Chapter 089 - Of the Knowledge of Separated Souls

Since the soul, when separated from the body, has a different mode of being from that which it had united to the body, although its nature remains unchanged, it has also a different mode of understanding. For while still in the body the soul turned to phantasms, but separate from the body it turns to things which are simply intelligible, such as other separate substances; and although this is contrary to its nature, that nature is not changed.

If any one should say, that it is better to understand directly than by turning to phantasms, and that souls ought to be so made, we reply that in every intellectual substance intellectual power exists through the influence of the Divine Light - one and simple in its first principle but divided and diversified in proportion as creatures are further removed from the Source. Thus God knows all things by His Essence; the angels by more forms than God, but fewer and more universal forms than human souls; and if the latter, not having the power of other separate substances, were to see in that universality, they would understand confusedly; it is therefore better for the soul to be united to the body and to know by means of phantasms, having at the same time the power of existing in a separate state with a different mode of understanding after separation; the same mode, indeed, as that of other separate substances, for the mode of operation follows that of being.

The separated soul has, moreover, a perfect knowledge of other souls because it perfectly knows itself and other disembodied spirits; while the angels, being of a higher nature, are known indefinitely and imperfectly. For it is common to all separate substances that they understand what is above or below themselves by the mode of their own substance and according to the degree of their intelligence; therefore the mode of the disembodied soul, although strengthened by other intellectual beings, remains inferior to that of the angels, which is cognizant of natural things, though not of such as pertain to the State of Glory.

Thus the disembodied soul understands by species received, like the angels, from an influx of the Divine Light, but less perfectly, because it is a mode natural to the angels, by which they have a perfect knowledge of all natural things; while souls, being of a lower nature, do not, by such species, receive a perfect knowledge of things, but understand, as it were, in general and confusedly, the more perfect mode of superior natures being imperfectly adapted to inferior ones.

And since, in our present state, the soul knows particulars indirectly, abstracting from phantasms by reflection, which it can no longer do when separated from the body, it remains that such souls know particulars directly by an influx of Divine Light. For as God, inasmuch as He is the Cause of universal and individual principles, knows all things, whether universal or particular, by His Essence, so likewise immaterial substances may know particulars by means of species which bear some likeness by participation to that Divine Essence. But while the angels by the power of their intelligence know natural things, not only according to species but even to the individuals contained under the species, souls know only those particulars to which they have been in some way determined by preceding knowledge, affection, or natural habit; or else by Divine ordination. Thus in disembodied souls knowledge remains actual, though not according to the same mode, for they know by the mode suitable to separate souls. There remains, also, the habit of knowledge, the subject of which is the intellect, which is incorruptible. Nor can the intelligible species be destroyed by contraries in the possible intellect, because there is nothing contrary to the act of understanding; and chiefly as regards the simple act of intelligence; but the disposition which exists in the sensitive faculty is wanting to the disembodied soul.

But local distance does not hinder knowledge, since the soul understands by the influx of species from the Divine Light, to which far and near are one. Hence the opinion that disembodied souls know particulars by abstracting from sensible things is to be rejected, such a position being impossible, since the abstraction is made by means of faculties and senses which are wanting to them.

The souls of the departed are naturally ignorant of what goes on here, since they are separated from intercourse with us and united in intercourse with spiritual beings; for although they know particulars by that which is in some manner determined through preceding knowledge and affection, or by Divine ordination, the life of the spirit is far removed from that of the flesh, and since corporeal and incorporeal being are diverse in kind, their mode of knowledge is different. With regard, however, to the souls of the Blessed there is a difference of opinion between Augustine and Gregory; for the latter says that the souls of the saints know our concerns, because they are equal to the angels and behold the Glory of God; and this he holds positively; while Augustine maintains the opposite view. The Author, however, holds with Gregory, because the souls of the saints are equal to the angels, who, as Augustine allows, are not ignorant of what goes on among the living.