Learning from God

Magnum est et admodum rarum universam creaturam corpoream et incorpoream consideratam compertamque mutabilem intentione mentis excedere atque ad incommutabilem Dei substantiam pervenire et illic discere ex ipso, quod cunctam naturam, quae non est quod ipse, non fecit nisi ipse. Sic enim Deus cum homine non per aliquam creaturam loquitur corporalem, corporalibus instrepens auribus, ut inter sonantem et audientem aeria spatia uerberentur, neque per eius modi spiritalem, quae corporum similitudinibus figuratur, sicut in somnis uel quo alio tali modo, nam et sic uelut corporis auribus loquitur, quia uelut per corpus loquitur et uelut interposito corporalium locorum interuallo; multum enim similia sunt talia uisa corporibus; sed loquitur ipsa ueritate, si quis sit idoneus ad audiendum mente, non corpore. Ad illud enim hominis ita loquitur, quod in homine ceteris, quibus homo constat, est melius, et quo ipse Deus solus est melior. Cum enim homo rectissime intellegatur uel, si hoc non potest, saltem credatur factus ad imaginem Dei: profecto ea sui parte est propinquior superiori Deo, qua superat inferiores suas, quas etiam cum pecoribus communes habet. Sed quia ipsa mens, cui ratio et intellegentia naturaliter inest, vitiis quibusdam tenebrosis et ueteribus invalida est, non solum ad inhaerendum fruendo, uerum etiam ad perferendum incommutabile lumen, donec de die in diem renouata atque sanata fiat tantae felicitatis capax, fide primum fuerat inbuenda atque purganda. In qua ut fidentius ambularet ad ueritatem, ipsa ueritas, Deus. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis, De Civitate Dei, Lib. XI

It is a great and extremely rare thing after contemplating the whole corporeal and incorporeal creation, and having ascertained its mutability, that by the intent of the mind one passes beyond it to attain to the substance of God and there learn from Him that all nature, that which is not Him, no one has made but Himself. For God speaks not with a man like some corporeal creature, making a noise in his ears of flesh, by the vibrations of the air between speaker and hearer, nor even by means of a spirit which is fashioned with the appearance of a body, as is found in dreams or similar states, for even here He would speak as if to the ears of the body because it is by means of a body He would speak and as if there were an interval of space between bodies, for such visions are very accurate representations of bodily objects, but He speaks by the truth itself, if any one is prepared to listen with the mind rather than with the body. For He speaks to that in man which is better than all else by which he is constituted, and in comparison with which only God is better. For since man is most correctly understood as being made in the image of God, or, if it cannot be understood, then at least let it be believed, certain it is that it is this part of him which is nearer the higher God and by which he rises above those lower parts he has in common with the beasts. But because the mind itself, in which reason and understanding naturally dwell, is weakened by obfuscating and inveterate vices, one must not merely in delight abide in the unchanging light, but even endure it, until from day to day the mind is renewed and healed, and made capable of such happiness, which it had in the first place to be imbued with faith, and so purified. And this that it might walk to truth more confidently, the truth itself, God. Saint Augustine of Hippo, from The City of God, Book 11