It seems that the rational soul’s active and conscious, renunciation and rebuking of prior thoughts, premises, and memories of a past life once lived, are necessary acts and daily affections: in order for the man to effectively pursue wisdom, peace of mind, ordered reasoning, and any kind of clear dialectic investigation. All of these aforementioned seem to be the prior cause to the devout life, as taught by St. Francis de Sales in his treatise for the laity, “Introduction to the Devout Life”.
If these privations, negations, and contrary dianoetic conceptions of the soul are not actively purged out and fought against, they seem to be like weeds which infect the garden of the soul that is actively attempting to plant, cultivate, and nurture fruitful ideas that bring the soul to perfection.
The nosegay ejaculations of devotion as collected personally during the meditative ascensions in purifying imperfections in the soul seem to be the key to return to the contrition, soulful stirrings, and resolutions as experienced during a full meditation in God’s presence.
To enter into God’s presence through meditation, or at least to become aware of His omnipresence, seems to be the purpose of acts of Faith, Hope and Charity. To remember the negations of the past life lived, and vigilantly defend one’s disposition, and subsequent affections caused by them, must be acts of Reasoning and Logic. Reasoning is needed to purge useless thoughts; whereas Faith, Hope, and Charity are necessary for God’s grace to fill that purged vacuum.
These things seem to work in tandem, and are both needed to bring about the purification, illumination, and – Lord willing – perfection of the hapless rational soul. In moments of emergencies, and crises, these must be opportunities to employ these acts of the soul and intellect, reject false premises void of evidence, and allow God’s grace to penetrate and transform the adopted soul, and prevent self-destruction. I.e. they seem to be invitations to permanently cement these small ascensions up the ladder of divine ascent and imprint these fruits into the soul. This is unbelievably difficult, not only to remember, but to act on in the heat of the moment. Once again, bringing our attention to what Aristotle teaches as being effective in energy, or in the moment, what is necessarily now. If we cling to this, perhaps we can more effectively, and efficiently grow in true devotion, and reasoning. There is a mysterious balance of co-operation, and submission here.
“Vacate, et videte quoniam ego sum Deus; exaltabor in gentibus, et exaltabor is terra.” (Psalmus 45:10)
EAR