There are, as you have learned from me, and I from Master Richard
Raynal, a trinity of natures in man. There is that by which he has to do
with the things of matter--his five wits; that by which he has to do
with God Almighty and the saints--his immortal soul and her powers; and,
for the last, that by which he has to do with men--his lower
understanding, his mind, his power of speech, and the like. Each nature
has its proper end, though each ministers to the other. With his ears
he hears God's Word, with his immortal soul he perceives God Almighty in
what is seen with the eyes; with his understanding he comprehends the
nature of flowers and the proper time to sow or reap. This trinity may
be devoted to God or the fiend.... It is not true, as some have said,
that it is only with the soul that God is perceived or served, and that
the other two are unclean. We may serve God by digging with the hands,
by talking friendly with our neighbour, and by the highest of all which
is contemplation.

This is what Master Richard did, following the Victorines but not
altogether. He strove to serve God alike in all, and I count his life,
therefore, the highest that I have ever known. He said that to dig, to
talk over the gate with a neighbour, and to contemplate the Divine
Essence, were all alike to serve God. He counted none wasted, for God
Almighty had made the trinity of natures in His own image, and
intended, therefore, a proper occupation for each. To refuse to dig or
to talk was not to honour contemplation; and this he said, though he
said besides that some could not do this through reason of finding that
one distracted the other. I count, however, that his own life was the
hardest, for he did all three, and did not suffer one to distract
another.

The most difficulty of such a life is to know when to follow one and