THE HUMAN SPIRIT HAS TWO PARTS AND HOW
We have only one soul, Theotimus, and it is indivisible. But in this soul, there are different degrees of perfection. For it is living, sentient and rational. According to these different degrees, it has a variety of characteristics and inclinations. By these it is led to take flight from things or to union with them. First of all, we see the vine hates, so to say, and take flight from cabbages so that they do not harm each other. On the other hand, the vine is pleased with the olive tree. Similarly, we see that there is a natural opposition between man and the snake, so that the spittle of a person who is fasting kills the snake. But human persons and sheep have a marvellous affinity; they are pleased with each other. Such a tendency does not arise from any knowledge of the harmfulness of what is disliked or from the usefulness of the one to which there is affinity. Thus it is a hidden, secret inclination which causes this instinctual aversion and antipathy in one case, delight and sympathy in the other.
Secondly, we have in us a sense appetite. By means of it, we are drawn to seek or turn away from many things due to the sense-knowledge that we have. In this, we act just like the animals. Some of them seek one thing and others another, depending on the knowledge they have, whether the objects are suitable to them or not. The love which we call sensual or brutish resides in this sense appetite. Strictly speaking, it should not be called love at all but simply appetite.
Thirdly, since we are rational beings, we have a will which impels us to seek good as we know or judge it to be such through reasoning. Now we notice clearly two degrees of perfections in our soul in so far as it is reasonable. The great St. Augustine and all the theologians after him, have called it two parts of the soul, the inferior and the superior. Of these, that part is called inferior which reasons and draws conclusions according to what it learns and experiences through the senses. The other part is called superior which reasons and draws conclusions according to intellectual knowledge. It is not at all based on sense-experience but on the discernment and judgment of the spirit.[1] This superior part is also commonly called mind or mental part of the soul, just as the inferior part is usually called sense or feeling and human reason.
Now, there are two kinds of lights according to which this superior part is able to reason. It can reason according to the natural light of reason, as do the philosophers and all those who are engaged in science. It can reason according to supernatural light, as do theologians and Christians in so far as they base their reasoning on faith and the revealed word of God. This is especially true of those whose spirit is led by special enlightenments, inspirations and heavenly emotions. As St. Augustine says, the superior part of the soul is that by which we cling to and submit ourselves to obey the eternal law.
Jacob, forced by the extreme necessity of his family, allowed his Benjamin to be taken by his brothers to Egypt. He did so against his will, as the Sacred History assures us (Gen 43:6-14). In this, he shows two wills: the inferior will due to which he felt grieved to send him and the other, superior, by which he decided to send him. The reason which made him feel sad to send him was based on the pleasure that he had in keeping him with him and the sorrow he felt at being separated from him, the foundation of which were sensitive and emotional. The decision he took to send him was based on the situation of his family, on the foresight of the future and approaching need. Abraham, following the inferior part of his soul said this word which shows some lack of confidence when the angel told him that he would have a son. Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? (Gen 17:17). But in accordance with the superior will, he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness (Gen 15:6). According to the inferior part, he was greatly troubled, when he was asked to sacrifice his child (Gen 22:2). But according to the superior will, he decided to courageously sacrifice him.
Everyday, we experience several conflicts in our will. A father who sends his son to the court or for study does not hold back his tears in letting him go. Thus he bears witness to the fact that by his higher will, he allows the departure of the child for his progress in virtue. Nonetheless, his lower will feels some reluctance for this separation. A girl is married with the consent of her father and mother. But on coming to receive their blessing, she arouses their tears showing that while the higher will assents to her departure, the lower offers resistance.
This does not mean that these are two souls or two natures in the human person, as the Manichaens thought. “No”, says St. Augustine, in Book eight, chapter ten of his Confessions : “The will is enticed by different attractions, and touched by various motives. It seems to be divided in itself as it is pulled in two directions. Still following its freedom, it takes sides and chooses one or the other. For, then the more powerful will prevails and gains the upper hand. But it leaves in the soul a feeling of harm which the struggle caused. This we call reluctance.”
The example of our Saviour is an admirable illustration of this topic. When we reflect on it, there is no more reason to doubt about the distinction between the higher and lower part of the soul. For who among the theologians does not know that he enjoyed perfect glory from the moment of his conception in the Virgin’s womb? Yet, at the same time, he was subject to sadness, reluctance, and sufferings of the heart. We must not say that he suffered only physically or only in the soul in so far as it was sensitive. It is same as to say physically[2]. He himself testifies that, before he suffered any exterior torture or even before he saw the torturers around him, his soul was sorrowful unto death (Mt 26: 38). Then he prayed that the chalice of the passion might pass from him (Mt 26:39). It means that he might be exempted from it. In this, he clearly expresses the will of the inferior part [lower will] of his soul. His soul reasoned on the sorrowful and agonizing events of his passion which were prepared for him. A lively image of these was presented to his imagination. He drew a very reasonable conclusion from it to flee and distance himself from them. He prayed to the Father for the same.
From this, it is evident that the inferior part of the soul is not the same as the sensitive part, nor the inferior will the same as sense appetite. For neither the sense appetite nor the sensitive part of the soul are capable of making any request or prayer which are acts of the rational faculty. In particular, they are incapable of speaking to God. Senses cannot reach God in order to give knowledge to the sense appetite. This same Saviour testifies that the reflections he made with the inferior part made his will tend to take flight from sorrows and pains. Soon after, he showed that he had the superior part by which he inviolably held on to the eternal will and decree of the heavenly Father. He willingly accepted death. In spite of the reluctance of the inferior part of the reason, he prayed: Ah: no, dear Father, yet, not my will but yours be done (Lk 22:42). When he said my will, he spoke of his will according to the inferior part. In so far as he said it willingly, he showed that he had a superior will.
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[1] This distinction does not introduce any dichotomy in the human spirit. It is only for a better understanding of how it functions.
[2] Literally, it is the same thing, according to the senses. St. Francis de Sales is emphasizing that the Saviour suffered not only in the sensitive part of the soul or in the senses, that is, physically but also in the lower will. The inferior part of the soul consists not only of the senses but also of the lower will as he explains further.