CHAPTER LIII: Maxims, conformable to right reason, for the guidance of an exterior man into

Maxims, conformable to right reason, for the guidance of an exterior man into his interior.

LET thy walk be an interior one, and be not given to break out either in words or in thy walk.

Act according to the truth in simplicity, and whatever happens, be not helpful to thyself; for he who helps himself too much will not be helped by the Truth.

When thou art with men pay no heed to what thou seest or nearest, and cleave to that alone which has shown itself to thee (i.e. remember God alone who has shown Himself to thee under these outward things).

Be careful that in thy actions thy reason goes first; for when the sensual appetite gets the start, every evil comes of it.

God wishes not to deprive us of pleasure; but He wishes to give us pleasure in its totality, that is to say, all pleasure.

The more mightily thou humblest thyself, the higher thou shalt be exalted.

He who wishes to dwell in his inmost interior, must rid himself of all multiplicity. We must habitually reject all that is not the one thing.

Where the sensual appetite is the moving principle of a man's actions, there is toil, suffering, and mental darkness.

What greater pleasure is there than to find myself the one thing that I ought to be, and the whole thing that I ought to be (i.e. one with God, who is one and all)?

A man should remain steadfast in his state of freedom from mental images, and of self-restraint. Herein lies the greatest delight.

In what does a truly detached man exercise himself? In annihilating himself.

When our love is given to a sensible image or person, it is accident, loving accident, and this we have no right to do; nevertheless I bear with myself in this until I get quit of it. It is, however, an interiorly simple act, when a man does not love the image, which is present to him, but when all things are to him one, and that one is God.

When a man detaches himself from himself without allowing the sensual appetite to break out, he destroys self. If he acted otherwise, he would be helping himself by means of his sensual appetite.

Keep thy feelings within thee both in weal and woe; for a man who does this loves more in one year than one who lets his feelings break out loves in three.

Wilt thou be of use to all creatures, turn thyself away from all creatures.

If a man cannot comprehend the matter, let him be passive, and the matter will comprehend him.

Take heed not to break out exteriorly in a way unlike the (divine and interior) pat tern.

A man should be on his guard against the inclination which leads him to catch at every thing which may save him from having to yield to the invitations of the simple Truth. If thou wilt not submit to be simple, thou wilt have to submit to be manifold.

Live as if there were no creature on earth but thee.

Say to creatures:--What thou art to me I will not be to thee (Res tibi, te Deo).

Nature loves nature and makes itself its aim. Some men's nature has not been sufficiently crushed, and when this happens, they continue exterior.

The power of refraining from things gives a man more power than the possession of the things would.

One deflection from the right course brings along with it another.

See that nature in thee is unburdened, and that thy outward man is conformable to thy in ward man.

Look well to the inward man; for on this depends thy exterior and interior life.

It belongs to perfect detachment to keep nature at all times bridled.

A man should never lose sight of himself, lest nature should run away.

Thou lamentest that thou art still too active, undetached, and impatient. Nevertheless despair not. The more keenly thou feelest this the better.

Perishable love is a root of all vices, and a cloak of all truth.

The setting of the sensual nature is the rising of the truth. When the powers of the soul have ceased to work, and the elements have been purified, the powers remain fixed upon their eternal object, if they have been directed towards it according to their ability.

All the powers have one object and one work, and this is to be conformed to the eternal Truth.

There is nothing pleasurable save what is uniform with the most inmost depths of the Divine nature.

Some men are to be met with who have had an interior drawing from God, and have not followed it. The interior and exterior of these men are far apart, and it is in this that many fail.

Our nature in its present state is richly endowed. The more it goes out of itself, the further it is from God; and the more it turns inwards, the nearer to Him it is.

He who has attained to the purification of the senses in God performs so much the better all the operations of the senses.

If a man subjects his nature, when it has been purified, to the Truth, his nature is guided in such sort that it performs much more perfectly all exterior actions. Otherwise it wastes itself upon temporal matters, and can do nothing really well.

Purity, intelligence, and virtue give a feeling of wealth to those who possess them. When the sensible possession of these virtues is with drawn from such persons by God, it sometimes happens that they die to all creatures. Those who profit by this withdrawal are brought Higher to God by it.

What is that which drives a man to pursue evil courses? It is the craving for some thing which may satisfy him. Yet we can only find this in abnegation, and not in evil courses.

The reason why some men so often fall into a faulty sadness is that they do not at all times keep an eye upon themselves to avoid in every thing doing what deserves punishment.

To be worsted is to gain the victory in the estimation of God's friends (Matt. v. 39).

Abide within thyself. The plea of seeking things outside thee presents itself as a necessity; but it is only a way of helping self.

It is bad to begin many things and to bring none to an end.

We should not move until we have observed whether it be God or nature that is working in us.

Take care that nature works in thee its works from out itself without the concurrence of other causes.

A truly detached man should attend to four things. First, he should be very virtuous in his walk, that things may flow from him with out him. Secondly, he should also be virtuous and quiet with regard to his senses, and not carry tales hither and thither, for this is calculated to fill his mind with images. Thus his interior senses will be able to act inactively. Thirdly, he should not be given to attach himself; and he should take care that there is nothing heterogeneous in him. Fourthly, he should not be contentious, but he should be have lovingly to those by whom God may be pleased to purify him.

Remain steadfastly in thyself until thou art drawn out of thyself without any act of thine.

Observe whether the intimacy between good people arises from inclination or from simplicity. The first is far too common.

Offer not thyself too much to any one. Those please least who offer most.

An interior humble walk beseems thee. When a thing acts in opposition to its nature, it is always unbecoming to it.

Happy the man whose words and ways are few. The more words and ways there are in any man, the more there is of what is accidental. Stay within thyself, and be not like such men, otherwise thou wilt suffer for it.

Some men act from their sensible feelings both in suffering and in joy; but a man should not look to himself in this.

In the spiritual annihilation of self the final consummation is attained. When Christ had said, "Into Thy hands I commend My spirit," He added immediately, "It is consummated."

God and the devil are in man. He who guides himself and he who forsakes himself discover the difference (i.e. the self-willed find in themselves hell, and the detached heaven).

He who desires to have rest at all times must be on his guard against himself in this as in every thing else (i.e. this desire is a species of self-seeking).

He who is interior amid exterior things is much more interior than he who is only interior when within himself.

It is good for a man to guide himself in nothing; and he is on the right road who contemplates under the forms of things their eternal essences.

There are many more reasoning men than simple men. Those are called reasoning men in whom reason rules. But the simple man, through his inaction, is freed from the multiplicity of images which are generated by sensible objects, and he does not contemplate things as sensible, for simplicity has become his nature, and he is like a vessel (full of God) and like a child.

He who wishes to possess all things must become as nothing to himself and all things.

How happy is the man who abides steadfast against multiplicity! What a sensible entrance he has into familiar intercourse with heaven!

A good intention often impedes true union.

Our eyes should not look outwards, except to rid ourselves of interior images.

We should bear as readily with that part of us which comes from Adam (i.e. the consequences of the fall) as with that by which we attain eternal bliss.

A detached man is always interiorly alike.

When a man still complains and is impatient, all this springs from imperfection. It must therefore be got rid of.

All those who allow themselves a wrong liberty make themselves their own aim and object.

A detached man must be unformed from the forms and images of creatures; he must be formed upon Christ, and transformed into the Godhead.

He who regards himself in Christ lets all things follow their rightful course.

When a man has died to self and begun to live in Christ, it is well with him.

When a man strives by turning inwards to conform himself to the Truth, it is clearly brought home to him that he has gone forth out of himself, and he observes that there is still some thing of the creature in him, on which the attraction acted. In this he bears with himself, and perceives that he has not yet ceased from all action. Now, thus to bear with self is to become simple. The going out of self produces a kind of weariness; but when he has turned away from creatures this weariness passes off.

What is a truly detached man's object in all things? It is to die to himself; and when he dies to himself all things die to him.

What is the least obstacle? It is a thought. What is the greatest obstacle? It is when the soul abides in the obstinacy of its self-will.

A detached man should not let any moment pass away unmarked.

A detached man should not be always looking to see what he needs, but he should be always looking to see what he can do without.

If a detached man wishes to conform himself to the Truth, he must in the first place be diligent in turning inwards from things of sense, for God is a spirit. Secondly, he must take note whether he has attached himself to any obstacle (i.e. any thing which stands between him and God). Thirdly, he must observe whether he is his own guide in any thing, owing to the sensual appetite having got the start. Fourthly, he must, in the light which fills his soul, consider the presence of the all-penetrating Divine essence in him, and that he is one of Its vessels.

The more a man turns away from himself and all created things, the more perfect are the union and bliss to which he attains.

Wouldst thou be a detached man? take care that, however God may act towards thee, whether directly by Himself or indirectly by His creatures, thou abidest always the same, by a complete renunciation of what is thine.

Keep thy senses closed to every image which may present itself.

Be empty of every thing which the outward-gazing mind selects, which takes captive the will, and which brings earthly joy or delight into the heart:

Rest on nothing which is not God.

If thou art where a sin or imperfection is committed, add not aught of thine to it, and have nothing to do with it.

He who always dwells with himself becomes possessed of very ample means.

The recreation which a detached man grants to his nature should be confined to strict necessity, and it should be taken in harmless occupations, from which he can readily and without attachment turn away to God.

The more or less detachment a man has, the more or less will he be disturbed by transitory things.

It happened once to a half-detached man that, on a certain occasion when he had been too self-conscious in suffering, it was said to him:--Thou shouldst be so attentive to Me and so forgetful of thyself, that when thou knowest it is well with Me thou shouldst care nothing how it fares with thee.

In the case of a detached man who draws his senses inwards from external objects and establishes himself in the inner castle of his soul, the less he finds within to cling to, the more painful are his interior sufferings, and the more quickly he dies, the more swiftly he bursts through to God.

To give the senses a wide field withdraws a man from his interior.

See that thou undertakest nothing which will carry thee out of thyself.

If things come in search of thee, let them, not find thee.

Be quick in turning inwards into thyself.

Natural life shows itself in movement and in the operations of the senses. He who detaches himself from himself in this, and dies to himself in stillness, begins a supernatural life.

Some persons find no hindrance in going out of themselves, but they want steadfastness in this state.

Establish thyself in absolute detachment; for an unbounded longing, even for what is divine, when it is excessive, may become a secret obstacle.

A detached man should keep the powers of his soul under such restraint that, on looking within, this is apparent to him.

A detached man remains always inactive as regards himself, just as if he were unconscious of himself; for in that object, which is God, all things are well and harmoniously ordered in him.

Give heed also to thy outward man that it be at one with thy inward man, by the subjection of all fleshly appetites.

To return again into God by detachment is often more pleasing to Him than a self-satisfied stability.

Gather together and draw in thy soul from the external senses, through which it has dissipated itself upon the multiplicity of outward things.

Go in again, and return over and over again into unity, and enjoy God.

Be steadfast, and never rest content until thou hast obtained the now of eternity as thy present possession in this life, so far as this is possible to human infirmity. __________________________________________________________________