anchors 551–560

33. In the case of the person who confines himself to a literal observance of the Law, the matter which. he engenders is the act of sin that he commits;, while the form that he devises in a materialistic fashion is the intellect’s assent to the sensual pleasures that attract him to the act of sin. He who understands Scripture in a spiritual way puts to death both the act of sin, which corresponds to matter, and the assent to it, which corresponds to form; and he also puts to death the misuse of the senses for the sake of pleasure. He does this by means of thoughts that by nature pertain to higher levels of contemplation. [00552] 34. Once the external observance of the letter of the Law has been superseded, together with the ignorance that goes with it, it is then possible to put an end to the matter and form of which we have been speaking, as well as to the five ways of misusing the five senses with regard to matter and form - and by this I mean the impassioned and unnatural association of the senses with sensible things subject to time and change. The spiritual law, or intellect, destroys this association by means of the higher principles and thoughts which are found in natural contemplation. In this way the intellect, when it has attained the heights of the law of spiritual contemplation, destroys man’s all-pervasive subjection, established through the symbols of temporal things, to sense-perception and to the outward form of things. [00553] 35. Without natural contemplation no one can appreciate the disparity between the symbols through which the Law is expressed and the divine realities which these symbols represent. Further, if through such contemplation a man has not first discerned this disparity and, denying his sense-perception all access to the hidden realm of divine and intelligible realities, does not long to penetrate with his intellect into its beauty, he cannot be liberated completely from the external diversity to be found in the symbols. So long as he cleaves to the letter, his inner hunger for spiritual knowledge will not be satisfied; for he has condemned himself like the wily serpent to feed on the earth - that is, on the outward or literal form - of Scripture (cf. Gen. 3:14), and does not, as a true disciple of Christ, feed on heaven - that is, on the spirit and soul of Scripture, in other words, on celestial and angelic bread. I mean that he does [00554] Fifth Century not feed through Christ on the spiritual contemplation and knowledge of the Scriptures, which God gives unstintingly to those who love Him, in accordance with the text: ‘He gave them the bread of heaven; man ate the food of angels’ (Ps. 78:24-25. LXX). [00555] 36. Interpretation of the outward form of Scripture according to the norms of: sense-perception must be superseded, for it clearly promotes the passions as well as proclivity towards what is temporal and transient. That is to say, we must destroy the impassioned activity of the senses with regard to sensible objects, as if destroying the children and grandchildren of Saul (cf. 2 Sam. 21:1-9); and we must do this by ascending to the heights of natural contemplation through a mystical interpretation of divine utterances, if in any way we desire to be filled with divine grace. [00556] 37. When the Law is understood only according to the letter, it is hostile to the truth, as the Jews were, and as is anyone else who possesses their mentality. For such a person limits the Law’s power merely to the letter, and does not advance to natural contemplation, which reveals the spiritual knowledge hidden mystically in the letter; for this contemplation mediates between figurative representations of the truth and the truth itself, and leads its adepts away from the first and towards the second. On the contrary, he rejects natural contemplation altogether and so excludes himself from initiation into divine realities. Those who diligently aspire to a vision of these realities must therefore destroy the outward and, evanescent interpretation of the Law, Subject to time and change; and they must do this by means of natural contemplation, having ascended to the heights of spiritual knowledge. [00557] 38. A man totally obliterates the outward or literal sense of Scripture when through the practice of natural contemplation he destroys his soul’s pleasure-provoked and body-indulging subjection - promoted by the written Law - to the restless and evanescent world of materiality. In this way he slays, as though it were Saul’s children and grandchildren, his earth-bound understanding of the Law. At the same time, through this natural, contemplation on the heights of spiritual knowledge, he openly confesses his error of previously interpreting the Law according to its outward form. For the text, ‘to hang them before the Lord’ (cf. 2 Sam. 21:9), may be understood to mean this: to bring into the light by means of spiritual knowledge his preoccupation with the letter of the Law [00558] Fifth Century and the prejudice from which he suffers as a result. This is to show that, thanks to contemplation, the letter of the Law has been killed by spiritual knowledge. [00559] 39. ‘The letter kills.’ says Scripture, ‘but the Spirit gives life’ (2 Cor. 3:6). Consequently, the letter whose nature it is to kill must be killed by the life-giving Spirit. For what is material in the Law and what is divine - namely, the letter and the Spirit - cannot coexist, nor can what destroys life be reconciled with that which by nature bestows life. [00560] 40. The Spirit bestows life, the letter destroys it. Thus the letter cannot function at the same time as the Spirit, just as what gives life cannot coexist with what destroys life and the prejudice from which he suffers as a result. This is to show that, thanks to contemplation, the letter of the Law has been killed by spiritual knowledge.