“a man’s heart is right when he will what God wills”
—“The Angelic Doctor” Thomas Aquinas, who walked out of life on this day at a mere 49 years of age in the year 1274 anno domini
“it [sacred science] does not depend upon other sciences as upon the higher, but makes use of them as of the lesser, and as handmaidens" (Summa Theologica)
Aquinas was perhaps the preeminent philosopher and theologian of the Middle Ages. He is the author of numerous texts and commentaries but is perhaps most famous for his unfinished and yet extraordinarily comprehensive Summa Theologica,” which treats of Man and God and Cosmos in respect to their essences, relations, and final causes. Aquinas was instrumental in the integration of the work of Aristotle, with whom he shares a calendar day of his death and whom he refer to as Ille philosophus, which is, being interpreted, “the Philosopher,” into the Christian religion. He was called “the dumb ox” by some of his schoolmates on account of his taciturn disposition but his teacher, Albertus Magnus, reputedly rebuffed them and declared, “then the bellowing of this dumb ox shall echo around the whole world.”
The name intellect arises from the intellect's ability to know the most profound elements of a thing; for to understand (intelligere) means to read what is inside as the very essence of a thing (intus legere). (De Veritate, I.XII)
Why did the Summa Theologica remain unfinished? Because, according to the account of his socius Reginald of Piperno, when the latter begged him to get back to work, Thomas replied: "Reginald, I cannot, because [after what I have seen] all that I have written seems like straw to me" (mihi videtur ut palea). Aquinas is referring to a mystical vision he received in the final years of his life. Many people have construed the mystical experience as disjunctive with the sober intellectualism of Scholastic thought, but Valentin Tomberg argues that almost the reverse of this is the case:
the flowering of mysticism during this epoch was the fruit and the result of scholasticism, prefigured in the spiritual biography of St. Thomas Aquinas himself. Notably, St. Thomas towards the end of his life arrived at mystical contemplation of God and the spiritual world and said, on returning from this ecstasy, that his written works now appeared ro him "like straw". Indeed, he wrote nothing after this.
The believing thinker thus became a seeing mystic. And this transformation did not take place in spite of his work of scholastic thought, but rather thanks to it —as its fruir and its crowning glory.
Now, whar happened to St. Thomas Aquinas also happened to a group of in- dividuals who formed the crest of the wave of scholasticism. Just as St. Thomas, through scholastic reasoning, arrived at contemplation, so did part of advanced scholasticism arrive at mysticism, i.e. at the aim of scholasticism, which is intui- tion or the state of union of faith and intelligence. Meister Eckhart, Ruysbroeck or, lastly, St. John of the Cross are spirirs amongst whom you will search in vain for a spirit of opposition to scholasticism. For them also it was true that scholasticism was "like straw", but they knew at the same time from their own experience that this straw proved to be an excellent combustible. They certainly surpassed scho- lasticism, but they did so by attaining its aim. For the aim of scholastic endeavour is contemplation, and it is mysticism which is the fruit of the scholastic tree.”
In other words, a careful study of Aquinas’ philosophy can itself serve as a propaedeutic for mystical vision. Aquinas’ metaphysical schema can be encapsulated in the phrase ipsum esse subsistens, which is, being interpreted, “Being itself subsisting.” Informed by Aristotelianism and the famous line in the Book of Exodus:
And God said unto Moses, “I Am That I Am”
among other sources, Aquinas set forth ipsum esse subsistens as the distincitve characteristic of God. In Aquinas’ conception, all created beings (ens) are composites of their essence (essentia) and existence (esse). In the Thomistic account, the difference between esse and essentia is referred to as “the real distinction” (distinctio realis). This means that what creatures are and that they are—which is, the fact that they exist—are not identical in them. In God, however, what he is and that he is are truly identical. God’s existence is his own act, his own doing. Thus, God can be described as ipsum esse subsistens. Whereas creatures could be said to “have being” or “have existence,” God is these things and does these things. Put another way, beings exist through a finite participation in God’s infinite act of Being. In the extraordinary phrase of Timothy McDermott,
God exists as the doing of all being, the existence that acts in all existence, an existence in the world’s existing but not of it, no thing, but not therefore nothing.
In other words, being could be conceived not as a gerund but as a present participle, an act, of which God is the aeviternal agent.
One of my favorite passages from Aquinas treats a topic introduced by Augustine on the spoken word and its unspoken essence. Here is Aquinas on the “outer word” and “the word of the heart”:
Consequently, just as we consider three things in the case of a craftsman, namely, the purpose of his work, its model, and the work now produced, so also do we find a threefold word in one who is speaking. There is the word conceived by the intellect, which, in turn, is signified by an exterior vocal word. The former is called the word of the heart, uttered but not vocalized. Then there is that upon which the exterior word is modeled; and this is called the interior word which has an image of the vocal word. Finally, there is the word expressed exteriorly, and this is called the vocal word. Now, just as a craftsman first intends his end, then thinks out the form of his product, and finally brings it into existence, so also, in one who is speaking, the word of the heart comes first, then the word which has an image of the oral word, and, finally, he utters the vocal word."
Et ideo, sicut in artifice tria consideramus, scilicet finem artificii, et exemplar ipsius, et ipsum artificium iam productum, ita et in loquente triplex verbum invenitur: scilicet id quod per intellectum concipitur, ad quod significandum verbum exterius profertur: et hoc est verbum cordis sine voce prolatum; item exemplar exterioris verbi, et hoc dicitur verbum interius quod habet imaginem vocis; et verbum exterius expressum, quod dicitur verbum vocis. Et sicut in artifice praecedit intentio finis, et deinde sequitur excogitatio formae artificiati, et ultimo artificiatum in esse producitur; ita verbum cordis in loquente est prius verbo quod habet imaginem vocis, et postremum est verbum vocis.
As a true philosopher in the lineage of Plato and Aristotle, Aquinas affirms:
Wonder [admiratio “astonishment,” “marvel”] is a kind of desire for knowledge. The situation arises when one sees an effect and does not know its cause, or when the cause of the particular effect is one that exceeds his power of understanding. Hence, wonder is a cause of pleasure insofar as there is annexed the hope of attaining understanding of that which one wants to know. ... For desire is especially aroused by the awareness of ignorance, and consequently a man takes the greatest pleasure in those things which he discovers for himself or learns from the ground up.”
“It has been said that the theology of Thomas Aquinas is like a hologram.”
—Brett Salkeld
“The study of philosophy is not directed toward discovering what men may have thought but toward discovering the truth of things.”
—St. Thomas Aquinas, Aristotelis Libros De Coelo et Mundo, 1, lect. 2
“The reality of things is their light”
—The Angelic Doctor Aquinas (from the Commentary to Liber de causis 1,6)
“Anima est quodammodo omnia.”
“The soul is, in a manner, all things.”
—Aristotle, De Anima, book 3, from St. Aquinas’ translation in his Summa Theologica.
Aquinas comments:
“intellectus in actu est intelligibile in actu.”
“Our intelligence actualised is the world's intelligibility realised.”
“Aquinas could understand the most logical parts of Aristotle; it is doubtful if Aristotle could have understood the most mystical parts of Aquinas.”
—G.K. Chesterton
"Although an angel taken absolutely may be better than a rock, still both natures taken together are better than either one alone: hence the universe in which there are angels and other things is better than one where there would be angels only...."
— Aquinas, I Sent 44.1.2 ad 6
Aquinas:
“Some, however, have been deceived in this matter. For some who were unable to go beyond the reach of their imaginations supposed the indivisibility of the angel to be like that of a point; consequently they thought that an angel could be only in a place which is a point. But they were manifestly deceived, because a point is something indivisible, yet having its situation; whereas the angel is indivisible, and beyond the genus of quantity and situation. Consequently there is no occasion for determining in his regard one indivisible place as to situation: any place which is either divisible or indivisible, great or small suffices, according as to his own free-will he applies his power to a great or to a small body. So the entire body to which he is applied by his power, corresponds as one place to him.”
(Summa Theologica, 1.52.2)
“For men were first led to study philosophy, as indeed they are today, by wonder. Now, he who is perplexed and wonders believes himself to be ignorant ... they took to philosophy to escape ignorance ...”
—student to Plato, teacher of Alexander, the peerless Aristotle, who walked out of life on this day, 322 BC. The quote is from,Metaphysics 982b, tr. A.E. Taylor.
“There is a mover which, not being moved, moves, being eternal and reality and actuality. The desirable and the intelligible move without being moved. The primaries of these are the same ... It moves as loved.” (Met. Λ.7, 1072a26–27, b3–4)
Aristotle is perhaps the most influential philosopher of all time. Dante referred to him as “Il maestro di color che sanno,” and Aquinas, with him he shares the day of his death and whom some suspect to be his reincarnated soul, called him merely “Ille philosophus,” which is, by interpretation, “the Philosopher.”
“Thought thinks itself by participation in the intelligible; for it becomes intelligible in touching and thinking, so that intellect and the intelligible are the same; for intellect is what is receptive of the intelligible, that is, of reality [τοῦ νοητοῦ καὶ τῆς οὐσίας], and it is in act in possessing” (Metaphysics Λ.7, 1072b20-23)
“For God is not a ruler in the sense of issuing commands, but is the end (telos) as a means to which wisdom gives commands; since clearly God is in need of nothing. Therefore whatever mode of choosing and of acquiring things good by nature—whether goods of body or wealth or friends or the other goods—will best promote the contemplation (theoria) of God (theos), that is the best mode, and that standard is the finest; and any mode of choice and acquisition that either through deficiency or excess hinders us from serving and from contemplating God (ton theon theorein kai therapeuein)—that is a bad one. This is how it is for the soul, and this is the best standard—to consider the irrational part of the soul, as such, as little as possible.
Let this, then, be our statement of what is the standard of nobility and what is the aim of things absolutely good.”
—Aristotle, Eudemian Ethics 8.1249b
“But most people do not do these, but take refuge in theory and think they are being philosophers and will become good in this way, behaving somewhat like patients who listen attentively to their doctors, but do none of the things they are ordered to do. As the latter will not be made well in body by such a course of treatment, the former will not be made well in soul by such a course of philosophy.”
The last quote is from the Nichomachean Ethics, reputedly composed as notes for his son, as is the quote below:
“Verbally there is very general agreement; for both the general run of men and people of superior refinement say that it is happiness, and identify living well and faring well with being happy; but with regard to what happiness is they differ, and the many do not give the same account as the wise. For the former think it is some plain and obvious thing, like pleasure, wealth, or honor; they differ, however, from one another — and often even the same man identifies it with different things, with health when he is ill, with wealth when he is poor; but, conscious of their ignorance, they admire those who proclaim some great thing that is above their comprehension… (Nichomachean Ethics I.4, 1095a16–26)
““If it is true that in the sphere of action there is some end which we wish for its own sake, and for the sake of which we wish every thing else, and if we do not desire everything for the sake of something else (for, if that is so, the process will go on ad infinitum, and our desire will be idle and futile), clearly this end will be good and the supreme good. Does it not follow then that the knowledge of this good is of great importance for the conduct of life? Like archers who have a mark at which to aim, shall we not have a better chance of attaining what we want? If this is so, we must endeavor to comprehend, at least in outline, what this good is, and what science or faculty makes it its object.” (Nicomachean Ethics)
“Why does the road seem longer when we don’t know how far we are walking than when we do, even if everything else is the same?”
Διὰ τί πλείων δοκεῖ ἡ ὁδὸς εἶναι, ὅταν μὴ εἰδότες βαδίζωμεν πόση τις, ἢ ὅταν εἰδότες, ἐὰν τἆλλα ὁμοίως | ἔχοντες τύχωμεν;
“The soul is in a manner all things. For, existing things are either sensibles or understandables and knowledge is in a potency the knowables." (De Anima 431b21-24)
ἡ ψυχὴ τὰ ὄντα πως ἐστι πάντα· ἢ γὰρ αἰσθητὰ τὰ ὄντα ἢ νοητά, ἔστι δ' ἡ ἐπιστήμη μὲν τὰ ἐπιστητά πως,
“...it is obvious that there are many things of this kind, and to prove what is obvious by what is not is the mark of a man who is unable to distinguish what is self-evident from what is not.”
“…the one sort is intellect [nous] by becoming all things, the other sort by forming all things, in the way an active condition [hexis] like light too makes the colors that are in potency be at work as colors [to phōs poiei ta dunamei onta chrōmata energeiai chrōmata].”
“...we are inclined to think of the stars as mere bodies . . . completely soulless...whereas one ought to think of them as acting and living.” (De Caelo)
“...with the straight (εὐθει) we recognize both itself and the crooked (καμπύλον).”
“in earth water is present, and in water pneuma is present, and in all pneuma soul-heat is present, so that in a way all things are full of psyche” (Generation and Corruption)
“On such a principle, then, depend the heavens and the world of nature. And its life is such as the best which we enjoy, and enjoy but for a short time. For it is ever in this state, (which we cannot be), since its actuality is also pleasure. (And therefore waking, perception, and think- ing are most pleasant, and hopes and memories are so because of their reference to these.) And thinking in itself deals with that which is best in itself, and that which is thinking in the fullest sense with that which is best in the fullest sense. And mind thinks itself because it shares the nature of the object of thought; for it becomes an object of thought in coming into contact with and thinking its objects, so that mind and object of thought are the same. For that which is capable of receiving the object of thought, i.e. substance, is mind. And mind is active when it possesses this object. Therefore the latter rather than the form is the divine element which mind seems to contain, and the act of contemplation is what is most pleasant and best. If, then, God is always in that good state in which we sometimes are, this compels our wonder; and if in a better this compels it yet more. And God is in a better state. And life also belongs to God; for the activity of mind is life, and God is that activity; and God's essential actuality is life most good and eternal We say therefore that God is a living being, eternal, most good, so that life and duration continuous and eternal belong to God, for this is God.” (Metaphysics)
“Reversal [peripeteia] is change to the opposite of what happened before” (Poetics)
“A young man is not a proper hearer of lectures on political science; for he is inexperienced in the actions that occur in life, but its discussions start from these and are about these; and, further, since he tends to follow his passions, his study will be vain and unprofitable, because the end aimed at is not knowledge but action. And it makes no difference whether he is young in years or youthful in character; the defect does not depend on time but on his living and pursuing each successive object, as passion directs. For to such persons, as to the incontinent, knowledge brings no profit; but to those who desire and act according to the lógos, knowledge about such matters will be of great benefit.” (Nicomachean Ethics)
“It is doubtless better to avoid saying that the soul pities or learns or thinks (dianoeisthai). It is better to say that it is the human who does this with the soul.” (De Anima)
“People with hard flesh are poorly endowed with thought (dianoia).” (De Anima II-9, 421a23-26.)
“For episteme is by its nature reflective: one cannot understand the world unless one understands the place of understanding within it.”
—Jonathan Lear on Aristotle
Thanks for this Max. I've been digging deeply into both Aquinas and scholasticism in the context of Paradise in the Divine Comedy, GK Chesterton and GA 74. Furthermore, Tomberg has also been on my mind because of his conversion to Catholicism.
You have now provided me with a reason to look more deeply into his Meditations on the Tarot, because of some key sentences you mentioned:
The believing thinker thus became a seeing mystic. And
this transformation did not take place in spite of his work of
scholastic thought, but rather thanks to it—as its fruit and its
crowning glory.
This is the anthroposophical path, which Tomberg delineates in other books so clearly in his anthroposophical days.
Many thanks!