anchors 601–610

72. Every forbidden sensual pleasure comes into being as a result of passion and through the perception of some sensible object. For sensual pleasure is nothing other than the form of sensation created in the sentient faculty by some sensible object, or else the mode of sensitive activity when this is set in motion by desire that is contrary to the intelligence. For when desire combines with the senses, it is changed into pleasure, itself contriving. the form the pleasure takes. And when the senses are stimulated’ by desire, they produce pleasure, taking advantage of the sensible object The saints recognize that the soul assumes. an earthly form when, contrary to nature, it is impelled towards material things by means of the flesh; consequently they resolve to redirect their impulses in accordance with nature towards God by means of the soul, and to adapt their flesh to Him, adorning it as far as possible with images of the divine through the practice of the virtues. [00602] 73. The saints in their nobility pass through this present age of trials by acting unfailingly in accordance with nature. Once their [00603] Fifth Century intellect has grasped the simple essences of created things, they unite their senses to it by means of the intelligence; then when the intellect has been completely liberated from all impulsion toward created things, and is at rest even with its own natural activity, they offer it to God. Wholly united with God in this way, they are totally immingled through the spirit with the whole God, since they have put on the whole image of the heavenly (cf. 1 Cor. 15:49) - so far as human beings can do this - and have consecrated themselves to God, drawing the divine image to themselves, if it be permitted to speak thus, as much as being drawn by it. [00604] 74. We are told that God and man are exemplars of each other. Man’s ability to deify himself through love for God’s sake is correlative with God’s becoming man through compassion for man’s sake. And man’s manifestation through the virtues of the God who is by nature invisible is correlative with the degree to which his intellect is seized by God and imbued with spiritual knowledge. [00605] 75. The person who has mortified the earthly aspects of himself (cf. Col. 3:5), thoroughly extinguishing the will of the flesh within him and repudiating the attachment to it which splits asunder the love we owe to God alone; who has disowned all the modalities of the flesh and the world for the sake of divine grace, so as to be able to say with Paul the apostle, ‘What can separate us from the love of Christ?’ (Rom. 8:35) - such a person has become, like Melchisedec, ‘without father, without mother, without descent’ (Heb. 7:3). For, because of the union with the Spirit that has taken place within him, he cannot now be dominated by flesh or by nature. [00606] 76. I do not think that the end of this present life is rightly called death. More accurately, it is deliverance from death, separation from corruption, liberation from slavery. Cessation of turbulence, destruction of wars, dispelling of darkness, rest from suffering, calming of turmoil, eclipsing of shame, escape from passions and, to sum up, the termination of all evils. The saints who have achieved these things through voluntary mortification live as strangers and pilgrims in this life (cf. Heb. 11:13), fighting bravely against the world and the body and the assaults stemming from them. And, having stifled the deceit which both of these engender because of the close connection existing between the senses and sensible objects, they keep the dignity of their soul unenslaved. [00607] 77. Nature itself gives no small token of the knowledge of [00608] Fifth Century providence planted naturally within us whenever it urges us instinctively towards God through prayer in times of sudden crisis, and makes us seek salvation from Him. For when we are suddenly overtaken by violent events, before thinking of anything else we involuntarily call upon God. It is as if providence itself, without any conscious thought on our part, were drawing us to itself, outstripping the speed of our noetic faculty and showing us that divine help is stronger than anything else. Nature would not lead us purposelessly to what does not naturally exist. It is clear to everyone that whatever is a natural consequence of something demonstrates its own authenticity with the force of truth. [00609] 78. Some things are good and others are bad, and these belong either to the present or to the future. A good which is expected in the future is called desire, and one which is possessed in the present is called pleasure. Conversely, an evil which is expected in the future is called fear, and one which is experienced in the present is called distress. Consequently, with regard to good things, whether really good or only thought to be so, pleasure and desire both exist and are to be observed; and the same may be said of distress and fear where evil things are concerned. Desire when fulfilled produces pleasure, and when frustrated results in distress. [00610] 79. It is said that distress is of its very nature evil. For although a man engaged in the practice of the virtues grieves over the evils that befall others, he is compassionate not primarily by deliberate choice but as a consequence of whatever misfortune it is that occurs. A contemplative, on the other hand, remains dispassionate in the face of such evils, since he has united himself with God and is detached from all that happens in this present life.