Letter 2 - Remedies for IrresolutenessCremona, January 4, 1531To the very honorable Mr. Bartolomeo Ferrari19and Mr. Giacomo Antonio Morigia20,  my venerable brothers in Christ.  In Milan  MY VERY DEAR AND HONORABLE BROTHERS,May God, the Changeless One, ever ready to do whatever is good, save you and make you steadfast and determined in all your undertakings and desires according to my deepest expectations.It is quite true, my very dear friends, that God has made man’s spirit unstable and changeable in order that man would not abide in evildoing, and also that, once in possession of the good, he would not stop short, but would step up from one good to a higher one, and to a loftier one still.  Thus, advancing from virtue to virtue, he might reach the summit of perfection.  Hence, it flows that man is fickle in doing evil, namely, he cannot persevere in it because he does not find repose in it.  Therefore, instead of persisting in evildoing, he moves to do good; and, moreover, since creatures did not give him peace, he returns to God.Now of course, I could give other reasons for man’s being fickle, but, to our purpose, what I have said is enough.Oh, how wretched we are!  For, when trying to do good, we use the very instability and indecisiveness we should have and exercise to avoid evil.  And, indeed, I am often bewildered at seeing such great irresoluteness reign in my soul, and for so many years.I am sure, my dear friends, that, had I reflected hard enough on the evils which irresoluteness causes, I would have uprooted this evil from my soul long ago.  First of all, it hampers man’s progress because man finds himself, as it were, between two magnets without being pulled by either; namely, on the one hand, he neglects to do the present good as he looks at the future one. On the other hand, he leaves aside the future good by lingering on the present and even having doubts about the future.  Do you know who he is like?  He is like the person who wants to love two opposite things and gets neither one.  As the proverb teaches, “he who hunts two hares at the same time will see one fleeing, the other escaping.”  As long as a man remains undecided and doubtful, he will surely never accomplish anything good.  Experience teaches this.  There is no need for me to go any further.Moreover, irresoluteness causes man to change like the moon.  Yes, the irresolute person is always restless and can never be content even a midst great joys; for no reason he gets sad and angry and easily looks after his own satisfaction.In all truth, this weed of irresoluteness grows where divine light is lacking because the Holy Spirit quickly reaches the core of things rather than stop at the surface; man, instead, because he does not fathom the heart of things, is unable to decide what to do.  This indecisiveness is at one and the same time cause and effect of lukewarmness.  For the lukewarm person, when called upon to give advice on a subject, will give you plenty of reasons but will not decide which are the good ones.  Thus, he will never tell you where to go or what to avoid.  Consequently, if you were somewhat uncertain before, you are now left completely in doubt.  He becomes eternally irresolute.  On the other hand, the indecisive person loses fervor and becomes lukewarm.A whole year would not be enough to enumerate the evil results and the causes of irresoluteness.  The truth is that if indecision, which we have been talking about, were the only evil, it would be itself more than enough; for, as long as man is in a state of doubt, he remains inactive.To get rid of this defect, two means or ways have been found for our journey to God.  The first helps us when we are unexpectedly forced either to do or not to do something.  It consists of lifting up one’s mind to God and imploring the gift of counsel.  Let me explain: when something unforeseen and sudden presents itself, demanding that a choice be made, we lift up our minds to God asking Him