From Practical Knowledge to Spiritual

So if you are eager to reach the light of spiritual knowledge, not wrongly, for an idle boast, but for the sake of becoming better men, first be set on fire with longing for that blessedness of which we read: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God,” so that you may also reach what the angel spoke of to Daniel: “But those who are learned will shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.” And in another prophet: “Enlighten yourselves with the light of knowledge while there is time.” So keep up the diligence in reading that I see you have, and strive with all eagerness to gain, in the first place, a thorough grasp of practical, that is, ethical, knowledge. For without it the contemplative purity we have spoken of cannot be obtained. Only those who are made perfect, not by the words of others who teach them, but by the excellence of their own actions, can reach it as a reward, after much expense of effort and toil. Since they gain their knowledge not from meditating on the law but from the fruit of their labor, they sing with the psalmist: “From your commandments I have understanding.” And having overcome all their passions, they say with confidence: “I will sing, and I will understand in the undefiled way.” For he who strives in an undefiled way, in the course of a pure heart, understands the words that are chanted as he sings the psalm. And so, if you would prepare in your heart a holy tabernacle of spiritual knowledge, cleanse yourselves from the stain of all sins and rid yourselves of the cares of this world. For it is impossible for a soul taken up even a little with worldly troubles to gain the gift of knowledge, or to become an author of spiritual interpretation, or to be diligent in reading holy things. Be careful, therefore, first of all, and especially you, John, since your younger age requires you to be all the more careful about what I am going to say: impose absolute silence on your lips, so that your zeal for reading and the efforts of your purpose may not be destroyed by empty pride. For this is the first practical step toward learning: to receive the rules and opinions of all the elders with an earnest heart and with silent lips, to store them carefully in your heart, and to strive to do them rather than to teach them. For from teaching will spring the dangerous arrogance of empty glory, but from doing, the fruit of spiritual knowledge. So you should never venture to say anything in the conference of the elders unless some ignorance that might do harm, or a matter that is important to know, leads you to ask a question. For some who are puffed up with empty glory pretend to ask, when really they want to show off the knowledge they already possess perfectly well. For it is impossible for someone who takes up reading with the aim of winning human praise to be rewarded with the gift of true knowledge. Whoever is bound by the chain of this passion is sure to be in bondage to other faults as well, and especially to pride. And so, if he is defeated in his encounter with practical and ethical knowledge, he will certainly not reach the spiritual knowledge that springs from it. Be, then, in all things “quick to hear, but slow to speak,” so that what Solomon notes may not come upon you: “If you see a man who is quick to speak, know that there is more hope for a fool than for him.” And do not presume to teach anyone in words what you have not already done in deed. For our Lord taught us by his own example that we ought to keep this order, since it is said of him: “what Jesus began to do and to teach.” Take care, then, not to rush into teaching before doing, and so be counted among those of whom the Lord speaks to the disciples in the Gospel: “Whatever they tell you, observe and do, but do not do according to their works, for they say and do not do. They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” For if whoever “breaks one of these commandments and teaches people so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven,” it follows that one who has dared to despise many and greater commandments, and to teach people so, will certainly be counted not least in the kingdom of heaven, but greatest in the punishment of hell. And so you must be careful not to be drawn into teaching by the example of those who have gained some skill in discussion and readiness of speech. Because they can speak elegantly and fully on whatever they please, they are imagined to possess spiritual knowledge by those who do not know how to tell its real force and character. For it is one thing to have a ready tongue and elegant language, and quite another to get into the very heart and marrow of heavenly sayings, and to gaze with the pure eye of the soul on deep and hidden mysteries. This can be gained by no human learning, nor by any worldly condition, but only by purity of soul, through the enlightening of the Holy Spirit. [a]