on the soul ; on the proliferation of evil ; purgatorio ; divina commedia

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on the soul ; on the proliferation of evil ; purgatorio ; divina commedia Anonymous Fri Mar 12 08:30:27 2021 No.17762700 [Reply] [Original]

Brother, the world is blind, and you come from the world. You living ones continue to assign to heaven every cause, as if it were the necessary source of every motion. If this were so, then your free will would be destroyed, and there would be no equity in joy for doing good, in grief for evil. The heavens set your appetites in motion; not all your appetites, but even if that were the case, you have received both light on good and evil, and free will, which though it struggle in its first wars with the heavens, then conquers all, if it has been well nurtured. On greater power and a better nature, you, who are free, depend; that Force engenders the mind in you, outside the heavens' sway. Thus, if the present world has gone astray, in you is the cause, in you it's to be sought; and now I'll serve as your true exegete.

Issuing from His hands, the soul, on which He thought with love before creating it, is like a child who weeps and laughs in sport; that soul is simple, unaware; but since a joyful Maker gave it motion, it turns willingly to things that bring delight. At first it savors trivial goods; these would beguile the soul, and it runs after them, unless there's a guide or rein to rule its love. Therefore, one needed law to serve as curb; a ruler, too, was needed, one who could discern at least the tower of the true city.

The laws exist, but who applies them now? No one, the shepherd who precedes his flock can chew the cud but does not have cleft hooves; and thus the people, who can see their guide, snatch only at that good for which they feel some greed, would feed on that and seek no further. Misrule, you see, has caused the world to be malevolent; your nature is not corrupt, not prey to any fatal astral force. For Rome, which made the world good, used to have two suns; and they made visible two paths: the world's path and the pathway that is God's. One has eclipsed the other; now the sword has joined the shepherd's crook; the two together must of necessity result in evil, because so joined, one need not fear the other: and if you doubt me, watch the fruit and flower, for every plant is known by what it seeds.

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/lit/ - Literature