The Contemplative Life & Friendship
Life of the Spirit 1949 DOI: 10.1017/s0269359300036235 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
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| Key points | Argues that the contemplative life is the perfect, self-sufficient life of the soul as a purely spiritual 'whole,' and that the nature of created persons implies an 'order' or 'spiritual society.' This order, including the angelic hierarchies, is described as only a 'communicatio in forma'—an analogical similitude based on all such creatures having an intelligence whose final perfection is the contemplation of God. |
Abstract
While the active life is the life of the soul acting as the form of the body (that is, the life of the individual as a member of the human race), the contemplative life is the life of the soul in its purely spiritual reality,, the life of the person, the complete being, the ‘whole'. For by definition the ‘whole’ suffices to itself. It has all.It lacks nothing. The contemplative life is the perfect life: in itself it has neediof no assistance. It can be entirely solitary.But, it being granted that the human person is a person created, a part of the divine ‘whole'; it being granted also that it has been multiplied by the Creator, are we not going to discover that the nature of the person implies an ‘order’ or organisation, a ‘spiritual society'? It is certainly true that there exists an ‘order’ of persons, and even an order of creatures purely spiritual—the angelic hierarchies. But it is only a question there of a ‘communicatio in forma', an analogical similitude, in the fact that all these creatures possess an intelligence which has for its final perfection the contemplation of God.