2 . By praying in this way, we receive light to discern the steps of the ascent into God. In relation to our position in creation, the universe itself is a ladder by which we can ascend into God. Some created things are vestiges, others images; some are material, others spiritual; some are temporal, others everlast
ing; some are outside us, others within us. In order to con
template the First Principle, who is most spiritual, eternal and above us, we must pass through his vestiges, which are material, temporal and outside us. This means
to be led in the path of God.
We must also enter into our soul, which is God's image, everlast
ing, spiritual and within us. This means
to enter in the truth of God.
We must go beyond to what is eternal, most spiritual and above us, by gazing upon the First Principle. This means torejoice in the knowledge of God and in reverent fear of his majesty
(cf. Ps .85 : 1 1). 5
3. Dionysius, De mystica theologia , I, I ; Bonaventure has incorporated the prayer into the present work; VII, 5, p. 1 1 4-1 1 5 .
4 . Ps. 85: 1 1 .
5 . Bonaventure develops the beginning of his treatise like a medieval sermon, giving first the text Psalm 83 :6-7: Bkssed is the man .. . .This prothema, as it is called, exhorts to prayer and leads to the thema, or main theme, expressed in the text Psalm 85 : 1 1 : Lead me, Lord . . . . From this latter verse he derives the threefold division of his treatise developed in 2: the reflection of God in his vestige, his image and in himself. Note the correlation of this division with the text, as indicated in the italicized phrases in 2.
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3 . This threefold division, then, corresponds to the three days' journey into the wilderness (Exod. 3 : 1 8), and to the threefold intensity of light during a single day: The first is like evening, the second like morning, the third like noon. This division reflects the threefold existence of things: in matter, in the mind and in the Eternal Art, 6 according to which it was said:
Let it be made; he made it;
andit was made
(Gen. 1 : 3ff.). It reflects also the threefold substance in Christ, who is our Ladder:bodily, spiritual and divine.
4. Corresponding to this threefold movement, our mind has three principal perceptual orientations . The first is toward exterior material objects and is the basis for its being designated as animal or sensual . The second orientation is within itself and into itself and is the basis for its being designated as spirit. The third is above itself and is the basis for its being designated as mind. 7 By all of these we should dispose ourselves to ascend into God so as to love him
with our whole mind, with our whole heart and with our whole soul
(Mark 1 2 : 30; Matt. 2 2 : 3 7 ; Luke 1 0: 27). In this consists both perfect observance of the Law and Christian wisdom .
5 .
Any one of these ways can be doubled, according to whether we consider God asthe Alpha and the Omega
(Apoc. 1 : 8).Or in each of these ways we can see him through a mirror or in a mirror. Or we can consider each way independently or as joined to another. Therefore it is necessary that these three principal stages be multiplied to a total of six. Just as God completed the whole world in six days and rested on the seventh, so the smaller world of man is led in a most orderly fashion by six successive stages of illumination to the quiet of contemplation. This is symbolized by the following: Six steps led up to the throne of Solomon (3 Kings 10: 1 9); the Seraphim which Isaiah saw had six
6. For Bonaventure the Eternal Art means the Son in the Trinity as the expression of the Father, in whom the Father expresses all that he can make. Thus the Son contains the ideas of all things, which have an eternal existence in him.
7 . The Latin is mens, which we translate here as "mind" although in the title as "soul," for here the context focuses on cognition; cf. our introduction, pp. 20-2 1 .
wings (lsa. 6:2); after six days the Lord called Moses
from the midst of the cloud
(Exod. 24: 16); andafter six days,
as is said in Matthew, Christled his disciples up a mountain and was trans-figured before them
(Matt. 17: 1-2).6. Just as there are six stages in the ascent into God, there are six stages in the powers of the soul, through which we ascend from the lowest to the highest, from the exterior to the interior, from the temporal to the eternal. These are the senses, imagina
tion, reason, understanding, intelligence, and the summit of the mind or the spark of conscience. 8 We have these stages im
planted in us by nature, deformed by sin and reformed by grace.
They must be cleansed by justice, exercised by knowledge and perfected by wisdom.
7 . In the initial state of creation, man was made fit for the quiet of contemplation, and therefore
God placed him in a paradise of delights
(Gen. 2: 1 5). But turning from the true light to changeable good, man was bent over by his own fault, and the entire human race by original sin, which infected human nature in two ways: the mind with ignorance and the flesh with concupis
cence . As a result, man, blinded and bent over, sits in darkness and does not see the light of heaven unless grace with justice come to his aid against concupiscence and unless knowledge with wisdom come to his aid against ignorance. All this is done through Jesus Christ,
whom God made for us wisdom, justice, sanctification and redemption
(1 Cor. 1 : 30). Since he isthe power of God and the wisdom of God
(1 Cor. 1 :24), the incarnate Wordfull of grace and truth
(John 1 : 14), he madegrace
andtruth.
That is, he pours out the grace of charity, which, since it flowsfrom a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned
( 1 Tim. 1 :5), rectifies the entire soul in the threefold orientation mentioned above. He has taught the knowledge of truth according to the threefold mode of theology: symbolic, literal and mystical, so that8. The Latin is apex mentis seu synderesis scintilla, the highest point of the soul, from which mystical union proceeds. For Bonaventure it is conscience as the natural tendency of the soul toward goodness.
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through the symbolic we may rightly use sensible things, through the literal we may rightly use intelligible things and through the mystical we may be lifted above to ecstasy.
8 .
Whoever wishes to ascend to God must first avoid sin, which deforms our nature, then exercise his natural powers mentioned above: by praying, to receive restoring grace; by a good life , to receive purifying justice; by meditating, to receive illuminating knowledge; and by contemplating, to receive perfecting wisdom. Just as no one comes to wisdom except through grace, justice and knowledge, so no one comes to contemplation except by penetrating meditation, a holy life and devout prayer.
Since grace is the foundation of the rectitude of the will and of the penetrating light of reason , we must first pray, then live holy lives and thirdly concentrate our attention upon the reflections of truth. By concentrating there, we must ascend step by step until we reach the height of the mountain
where the God of gods is seen in Sian
(Ps .8
3 :8).
9.
Since we must ascend Jacob's ladder before we descend it, let us place our first step in the ascent at the bottom, presenting to ourselves the whole material world as a mirror through which we may pass over to God, the supreme Craftsman. 9 Thus we shall be true Hebrews passing over from Egypt to the land promised to their fathers (Exod. 1 3 : 3ff.); we shall also be Chris
tians passing over with Christ