Chapter XII. Of the many Wills which are in Man, and of the Warfare between them

ALTHOUGH in this spiritual combat man has two wills,—the will of the mind, which we call the reasonable and superior will; and the will of the senses, which we call the sensual and inferior will, and which sometimes bears the names of appetite, flesh, sense, and passion: yet, as it is through the reason we are men, we cannot be said to will any thing when the lower will desires it, unless the higher will is disposed also to consent to it.

And herein lies the whole spiritual struggle; the reasonable will stands midway between the Divine Will which is above it, and the lower will of the flesh which is below it, and is continually assailed by the one or the other; each seeking to attract it, to bring it into subjection, and to rule it.

Great is the toil and struggle at the outset, which beginners experience when they resolve to amend their wicked lives, and—renouncing the world and the flesh—to yield themselves up to the love and service of Jesus Christ. For the battery, which the higher will sustains from the Divine and sensual wills warring on both sides of it, is so sharp and violent, that it entails much suffering.

Those who are experienced in the ways of virtue or vice do not feel this, but pursue the course they have entered upon with less difficulty; the virtuous yielding readily their will to the Divine Will, the vicious yielding without resistance to the will of the flesh.

But let no one suppose it possible to form true Christian virtues, and to serve God as he ought, unless he is ready in good earnest to do violence to his own inclinations, and to endure the pain of giving up all the things which pleased him, both great and small, and to which he had clung with earthly affection.

For this reason few reach perfection; for when they have overcome their greater faults with much toil, they will not continue to do violence to themselves, by bearing the vexation and weariness which the resistance of the countless little wishes and little movements of the passions involves. Thus these insignificant enemies are permitted to have their own way, and so obtain complete mastery over their hearts. All those who, if they do not take what belongs to others, yet cling inordinately to that which is lawfully their own, are of this class. If they do not take unlawful measures for the sake of obtaining honours, yet they do not, as they should, shun them; but, on the contrary, they covet them, and even sometimes by various ways seek to gain them. If they keep the fasts of obligation, they do not mortify their appetite as to superfluities, nor as to the delicacies which they crave for. If they live chaste lives, yet they do not abstain from some indulgences which hinder much their union with God and their growth in the spiritual life, and which even to the holiest persons are dangerous, and are especially so to those who fear them least, and therefore should be avoided by all to the utmost of their power.

The result of this course is, that all other good works are done in a lukewarm spirit, are mixed up with much self-seeking and secret imperfections, and are accompanied by a certain self-esteem, and by a desire for the praise and appreciation of the world.

Such persons not only fail to advance in the way of salvation, but, by turning back, stand in danger of relapsing into their old sins; because they have no love for true virtue, and show little gratitude to the Lord Who rescued them from the bondage of the Devil. Moreover, they are too blind and ignorant to see their real danger, whilst they delude themselves with the idea that they are in a safe condition.

Here we discover a great error, and one so much the more injurious as it is the less guarded against. Many who aspire to the spiritual life, being rather lovers of themselves than of that which is needful (although indeed they know it not), select for the most part those practices which accord with their own taste, and neglect others which touch to the quick their natural inclinations and sensual appetites, to overcome which all reason demands that they should put forth their full strength.

Therefore, beloved, I advise and entreat you to cherish a love for that which is painful and difficult, for such things will bring you victory over self;—on this all depends. That victory will be the more certain and speedy, the more resolutely you give your heart to those toils which in holiness and in war are the lot of beginners; and if you love the toil and hardship of the struggle, rather than the victory and the virtue, you shall the sooner gain all things.