Speaks of the first cause of this night, which is that of the
privation of the desire in all things, and gives the reason for
which it is called night.
WE here describe as night the privation of every kind of
pleasure which belongs to the desire; for, even as night is naught
but the privation of light, and, consequently, of all objects that
can be seen by means of light, whereby the visual faculty remains
unoccupied[83] and in darkness, even so likewise the mortification
of desire may be called night to the soul. For, when the soul is
deprived of the pleasure of its desire in all things, it remains,
as it were, unoccupied and in darkness. For even as the visual
faculty, by means of light, is nourished and fed by objects which
can be seen, and which, when the light is quenched, are not seen,
even so, by means of the desire, the soul is nourished and fed by
all things wherein it can take pleasure according to its
faculties; and, when this also is quenched, or rather, mortified,
the soul ceases to feed upon the pleasure of all things, and thus,
with respect to its desire, it remains unoccupied and in darkness.
2. Let us take an example from each of the faculties. When
the soul deprives its desire of the pleasure of all that can
delight the sense of hearing, the soul remains unoccupied and in
darkness with respect to this faculty. And, when it deprives
itself of the pleasure of all that can please the sense of sight,
it remains unoccupied and in darkness with respect to this faculty
also. And, when it deprives itself of the pleasure of all the
sweetness of perfumes which can give it pleasure through the sense
of smell, it remains equally unoccupied and in darkness according
to this faculty. And, if it also denies itself the pleasure of all
food that can satisfy the palate, the soul likewise remains
unoccupied and in darkness. And finally, when the soul mortifies
itself with respect to all the delights and pleasures that it can
receive from the sense of touch, it remains, in the same way,
unoccupied and in darkness with respect to this faculty. So that
the soul that has denied and thrust away from itself the pleasures
which come from all these things, and has mortified its desire
with respect to them, may be said to be, as it were, in the
darkness of night, which is naught else than an emptiness within
itself of all things.
3. The reason for this is that, as the philosophers say, the
soul, as soon as God infuses it into the body, is like a smooth,
blank board[84] upon which nothing is painted; and, save for that
which it experiences through the senses, nothing is communicated
to it, in the course of nature, from any other source. And thus,
for as long as it is in the body, it is like one who is in a dark
prison and who knows nothing, save what he is able to see through
the windows of the said prison; and, if he saw nothing through
them, he would see nothing in any other way. And thus the soul,
save for that which is communicated to it through the senses,
which are the windows of its prison, could acquire nothing, in the
course of nature, in any other way.
4. Wherefore, if the soul rejects and denies that which it
can receive through the senses, we can quite well say that it
remains, as it were, in darkness and empty; since, as appears from
what has been said, no light can enter it, in the course of
nature, by any other means of illumination than those
aforementioned. For, although it is true that the soul cannot help
hearing and seeing and smelling and tasting and touching, this is
of no greater import, nor, if the soul denies and rejects the
object, is it hindered more than if it saw it not, heard it not,
etc. Just so a man who desires to shut his eyes will remain in
darkness, like the blind man who has not the faculty of sight. And
to this purpose David says these words: Pauper sum ego, et in
laboribus a indenture mea.[85] Which signifies: I am poor and in
labours from my youth. He calls himself poor, although it is clear
that he was rich, because his will was not set upon riches, and
thus it was as though he were really poor. But if he had not been
really poor and had not been so in his will, he would not have
been truly poor, for his soul, as far as its desire was concerned,
would have been rich and replete. For that reason we call this
detachment night to the soul, for we are not treating here of the
lack of things, since this implies no detachment on the part of
the soul if it has a desire for them; but we are treating of the
detachment from them of the taste and desire, for it is this that
leaves the soul free and void of them, although it may have them;
for it is not the things of this world that either occupy the soul
or cause it harm, since they enter it not, but rather the will and
desire for them, for it is these that dwell within it.
5. This first kind of night, as we shall say hereafter,
belongs to the soul according to its sensual part, which is one of
the two parts, whereof we spoke above, through which the soul must
pass in order to attain to union.
6. Let us now say how meet it is for the soul to go forth
from its house into this dark night of sense, in order to travel
to union with God.
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