Neil Gaiman, the spiritual intellect, and the imagination

I have cited the writings of Nikitas Stithatos (c. 1005 – c. 1090) before and I’ll begin here by doing so once again. As you may recall, he was the biographer and pupil of St. Symeon the New Theologian. It’s his doctrine regarding the human intellect (νοῦς = nous) that I wish to draw our attention to in this post — a lofty and expansive perspective that emphasizes the nous’s infinite capacity and divine origin, its mirroring of the mind of its Creator. Nikitas’ teaching draws not only on Symeon, but also on such predecessors as Evagrius of Pontus, Maximus the Confessor, and Pseudo-Dionysius. His luminous description of the human intellect is a reminder – at least, for those who are serious about their own interior lives and external actions – of the mind’s preciousness and fundamental purity, which in turn requires of us the effort to cultivate it in cooperation with God’s grace. Here are his truly stunning words about the intellect’s essential nature: