness of the flesh, or the remembrance of kindred, or natural wants, or the adversities which overtake it; or the distraction of ignorance, or the deficiency of nature, or the distraction caused by the elements, or intercourse with one another, or the influence of dejection, or the weariness of the flesh? If now in this world - while all these things are thus - the veil of the affections is sometimes withdrawn from before the eyes of the spirit so that it gazes at the glory, and the mind is drawn away in ecstasy - then, without doubt, if God had not limited the duration of these moments in this life, man would not COme back from that
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state 1) his whole life, if he were allowed. Now when all these [earthly] things exist no longer and that endless order [has been established], and when we personally and practically abide in the habitations of the kingdom - if our behaviour be worthy how then should the spirit find a way to remove itself from the wondrous sight of God and to dwell with any other? Woe 306 to us, who do not know for what state we are destined, reckoning as something this life of sickness and this animal state, and the world with its troubles and evils and pleasures. 0 Christ, who art the only strong one, blessed is the man whom thou supportest and in whose heart are the steps towards thee. Turn thou, o Lord, our face away from the world by desire of Thee, so that we see it as it is, without taking shadows for truth. Throw, o Lord, zeal into our heart before death comes, that at the time of our departure we may know for what purpose our entrance in and our departure from this world have served. Then, fulfilling the work to which we were called in accordance with thy aim in placing us in this life first, we shall hope, with a mind full of confidence, to receive the great things which, according to the promises of the scriptures, in the second creation are prepared by Thy love, things the recollection of which we preserve with mystic faith. Bodily purity is to be clean from filth. Psychic purity is to be free from hidden affections in the spirit. Purity of mind is to be purified by revelations from any emotion unto things which, in view of their material nature, lie in the domain of the senses. Children are pure in body and as to their soul they can be without affections. Yet no one will call them pure in mind. Purity of mind is perfection through training in 3 07 heavenly contemplation, so that the mind without the senses receives impulses from the spiritual powers of those worlds above, powers which are amazing, surpassing number, distinguished in demeanour, mingled in invisible service, subject to many variations at all times, on account of the motion of the divine revelations.
1) Litt. from there. Cf. Plotinus, Enneades, VI, 9 § 9
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