Chapter IX. Of another Thing from which the Understanding must he preserved in order to exercise a Right Judgment

THE other danger against which the understanding must be on its guard is curiosity; because, when we suffer it to be filled with hurtful, idle, and frivolous thoughts, we destroy its power of apprehending that which closely relates to the true mortification of ourselves and to our perfection.

On this account, you must become as one dead to all earthly things which do not concern you, though they may be harmless in themselves.

Ever restrain your understanding as much as possible, and love to keep it low.

Let the news and the fashions of the world—whatever they may be, great or small—be to you as though they were not; and, should they come in your way, reject them and drive them from you. Even in your desire to know heavenly things, preserve a sober and humble spirit, caring only to know Christ Crucified, His Life, and His Death, and whatever He requires of you.

Keep other things far from you, and in this way you will become well-pleasing to God; for He loves and counts as dear to Him those who desire and seek from Him only such things as are conducive to the love of His Divine Goodness, and to the fulfilment of His Will.

Every other petition and inquiry springs from self-love, pride, and the deceit of the devil.

If you follow these counsels you will escape many snares; for when the wily serpent sees that the will of those who are aiming at a spiritual life is strong and resolute, he uses his endeavours to overthrow their understanding, that he may thus master both the one and the other.

His plan is to instil into their minds—especially if they have an acute and subtle intellect, and are likely to be puffed up with pride—lofty and curious ideas; so that, being taken up with the pleasure of investigating such subjects, in which they falsely imagine that they are delighting in God, they may neglect to cleanse their hearts, and to acquire self-knowledge and true mortification. Thus, falling into the snare of pride, they make an idol of their own intellect.

Hence, gradually and imperceptibly, they come to the conviction that they have no need of the guidance or instruction of others, accustomed as they have been, in all cases, to lean upon the idol of their own judgment.

Such a condition is a perilous one, and not easily cured, for pride of the understanding is far worse than pride of the will; for the pride of the will, when manifest to the understanding, may in time be easily remedied by obedience to rightful authority; but how or by whom shall he be cured, who persists in regarding his own opinion as better than any other man's? and how shall he submit to the judgment of others, when he regards it as inferior to his own?

The understanding is the eye of the soul, to which we must trust for discovering and healing the wound of the proud will; if then the eye be weak, or blind, or swelled with the same pride, who shall be able to work a cure? and if the light become darkness, and that whereby we measure our actions be at fault, what will become of the rest?

Then resist without loss of time this malignant form of pride, before it penetrates into your inmost parts. Curb the quickness of your intellect; readily yield to the opinion of others; appear as a fool for the love of God, and you shall be wiser than Solomon.