16. One does not become a good man merely by scorning the divinities,
the world, and the beauties it contains. Scorn of the divinities is the
chief characteristic of the evil. Perversity is never complete until
scorn of the divinities is reached; and if a man were not otherwise
perverse, this vice would be sufficient to make him such. The respect
which the (Gnostic) pretend to have for the intelligible divinities
(the aeons) is an illogical accident. For when one loves a being,
he loves all that attaches thereto; he extends to the children the
affection for the parent. Now every soul is a daughter of the heavenly
Father. The souls that preside over the stars are intellectual, good,
and closer to the divinity than ours. How could this sense-world, with
the divinities it contains, be separated from the intelligible world?
We have already shown above the impossibility of such a separation.
Here we insist that when one scorns beings so near to those that hold
the front rank, it can only be that one knows them by name only.
TO EXCEPT CERTAIN CLASSES OF BEING FROM DIVINE CARE IS TO SHOW
CALLOUSNESS OF DISPOSITION.
How could it ever be considered pious to claim that divine Providence
does not extend to sense-objects, or at least interests itself only in
some of them (the spiritual men, not the psychical)? Such an assertion
must surely be illogical. The (Gnostics) claim that divine Providence
interests itself only in them. Was this the case while they were living
on high, or only since they live here below? In the first case, why
did they descend onto this earth? In the second, why do they remain
here below? Besides, why should the Divinity not be present here
below also? Otherwise how could He know that the (Gnostics), who are
here below, have not forgotten Him, and have not become perverse? If
He know those that have not become perverse, He must also know those
who have become perverse, to distinguish the former from the latter.
He must therefore be present to all men, and to the entire world, in
some manner or other. Thus the world will participate in the Divinity.
If the Divinity deprived the world of His presence, He would deprive
you also thereof, and you could not say anything of Him or of the
beings below Him. The world certainly derives its existence from Him
whether the divinity protect you by His providence or His help, and
whatever be the name by which you refer to Him. The world never was
deprived of the Divinity, and never will be. The world has a better
right than any individuals to the attentions of Providence, and to
participation in divine perfections. This is particularly true in
respect to the universal Soul, as is proved by the existence and wise
arrangement of the world. Which of these so proud individuals is as
well arranged, and as wise as the universe, and could even enter into
such a comparison without ridicule or absurdity? Indeed, unless made
merely in the course of a discussion, such a comparison is really an
impiety. To doubt such truths is really the characteristic of a blind
and senseless man, without experience or reason, and who is so far
removed from knowledge of the intelligible world that he does not
even know the sense-world? Could any musician who had once grasped
the intelligible harmonies hear that of sense-sounds without profound
emotion? What skilful geometrician or arithmetician will fail to enjoy
symmetry, order and proportion, in the objects that meet his view?
Though their eyes behold the same objects as common people, experts see
in them different things; when, for instance, with practiced glance,
they examine some picture. When recognizing in sense-objects an image
of intelligible (essence), they are disturbed and reminded of genuine
beauty: that is the origin of love.[378] One rises to the intelligible
by seeing a shining image of beauty glowing in a human face. Heavy and
senseless must be that mind which could contemplate all the visible
beauties, this harmony, and this imposing arrangement, this grand
panoramic view furnished by the stars in spite of their distance,
without being stirred to enthusiasm, and admiration of their splendor
and magnificence. He who can fail to experience such feelings must have
failed to observe sense-objects, or know even less the intelligible
world.
GNOSTICS JUSTIFY THEIR HATE OF THE BODY BY PLATO; IN THIS CASE THEY
SHOULD FOLLOW HIM ALSO IN ADMIRATION OF THE WORLD.
17. Some (Gnostics) object that they hate the body because Plato[379]
complains much of it, as an obstacle to the soul, and as something
far inferior to her. In this case, they should, making abstraction
of the body of the world by thought, consider the rest; that is,
the intelligible sphere which contains within it the form of the
world, and then the incorporeal souls which, in perfect order,
communicate greatness to matter by modeling it in space according to an
intelligible model, so that what is begotten might, so far as possible,
by its greatness, equal the indivisible nature of its model; for the
greatness of sense-mass here below corresponds to the greatness of
intelligible power. Let the (Gnostics) therefore consider the celestial
sphere, whether they conceive of it as set in motion by the divine
power that contains its principle, middle and end, or whether they
imagine it as immovable, and not yet exerting its action on any of the
things it governs by its revolution. In both ways they will attain a
proper idea of the Soul that presides over this universe. Let them then
conceive of this soul as united to a body, though remaining impassible,
and still communicating to this body so far as the latter is capable of
participating therein,[380] some of its perfections, for the divinity
is incapable of jealousy.[381] Then they will form a proper idea of
the world. They will understand how great is the power of the Soul,
since she makes the body participate in her beauty to the limit of
her receptivity. This body has no beauty by nature, but when (it is
beautified by the Soul) it entrances divine souls.