ch might be successful in this journey to God, so in the process she might see for herself the light from above together with the eternal archetypes this light might reveal to the soul. Of course, a s students of philosophy we are interested mostly in the doctrine expressed there, but would those really speak to us if the intuitions were nor ours? Is not it the reason why any doctrine seems appealing to some and crazy to others? People often say: "It may be clever, but it is not real". As we remember, Kant wrote in his Critique of Pure Reason : "Concepts without intuitions are empty ... "We can consider mere concepts only on the basis of their internal consistency, but the mind unenlightened by intuitions can still think about any of them as possible dreams of a logician. It is not the case with Bonaventure's concepts in the Itinerarium , because they refer to the real experiences of light by Saints and others being on their way to become Saints. I see that it is, without a doubt, also an experience of Bonaventure himself. Having said this, let us gather some more information on illumination presented in seven consequent steps but looking at the theory expressed only in Chapter II:
We may behold God in the mirror of visible creation, not only by considering creatures as vestiges of God, but also by seeing Him in them ; for He is present in them by His essence, His power and His presence. And because this is the higher way of considering than the preceding one, it follows as the second level of contemplation, on which we ought to be led to the contemplation of God in every creature that enters our mind through the bodily senses (1).
It is not that Bonaventure suddenly becomes a pantheist here speaking of essential presence of God in creatures, but creatures get their reality only because of that presence of God (the only true, and not merely superficial reality!). They are real and could be known as real only through this kind of contemplation and not by sensual contemplation with abstraction. Still he says that those creatures on this stage enter our mind through the bodily senses . This is one of the legitimate categories of knowledge Bonaventure does not want to ignore (being in this an Aristotilian), so he repeats:
It should be noted that this world, which is called the macrocosm , enters our soul, the microcosm , through the portals of the five senses in so far as the sense objects are apprehended, enjoyed and judged . (2)
I would notice also that this kind of knowledge heavily depends on the connection of the mind to the senses and looses its secondary reality as soon as the mind gets disconnected from the senses in the case of those saints who meditate in isolation for a long time. And who still sometimes show their knowledge of this physical world; and not just a confused knowledge, but sharp and precise. Here I will give a description by witnesses of one of those cases:
Once a peasant from the nearby village came to us when we were visiting to Saint Seraphim in his retreat place a few miles in the forest from the Sarov monastery. He asked: "Who is the man of God?" We pointed at the old man working in his small garden. The peasant ran to the Saint and fell face down before him embracing his feet: "Help, my horse got stolen - and now all my family will surely die! "St. Seraphim lifted the man and embraced him pressing his forehead against the man's one. Then he said: "Go to the village so and so, enter the second fenced property on the left. There you will find your horse tied to the fence behind the house. Quietly untie it and take it home without talking to anyone ". p> The peasant left in a hurry. On the next day he came back and thanked the Saint heartily: "You saved us all". The saint answered: "Go and thank God who helped you and not the humble Seraphim who is nothing ". The man returned to his family (My translation by memory). br/>В
Having mentioned the existence of the Intelligences (angels) and that they receive power from the first cause, God, which they in turn dispense in the work of administration. . . , ie, the work which is assigned for them by God (Like also in the case of those great Saints with miraculous powers) sent for service, for the sake of those who shall inherit salvation , Bonaventure continues to present in detail the regular kind of knowledge of the physical things:
Man. . . . has five senses, which serve as five portals through which knowledge of all things existing in the visible world enters his soul. . . Through these portals. . . enter also common sense objects, such as number, form, rest and motion. And since everything that is moved is moved by another. . . . We are led, when we perceive bodily motion,. . ...
