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The Cloud of Unknowing · 71 of 80

Chapter 66. Of the other secondary power, Sensuality by name; and of the works and of the obedience of it unto Will, before sin and after

SENSUALITY is a power of our soul, recking and reigning in the bodily wits, through the which we have bodily knowing and feeling of all bodily creatures, whether they be pleasing or unpleasing. And it hath two parts: one through the which it beholdeth to the needfulness of our body, another through the which it serveth to the lusts of the bodily wits. For this same power is it, that grumbleth when the body lacketh the needful things unto it, and that in the taking of the need stirreth us to take more than needeth in feeding and furthering of our lusts: that grumbleth in lacking of pleasing creatures, and lustily is delighted in their presence: that grumbleth in presence of misliking creatures, and is lustily pleased in their absence. Both this power and the thing that it worketh in be contained in the Memory.

Before ere man sinned was the Sensuality so obedient unto the Will, unto the which it is as it were servant, that it ministered never unto it any unordained liking or grumbling in any bodily creature, or any ghostly feigning of liking or misliking made by any ghostly enemy in the bodily wits. But now it is not so: for unless it be ruled by grace in the Will, for to suffer meekly and in measure the pain of the original sin, the which it feeleth in absence of needful comforts and in presence of speedful discomforts, and thereto also for to restrain it from lust in presence of needful comforts, and from lusty plesaunce in the absence of speedful discomforts: else will it wretchedly and wantonly welter, as a swine in the mire, in the wealths of this world and the foul flesh so much that all our living shall be more beastly and fleshly, than either manly or ghostly. p. 285

Asked of Guide

Why does the author say Sensuality served the Will before sin but rebels now?

The chapter says Sensuality is a soul-power that works through bodily wits, giving hunger, pleasure, dislike, and memory. Before sin Sensuality “ministered…never unto it any unordained liking or grumbling,” meaning it obediently supplied only necessary bodily responses under Will’s guidance.

After the Fall Sensuality feels “the pain of the original sin” and, unless the Will rules it by grace, it will “welter…in the wealths of this world.” The remedy the book implies is Will disciplined by grace, echoing Augustine’s account in Confessions of disordered desire healed by divine aid.

Guide is the guide inside the Gnosis app, where every book on these shelves is free to read. Guide is the part you pay for — your guide has read all of them, and answers about the passage you’re actually on. Ask your guide your own question.