Purity of the Intellect: The Way of Silent Love

It goes without saying that nobody can raise himself to God's level of the sheer force of intelligence. This is the great failure of an atheist. Humanity is infinitely lower than God and our intellect is contingent upon the God who dispenses knowledge. To know the limitations of our intellect is a result of the gift of divine wisdom. Faith teaches us that the intellect alone is not sufficient to know God. We are reminded by the author of Hebrews that 'Faith is the conviction of things not seen.' One Carthusian puts it this way:

Purity of intellect can only be truth, that is to say, conformity of the understanding with reality. To engage divine reality, this purity is to be found in the perfection of faith, because faith alone can attain the supernatural world as it is. The pure mind is therefore the mind that sees and evaluates everything in the light of faith, and is led by it.

What the purity of the intellect teaches us is that we are not wandering in a mental fog. Rather, authentic contemplation of God moves us towards God. We are always reminded of our absolute limits and the law of incarnation comes into play where we come to see the purity of Intelligence. We purify our intellect when we seek the rich substance of truth inflamed by love. This is stated by a Carthusian monk who said,

The thirst for understanding is born of love. When we love something, we are never weary of knowing it better. Gradually, as we more clearly perceive the face of infinite Goodness, our love becomes more intense and more authentic, and drives us on in our search for understanding ever more deeply. This impulse is without end, because the mystery of God is infinite. It will not cease even in heaven when we are face-to-face with God. We will move ever more deeply into the infinite abyss of his mystery for all eternity.