ENDS AND MEANS
the work of this book * (Le. the work of meditation as a
training for the mystic experience).
This assimilation of physical deficiency to sin may seem
somewhat ruthless and unfeeling. But if sin is to be
judged by its results, then, of course, the author of The
Cloud of Unknowing is quite right in reckoning among sins
any bodily states and habits which cause a man to con-
centrate on his own separateness, hinder him from paying
attention to his true relation with God and his fellows
and so make the conscious actualization of union with
them impossible. On the plane of the body, sickness must
generally be counted as a sin. For by sickness and pain
as well as by extreme pleasure, the body insists on its
separateness and air but compels the mind to identify
itself with it.
The saying that to him that has shall be given and from
him that has not shall be taken away even all that he has,
is a hard one; but it happens to be an extremely succinct
and accurate summary of the facts of moral life. Those
who sin physically by having some kind of bodily defect
may be made to pay' for that defect in ways that are
emotional and intellectual as well as physical. Some sick
people are capable of making the almost superhuman
effort that will transform the disaster of bodily defect into
spiritual triumph. From the rest even that which they
have, intellectually and emotionally, is taken away. Why?
Because, on the plane of the body, they are among those
who have not. *Men may be excusable,5 says Spinoza,
'and nevertheless miss happiness, and be tormented in
many ways. A horse is excusable for being a horse and
not a man; nevertheless he must needs be a horse and
not a man. He who cannot rule his passions, nor hold
them in check out of respect for the law, while he may
be excusable on the ground of weakness, is nevertheless
incapable of enjoying conformity of spirit and knowledge
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