The Spiritual Combat
Chapter 8:
The reasons we do not discern things rightly.
The method one should use to know them well.
The reason we do not discern all the above-said things rightly, as well
as
many others besides, is that we attach either love or hatred of them at
first
sight. Obscured by these emotions, the intellect does not judge them
rightly
for what they are.
To prevent this deception from finding its home in you, be as conscious
as
possible of always keeping your will pure and free from from disordered
affection
to whatever thing. And when some object is placed before you, from the
beginning
observe it well with your intellect and consider it maturely. Do this
before
you are moved to desire it from love, if it brings you delight, or to
reject
it from hatred, if it involves something contrary to our natural
inclinations.
In this way the intellect, unencumbered by passion, will be free and
clear;
it will be able to understand the truth and penetrate into the evil
which
is hidden beneath false pleasure, and to the good which is well-covered
by
the appearance of harm.
But if the will has first inclined itself to love the thing, or to
abhor it,
the intellect cannot know it well, because the affection which has put
itself
in the way confuses the intellect so that it values the thing
differently
from what it is. Thus presenting anew to the will differently from what
it
is, the latter moves itself to love or hate it more ardently than
before,
against ever order and law of reason. From such affection the intellect
comes
to be even more obscured and, again it makes the will believe the thing
more
lovable or hateable than ever. Thus, if one does not observe this rule
I have
said (which is of the highest importance in this entire exercise),
these two
very noble and excellent powers, the intellect and the will, come
miserably
to walking ever from shadows into deeper shadows and from errors into
greater
errors, as in a vortex.
Therefore, daughter, watch yourself with every vigilance from every
affection
not well-ordered, be it to anything whatever, which you have not with
your
intellect examined well and recognized for what it truly is. You should
principally
rely on the vigilance of grace and of prayer, and the vigilance of your
spiritual
father. By this I mean to say that you should be observant, sometimes
more
than in other things, when doing external works that are good and holy.
For
in these, to be such, we run more risk of the danger of deception and
indiscretion.
From these, for some circumstance of time, of place, and of measure, or
in
respect to obedience, you could bring on yourself no small
condemnation. As
is known, this has happened to many who in their praiseworthy and most
holy
exercises have run into dangers.