The Journey of the Soul into God: Itinerarium Mentis in Deum

Chapter Three

129 St. Bonaventure’s Itinerarium mentis in Deum Chapter Three 1 Reintraremus,re-enter.TheSeraphicDoctorisagainfollowing Saint Augustine and tradition.We have left ourselves, he says; we have gone out of the palace of our minds through sense cognition , and now we must re-enter into our very self. Cf. this chapter, n. 3, and also ch. V, 4; especially De perfectione vitae ad sorores, I, 6 (VIII, 109). 2 Tabernaculi.The Seraphic Doctor refers to the structure of the Tabernacle (Ex 26) and the court or atrium (Ex 38). The atrium corresponds to the first two steps of the Itinerarium and is an analogy of the world; the tabernacle, or to be more exact, the anterior part of the tabernacle, corresponds to the following two steps, that is, the third and fourth, and is an analogy of the mind; the candelabra is in front of the veil that divides the tabernacle, behind which is the Holy of Holies, the Ark of the Covenant. The mind corresponds to the anterior part of the tabernacle, and the candelabra, to the light of the intellect, according to the often quoted verse: “The light of your countenance, O Lord, is signed uponus”(Ps4:7),ortobemorespecific,thelightoftheintellectus agens. Cf. II Sent., 24, 1, 2, 4 (II, 569): …ergo illa potentia, quae consequituranimamexparteintellectussui,quoddamlumenest in ipsa, de quo lumine potest intelligi illud Psalmi: Signatum.... Et hoc lumen videtur Philosophus intellexisse esse intellectum agentem (therefore, that power which resides in the soul and pertains to the intellect is itself a certain light.What is said in the Psalm can be understood about this light: Signatum.... And it seemsthatthePhilosopherunderstood thislighttobetheagent intellect). – Cf. also De donis S. S., VIII, 13 (V, 496). However, in ch. 130 St. Bonaventure’s Itinerarium mentis in Deum V, 1, the Seraphic Doctor understands this light as “the light of the EternalTruth.”The Holy of Holies corresponds to the fifth and sixth steps of the Itinerarium. 3 Imago, image of God. Of the various analogies by which the mind is called an image of God and which were developed by Saint Augustine, Saint Bonaventure choses the ternary memoria, intelligentia, et voluntas. Cf. ch. III, 5. A second ternary mens, notitia, amor, that is, the mind, self-cognition, and self-love – is also mentioned in the Itinerarium along with the first ternary. However, the Seraphic Doctor clearly distinguished each group. Cf. I Sent., 3, 2 (I, 80). The better one, and the one adopted by SaintBonaventureinnn.3-4,ismemoria,intelligentiaetvoluntas. Cf. loc. cit., I, 2 (I, 83-84): Quoniam igitur, cum anima convertitur ad Deum, sibi conformatur, et imago attenditur secundum conformitatem : ideo imago Dei consistit in his potentiis (memoria, intelligentia,voluntas),secundumquodhabentobiectumDeum. – Rursum, quoniam anima est imago Dei, et quod convertitur et conformatur imagini, et imaginato, ideo anima, secundum quod convertitur supra se, non recedit a conformitate; et ideo imago consistit in his potentiis, secundum quod habent animam pro obiecto.... Concedendum est ergo, quod imago consistit in his potentiis, secundum quod ad animam convertuntur, primo tamen et principaliter…, secundum quod convertuntur ad Deum. Unde Augustinus his duobus modis assignat imaginem: prima est in mente, notitia et amore, secundum quod mens novit et amat se; secunda est in memoria, intelligentia et voluntate. Et in fine libri ostendit, completissimam rationem imaginis esse in comparatione ad Deum (Therefore, when the soul turns toward God it becomes conformed to God, and the image is concerned withthisconformity.ThereforetheimageofGodconsistsinthese powers (memory, intelligence, will) in as far as they have God as their object. And again, because there is a relation of conversion and conformity between the image and that of which it is the image, therefore the soul is the image of God in as far as it turns back on itself and does not recede from that conformity. And 131 St. Bonaventure’s Itinerarium mentis in Deum therefore the image consists in these powers in as far as they have the soul as their object.... It must be granted, therefore, that the image consists in these powers in as far as they are turned uponthesoul,andfirstandforemost...,inasfarastheyareturned toward God. Therefore Augustine speaks of the image in these two ways: first it is in mind, knowledge, and love in as far as the mind knows and loves itself; and second, it is in memory, intelligence , and will. And at the end of his book he shows that the fullest reality of the image is found in its turning...