Life by nature

Life by nature
People make mistakes and apologize, acknowledging that it is natural. Is it really natural? If they lived by nature, Dante writes in the Divine Comedy, it wouldn’t be in the world of sin. The Slovak word “naturalness” is related to the word “to be born.” Greek physics has a similar origin, as does the Latin word “nature.” So that’s what God created, and it can
be just good. Such was the meaning of the Greek Fathers’ expression.
nature. God gave man divine life, love, faith, and all virtues. All this is natural for him (so-called complete nature, natural nature). It is against nature, but it is sin and corrupt tendencies, evil passions. In the West, the term naturalness has not retained its original meaning. Theologians needed to discern what is human in us and what is divine. Therefore, they called, e.g., reason, will, and feelings natural gifts, and, by contrast, supernatural gifts. That is why they also talk about the supernatural virtues of faith, hope, love. The man has sinned. His mind is darkened, his will turned to evil, and his body and senses are seized by passions. We are like that, and that is why it is our naturalness, of course in a very special sense: nature spoiled, fallen (natura corrupta, lapsa). However, she opposes grace. It must be constantly overcome. Following Christ devotes a whole chapter to the various movements of nature and grace: grace invites us to the heights, while nature pulls us to the ground. We must keep this threefold meaning of the word in mind when we read spiritual books. It should be noted in which sense the author uses the term. Otherwise, we would come across statements that are in stark contrast. Once we read that we are by nature to live and develop it, other times he claims that we must still deny it and kill it. Once it is written that love for God is natural, other times it is proven to be supernatural. All of these statements are true, but the meaning of the word «nature» in each case is different.