The (Gnostics) pretend that they have no appreciation for the beauty of
the world, and that they make no distinction between beautiful and ugly
bodies. In this case they should not distinguish good from bad taste,
nor recognize beauty in the sciences, in contemplation, nor in the
divinity itself; for sense-beings possess beauty only by participation
in first principles. If they be not beautiful, neither could those
first principles be such. Consequently sense-beings are beautiful,
though less beautiful than intelligible beings. The scorn professed by
(Gnostics) for sense-beauty is praiseworthy enough if it refer only
to the beauty of women and of young boys, and if its only purpose be
to lead to chastity. But you may be sure that they do not boast of
scorning what is ugly, they only boast of scorning what they had at
first recognized and loved as being beautiful.
EVEN EXTERIOR OR PARTIAL BEAUTY NEED NOT CONFLICT WITH THE BEAUTY OF
THE UNIVERSE; AND IN ANY CASE THERE WOULD BE NO EVIL IN IT.
We must further observe that it is not the same beauty that is seen in
the parts and in the whole, in individuals and in the universe; that
there are beauties great enough in sense-objects and in individuals,
for instance, in the guardians, to lead us to admire their creator,
and to prove to us that they indeed are works of his. In this way we
may attain a conception of the unspeakable beauty of the universal
Soul, if we do not attach ourselves to sense-objects, and if, without
scorning them, we know how to rise to intelligible entities. If the
interior of a sense-being be beautiful, we shall judge that it is
in harmony with its exterior beauty. If it be ugly we will consider
that it is inferior to its principle. But it is impossible for a
being really to be beautiful in its exterior while ugly within; for
the exterior is beautiful only in so far as it is dominated by the
interior.[382] Those who are called beautiful, but who are ugly within,
are externally beautiful only deceptively. In contradiction to those
who claim that there are men who possess a beautiful body and an ugly
soul, I insist that such never existed, and that it was a mistake to
consider them beautiful. If such men were ever seen, their interior
ugliness was accidental, and also their soul was, by nature, beautiful;
for we often meet here below obstacles which hinder us from reaching
our goal. But the universe cannot by any obstacle be hindered from
possessing interior beauty in the same way that it possesses exterior
beauty. The beings to whom nature has not, from the beginning, given
perfection, may indeed not attain their goal, and consequently may
become perverted; but the universe never was a child, nor imperfect;
it did not develop, and received no physical increase. Such a physical
increase would have been impossible inasmuch as it already possessed
everything. Nor could we admit that its Soul had ever, in the course
of time, gained any increase. But even if this were granted to the
(Gnostics), this could not constitute any evil.
RECOGNITION OF THE BEAUTY OF THE BODY NEED NOT IMPLY ATTACHMENT
THERETO; IT IS COMPATIBLE WITH RESIGNATION.
18. (Gnostics) however might object that their doctrine inspired
revulsion from, and hate for the body, while (that of Plotinos) really
attached the soul to the body (by recognition of its beauty). Hardly.
We may illustrate by two guests who dwelt together in a beautiful
house. The first guest blamed the disposition of the plan, and the
architect who constructed it, but nevertheless remained within it.
The other guest, instead of blaming the architect, praised his skill,
and awaited the time when he might leave this house, when he should no
longer need it. The first guest would think himself wiser and better
prepared to leave because he had learned to repeat that walls are
composed of lifeless stones and beams, and that this house was far
from truly representing the intelligible house. He would however not
know that the only difference obtaining between him and his companion,
is that he did not know how to support necessary things, while his
companion (who did not blame the house) will be able to leave it
without regret because he loved stone-buildings only very moderately.
So long as we have a body we have to abide in these houses constructed
by the (world) Soul, who is our beneficent sister, and who had the
power to do such great things without any effort.[383]
GNOSTICS ACKNOWLEDGE KINSHIP WITH DEPRAVED MEN, BUT REFUSE IT TO THE
BEAUTIFUL UNIVERSE, OF WHICH WE SHOULD BE FAR PROUDER.
The Gnostics do not hesitate to call the most abandoned men their
"brothers," but refuse this name to the sun, and the other deities
of heaven, and to the very Soul of the world, fools that they are!
Doubtless, to unite ourselves thus to the stars by the bonds of
kindred, we must no longer be perverse, we must have become good, and
instead of being bodies, we must be souls in these bodies; and, so far
as possible, we must dwell within our bodies in the same manner as the
universal Soul dwells within the body of the universe. To do this, one
has to be firm, not allow oneself to be charmed by the pleasures of
sight or hearing, and to remain untroubled by any reverse. The Soul
of the world is not troubled by anything, because she is outside
of the reach of all. We, however, who here below are exposed to the
blows of fortune, must repel them by our virtue, weakening some, and
foiling others by our constancy and greatness of soul.[384] When we
shall thus have approached this power which is out of the reach (of
all exigencies), having approached the Soul of the universe and of
the stars, we shall try to become her image, and even to increase
this resemblance to the assimilation of fusion. Then, having been
well disposed by nature and exercised, we also will contemplate what
these souls have been contemplating since the beginning. We must also
remember that the boast of some men that they alone have the privilege
of contemplating the intelligible world does not mean that they really
contemplate this world any more than any other men.
GNOSTICS WHO BOAST SUPERIORITY TO THE DIVINITIES WHO CANNOT LEAVE THEIR
BODIES ARE IN REALITY IGNORANT OF THE TRUE STATE OF AFFAIRS.
Vainly also do some (Gnostics) boast of having to leave their bodies
when they will have ceased to live, while this is impossible to the
divinities because they always fill the same function in heaven. They
speak thus only because of their ignorance of what it is to be outside
of the body, and of how the universal Soul in her entirety wisely
governs what is inanimate.
THE JEALOUS DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE SPIRITUAL, PSYCHIC AND MATERIAL IS
DUE CHIEFLY TO IGNORANCE OF OTHER PEOPLE'S ATTAINMENTS.
We ourselves may very well not love the body, we may become pure,
scorn death, and both recognize and follow spiritual things that are
superior to earthly things. But on this account we should not be
jealous of other men, who are not only capable of following the same
goal, but who do constantly pursue it. Let us not insist that they are
incapable of doing so. Let us not fall into the same error as those
who deny the movement of the stars, because their senses show them to
remain immovable. Let us not act as do the (Gnostics), who believe that
the nature of the stars does not see what is external, because they
themselves do not see that their own souls are outside.