Part 20 (1/2)

QUESTION CLXXIX

OF THE DIVISION OF LIFE INTO THE ACTIVE AND THE CONTEMPLATIVE

I. May Life be fittingly divided into the Active and the Contemplative?

S. Augustine, _De Consensu Evangelistarum_, I., iv. 8 ” _Tractatus, cxxiv. 5, in Joannem_ II. Is this division of Life into the Active and the Contemplative a sufficient one?

S. Augustine, _Of the Trinity_, I., viii. 17

I

May Life be fittingly divided into the Active and the Contemplative?

S. Gregory the Great says[291]: ”There are two kinds of lives in which Almighty G.o.d instructs us by His Sacred Word--namely, the active and the contemplative.”

Those things are properly said to live which move or work from within themselves. But what especially accords with the innermost nature of a thing is that which is proper to it and towards which it is especially inclined; consequently every living thing shows that it is living by those very acts which are especially befitting it and towards which it is especially inclined. Thus the life of plants is said to consist in their growing and in their producing seed; the life of animals in their feeling and moving; while that of man consists in his understanding and in his acting according to reason.

Hence among men themselves each man's life appears to be that in which he takes special pleasure, that with which he is particularly occupied, that, in fine, in which each one wishes to live with a friend, as is said in the _Ethics of Aristotle_.[292]

Since, then, some men are especially occupied with the contemplation of the truth while others are especially-occupied with external things, man's life may be conveniently divided into the active and the contemplative.

Some, however, repudiate this division, thus:

1. The soul is by its essence the principle of life; thus the Philosopher says[293]: ”For living things, to live is to be.” But the same soul with its faculties is the principle both of action and of contemplation. Hence it would seem that life cannot be suitably divided into the active and the contemplative.

But the peculiar nature of every individual thing--that which makes it actually be--is the principle of its own proper action; consequently _to live_ is said to be the very _being_ of living things, and this because living things--by the very fact that they exist through such a nature--act in such a way.

2. Again, when one thing precedes another it is unfitting to divide the former by differences which find place in the latter. But action and contemplation, like speculation and practice, are distinctions in the intellect, as is laid down by the Philosopher.[294] But we live before we understand; for life is primarily in living things by their vegetative soul, as also the Philosopher says.[295] Therefore life is not fittingly divided according to contemplation and action.

But we do not say that life universally considered is divided into the active and the contemplative, but that man's life is so divided. For man derives his species from his intellect, hence the same divisions hold good for human life as hold good for the intellect.

3. Lastly, the word ”life” implies motion, as is clear from Denis the Areopagite.[296] But contemplation more especially consists in repose, according to the words: _When I go into my house I shall repose myself with her (Wisdom)_.[297]

But while contemplation implies a certain repose from external occupations, it is still a certain motion of the intellect in the sense that every operation is a motion; in this sense the Philosopher says that to feel and to understand are certain motions in the sense that motion is said to be the act of a perfect thing.[298] It is in this sense, too, that Denis[299]

a.s.signs three movements to the soul in contemplation: the direct, the circular, and the oblique.[300]

_S. Augustine:_ Two virtues are set before the human soul, the one active, the other contemplative; the former shows the path, the latter shows the goal; in the one we toil that so the heart may be purified for the Vision of G.o.d, in the other we repose and we see G.o.d; the one is spent in the practice of the precepts of this temporal life, the other is occupied with the teachings of the life that is eternal. Hence it is that the one is a life of toil and the other a life of rest; for the former is engaged in purging away its sins, the latter already stands in the light of the purified. Hence, too, during this mortal life the former is occupied with the works of a good life, whereas the latter rather stands in faith, and, in the case of some few, sees _through a mirror in a dark manner_, and enjoys _in part_ a certain glimpse of the Unchangeable Truth (_De Consensu Evangelistarum_, I., iv. 8).

”The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup; it is Thou that wilt restore my inheritance to me. The lines are fallen unto me in goodly places; for my inheritance is goodly to me.”[301]

_S. Augustine:_ There is another life, the life of immortality, and in it there are no ills; there we shall see face to face what we now see _through a gla.s.s and in a dark manner_ even when we have made great advance in our study of the Truth. The Church, then, knows of two kinds of life Divinely set before Her and commended to Her; in the one we walk by faith, in the other by sight; the one is the pilgrimage of time, the other is the mansion of eternity; the one is a life of toil, the other of repose; in the one we are on the way, in the other in Our Father's Home; the one is spent in the toil of action, the other in the reward of contemplation; the one _turneth away from evil and doth good_, the other hath no evil from which to turn away, but rather a Great Good Which it enjoys; the one is in conflict with the foe, the other reigns--conscious that there is no foe; the one is strong in adversity, the other knows of no adversity; the one bridles the l.u.s.ts of the flesh, the other is given up to the joys of the Spirit; the one is anxious to overcome, the other is tranquil in the peace of victory; the one is helped in temptations, the other, without temptation, rejoices in its Helper; the one succours the needy, the other dwells where none are needy; the one condones the sins of others that thereby its own sins may be condoned, the other suffers naught that it can pardon nor does ought that calls for pardon; the one is afflicted in sufferings lest it should be uplifted in good things, the other is steeped in such fulness of grace as to be free from all evil that so, without temptation to pride, it may cling to the Supreme Good; the one distinguishes between good and evil, the other sees naught save what is good; the one therefore is good--yet still in miseries, the other is better--and in Blessedness (_Tractatus_, cxxiv.

5, _in Joannem_).

”Jesu nostra Redemptio Amor et Desiderium!

Deus Creator omnium, h.o.m.o in fine temporum!”