Dr. Jonathan Juilfs

But one of the ideas that Marguerite kind of gives a visual to that I think is really helpful here

Mystics are always usually interested in kind of the coordination of the divine will and the human.

And I always picture this as two concentric circles, kind of tubes that eventually kind of line up.

And the point at which they do, then Marguerite's argument is that the spirit can move freely in and out of that vessel, whatever that vessel might be, whether it's the soul or the human heart, et cetera.

And something about Picarda's,

formulation here feels, it's not, I think Marguerite is derivative of other Orthodox theologians, so I don't think she's inventing this, but I think she's the place that I kind of encountered this.

And I think Picarda is getting at, there's, especially because Dante's asked a question about, again, about status, right, about hierarchy.

And I think what Picarda says is that the goal of the blessed is

whatever the case may be, whoever an individual is who hangs out among the blessed is simply to have their will in alignment with the divine will.

And the beautiful thing is if your will is in alignment with the divine will, does it matter what place you have in the hierarchy?

Because presumably you're getting the fullness of blessedness through that channel.

Julius, I'm going to ask you to help me here.

I've always understood this to be optimistic in its thinking, but you can fill it out for us.

Something about the notion of each individual human soul has a different set of capacities.

If we think even about like mugs or glasses, you could be a tall one, you could be a short one, you could be, you know, a little Dixie cup, whatever.

But that the notion of blessedness would be full, whatever your capacity.

That's right.

That's right.

There's a lovely piece in there too, Junius, as you say that you're probably aware of it in the Vulgate, in the Latin text, Paul talks about himself as a boss electione, so a vessel of election, right?

And so that even that sense of the vessel is,