Letter 279

My very self and my flesh…

[This letter opens mid-sentence in the source text.]

…Every person must have very great compassion upon the flesh of the body — to see to purify it. So that it will be able to show him all the illuminations and the attainments that the soul attains. For the soul of every person always sees and attains most lofty things. But the body does not know of them… Therefore every person must have very great compassion upon the flesh of the body — to see to purify the body. Until the soul is able to inform him of all that it always sees and attains.

Every person must have very great compassion upon the flesh of the body — to show it every illumination and every attainment that the soul attains. That the body also know of this attainment — in the aspect of "and from your own flesh you shall not hide yourself" [Isaiah 58:7]. Specifically from your flesh — not to hide your eyes from having compassion upon your flesh — namely the flesh of the body.

For one must have very great compassion upon the body — to see to purify it. So that it will be able to inform him of all the illuminations and the attainments that the soul attains. For the soul of every person always sees and attains most lofty things. But the body does not know of them. For when the body has brazenness — from the aspect of "and the dogs — brazen of soul" [Isaiah 56:11] — who is strong and firm in the desires — the soul cannot lean upon and draw close to the body — to inform it of its attainments.