Union

Use in the book

In the analysis of soul’s activity, unification stands with end, cohesion, and abiding causation as a proposed characterization of activity in relation to motions. The motions can remain differentiated while depending on a unifying source. This local use should be understood before attaching a general mystical sense to the word.

Places to read

1. I.49.36.2Activity is considered as the unification and abiding cause of motions.

Translation in this edition

“Unification” brings out the explanatory work performed; “union” suits emphasis on the resulting relation.

Use in the book

The human will is united to God’s by willing what God wills and delighting in the reasons that make his works good. Such union extends concern toward the welfare of persons and kingdoms; it cannot be confined to an inward feeling detached from its objects. Christ’s will provides the pattern and enabling relation for this conformity.

The union of love also preserves reciprocity. God delights in a creature’s free answer, and the creature delights in divine goodness as the benefactor’s own. The two wills can be one in agreement without the creature ceasing to be an acting subject. At its fullest, union means the soul dwelling in God and God in the soul, with an exact correspondence between capacities and the treasures offered to them.

The distinction from uniformity matters. Communion becomes richer because other persons remain distinct and can contribute their own affection. A reading that makes union the disappearance of all difference would remove the freedom and exchange by which Traherne describes its delight.

Places to read

1. I.53Union requires sharing God’s will for the happiness of his creatures.
2. I.93The speaker prays for the will to be conformed to Christ’s.
3. IV.49Gratitude creates a reciprocal delight called infinite union.
4. IV.72Indwelling is explained through shared knowledge and will.
5. IV.100The fullness of union includes fitted capacities and mutual indwelling.

In this edition

Phrases such as made one describe the stated agreement of wills and life in communion. They should not be expanded into an assertion that human and divine essences become indistinguishable.

Use in the book

Spiritual union is Ficino's explanation of knowing: a cognitive power joins an appropriate form in a non-bodily manner. Soul's adherence to divine things generates knowledge because the union is spiritual. Later he says that knowledge is a spiritual union with a spiritual form, and extends the explanation to the mind's self-knowledge and apprehension of higher and bodily realities.

Sight provides an analogy with its own more specific vocabulary. Through its spiritus, sight joins a spiritual image of colors; merely placing a solid body against the eyes produces no vision. Here spiritus names the medium through which sight receives an image; its role differs from soul as a whole or a general designation of incorporeality. The point of the example is the distinction between cognitive reception and gross physical contact. This does not mean that the mind fails to know bodily things: Ficino explicitly assigns them to its objects. At III.2.29 the supplied Latin reads in corporalibus rerum speciebus rationibusque, which its English interprets as forms and principles of things within bodies. The phrase is textually delicate, but neither the supplied reading nor the general argument requires silently replacing corporalibus with incorporalibus.

Further passage references. III.2.8; III.2.28–3023

Places to read

1. III.2.8Soul knows higher realities by spiritual union while giving life to bodies inwardly.
2. III.2.28Knowledge is explicitly described as spiritual union with a spiritual form.
3. III.2.29–302Vision, self-understanding, higher objects, and bodily objects lead into rational soul’s definition.

Translation in this edition

At III.2.29 the supplied Latin reads in corporalibus rerum speciebus rationibusque; the English construes forms and principles within bodies. Preserve that unresolved wording rather than silently replace corporalibus with incorporalibus. The visual comparison distinguishes image-reception from pressing a solid object against the eye.

acies oculorum

acies oculorum. Printed forms: aciem oculorum.

The eyes’ sight or visual point. A solid object placed upon the eyes blocks seeing, distinguishing gross physical contact from receiving an image. References: III.2.29. See Spiritual union.

in corporalibus rerum speciebus rationibusque

in corporalibus rerum speciebus rationibusque. Printed forms: in corporalibus rerum speciebus rationibusque.

The printed, textually delicate phrase concerning forms and principles. The English reads forms and principles of things within bodies. The Latin is preserved without silently changing corporalibus to incorporalibus. References: III.2.29. See Spiritual union.

spiritus / spiritalis

spiritus / spiritalis. Printed forms: spiritali; spiritalis; spiritum.

Spirit as a medium / spiritual or non-bodily in manner. Sight’s spirit joins a color-image, while soul’s spiritual union with itself and higher things explains knowing at a different level. References: III.2.29. See Spiritual union.

visus / videre

visus / videre. Printed forms: videt; Visus.

Sight / see. Sight receives the spiritual image of colors rather than the solid object placed directly upon the eyes. References: III.2.29. See Spiritual union.