III
The soul whose nature is not greatly solicitous for the gathering of possessions, does not require great diligence in order to find within itself impulses of wisdom unto God. For freedom from connection with the world will naturally set in motion flashes of intuition from which it can exalt itself unto God and remain in ecstasy.
When the waters from without do not enter the fountain of the soul, its natural waters will arise, viz. the wonderful intuitions which are moving towards God at all time.
As often as the soul is found not to be in this state, it has either found a starting point in foreign recollections, or the senses have caused it to be troubled by the touch of [outward] things, when the senses are fenced in by solitude without a break and recollections have grown dim by its helpful influence—then thou wilt see what the nature of the deliberations of the soul, and what the nature of the soul is, and what treasures are collected in it. These treasures arc incorporeal intuitions which arise from the soul without care or labour being spent on them. Nay, a man does not even know that such deliberations could arise in human nature, nor does he know who was his teacher, or how he has found that which he cannot describe to his companion, or who has been his guide towards that which he has not learned from another.
This is the nature of the soul. So the affections are additions, entering the soul on account of [certain] causes. But naturally the soul is not affectable[1].
When thou findest psychic or corporeal affections here or there in the scriptures, such things are said concerning those causes. But the soul naturally has no affections.
But the philosophers who are without do not believe this; neither do those who are their followers. But we believe that God has not made His image affectable. With His image I do not mean the body but the soul which is invisible[1]. Every image is a copy in which the prototype is depicted. And a visible image cannot be the copy of something invisible. So we believe that the affections of the soul are not natural as they say. If any one likes to dispute concerning this point we will ask him: What is natural to the soul? To be without affections, full of light, or moved by the affections and dark? Now if the nature of the soul is to be clear and a receptacle of the blessed light, it will be found in this condition when it returns unto its original state. But when it is moved by the affections, all the members of the church confess it to have abandoned its nature. Consequently the affections are later accessions to the nature of the soul. And it is not at all becoming to think the affections to be psychic. If the soul be moved by them, nevertheless it is clear that it is moved by something outside it, not by what is its own. And if these [affections] are thought to be natural, because the soul is moved by them through the intermediary cause of the body, then hunger, thirst and sleep would also be natural to the soul because it is affected and brought to rest by them along with the body. And this would also be true for the amputation of limbs, fever, pains, illnesses and so on, by which the body is affected because of its connection with the soul and the soul because of its connection with the body, being affected with joy because of bodily experiences, and receiving distress, along with the torments of the body.
What is natural to the soul; what is external to and what is above its nature[2].
Natural to the soul is the understanding of all created things, Page:Isaac of nineveh mystical treatises.djvu/18 Page:Isaac of nineveh mystical treatises.djvu/19 Page:Isaac of nineveh mystical treatises.djvu/20 Page:Isaac of nineveh mystical treatises.djvu/21 Page:Isaac of nineveh mystical treatises.djvu/22