The Eternity of the Divinity and the Dynamic and Potentially
Infinite Nature of Man's Struggle.
This goal, however, is inaccessible and can never be achieved.
"Let us learn about virtue from the Gospels," Gregory writes. "We know that the
greatest goal of perfect virtue is for virtue to have no limitation or final
goal. There is only one limit to virtue: it must strive to be endless. Possibly
the perfection of our human nature consists in our having a vision of beauty
within ourselves which is such that we always desire an even greater beauty."
Further more, "it is dangerous to stop in this forward movement, for every good
thing is limited only by that which stands in opposition to it . . . In the same
way that the end of life is the beginning of death, a halt on the path to virtue
is the beginning of the road to vice." This striving is endless. It must be
uninterrupted because its goal is eternity. The eternity of the Divinity
determines the dynamic and potentially infinite nature of man's struggle to
perfect himself, in which every action is always the source of further actions
which will extend beyond earthly life and time. Gregory describes it as a
"completeness that will never be limited by satiation."
The Bridegroom is constantly telling the soul to arise and come
to Him. "For the man who has truly arisen the continual need to arise will never
end, and for the man who has set out to find the Lord the path leading to the
Divine continuity will never be exhausted." We must arise without ceasing, and
even as we approach the goal we must never stop moving forward. The Lord has
said, "Let the man who thirsts come to me and drink" (John 7:37). Gregory
explains: "The Lord did not set a limit to this thirst, nor to the effort needed
to reach Him, nor to the enjoyment we will have when we drink. On the contrary,
He has not set a precise time, but advises us to constantly thirst and drink,
and to always be striving towards Him." A true knowledge of God is reached by a
path of thirst, effort, and vigorous striving. It is the result of a desire which is as strong as the
passion of love, ερως. In Scripture the Song of Songs uses the
image of a marriage to represent "the incorporeal, spiritual, and immaterial
union of the soul with God." God is love and "He sends to those who are to be
saved the chosen arrow of His Only-Begotten Son, having first dipped the triple
prong of the arrow into the Spirit of life." This arrow is faith. As the soul
moves upward in its ascent to the Divinity, it "sees in itself this sweet
arrow," "an arrow of fiery love," "and the sweet torment of passion is
multiplied." This passion is our love for God and longing to be united with
Him.
God is inaccessible, yet man by nature longs for a knowledge of
the Divinity as his greatest good. Man's path to God is defined by this
contradiction. God is higher than cognition, but He can be recognized in
everything around us. He is outside and above the world and higher than every
essence, but He is also the Creator and Artist of the world, and therefore He
can be seen and known through it. "By means of visible things the wisdom and
Word of the artist are proclaimed in our hearts," Gregory writes, "and by the
Wisdom which is visible in the universe we can guess about the Wisdom which
created everything."
The Creator is revealed and visible to the human soul, which
bears the image of God even though it has been defiled and has become impure.
"The measure of God has been placed within you," Gregory writes. "He has sealed
you with the image of the good things of His own nature in the same way that a
design is imprinted on wax." Man must be able to see God in his own soul, which
for this reason must be kept as pure as a mirror. The soul should be free from
anything foreign to it, such as sensual inclinations and violent passions, which
mar its surface and make a true reflection impossible. The body should lie
dormant and inactive. Man must "leave everything that is visible," "stand
outside of the material world," "free himself from the shelter of the flesh,"
"grind away from himself everything superfluous and corporeal," "in order to
completely transform himself into an intellectual and immaterial being and make
himself the clear reflection of the beauty of his Archetype." A purified soul
"should contain nothing except God, and should pay attention to nothing else."
In this way man becomes similar to God, and the soul which has been cleansed
through constant effort and vigil will reflect the Divinity.
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