ii GOD IN US 291 



In its aspiration the soul need not go beyond itself, 

 need only enter into the depths of its own mind 

 (mens) ; " for this it is unnecessary to open the eyes 

 wide upon the heavens, to raise aloft the hands, to wend 

 one's way to the temple, to intone to the ears of idols, 

 that one may best be heard ; rather we should enter 

 into the innermost heart of ourselves, for God is near 

 to us, with us, within us, more truly than we are in 

 ourselves ; being soul of souls, life of lives, essence of 

 essences." Divinity is not more nor less present in the 

 other worlds than in our own or in ourselves. 1 There- 

 fore the heroic soul withdraws from the many, neither 

 hating them nor seeking to be like them, associating 

 only with those whom it may make better, or who may 

 make it better ; but aiming ever to be self-sufficient in Aspiration. 

 its own wisdom. " The soul must come to the point 

 when it no longer regards but despises fatigue, and 

 the more the contest of passions and vices rages within, 

 the struggle of vicious enemies without, the more it 

 must aspire and rise, and pass, with one breath (if it 

 may be) over this mountain of difficulty. Here there 

 is no need for other arms or shield than the grandeur 

 of an invincible mind, the endurance of a spirit which 

 maintains the even tenor of its life, proceeds from 

 knowledge, and is regulated by the art of speculating 

 upon things high and low, divine and human, in which 

 its highest good consists." 2 



To the love in the human soul there corresponds Love of 

 love in the divine nature, because love is of the essence 

 of divinity. It precedes, in the mythology of the 

 ancients, all the other gods. Hence there is a natural 



1 Lag. 700. 35 j cf. 68 1. 19. 



2 P. 700. 14, 701. 4 ff. ; cf. also 710. n. The divine beauty excludes the possi- 

 bility of our loving in its stead any other object. Also 713. 30. 



