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Now understand this well: that measureless Splendour of God, which
together with the incomprehensible brightness, is the cause of all
gifts and of all virtues�that same Uncomprehended Light
transfigures the fruitive tendency of our spirit and penetrates it
in a way that is wayless; that is, through the Uncomprehended
Light. And in this light the spirit immerses itself in fruitive
rest; for this rest is wayless and fathomless, and one can know of
it in no other way than through itself�that is, through rest. For,
could we know and comprehend it, it would fall into mode and
measure; then it could not satisfy us, but rest would become an
eternal restlessness. And for this reason, the simple, loving and
immersed tendency of our spirit works within us a fruitive love;
and this fruitive love is abysmal. And the abyss of God calls to
the abyss; that is, of all those who are united with the Spirit of
God in fruitive love. This inward call is an inundation of the
essential brightness, and this essential brightness, enfolding us
in an abysmal love, causes us to be lost to ourselves, and to flow
forth from ourselves into the wild darkness of the Godhead. And,
thus united without means, and made one with the Spirit of God, we
can meet God through God, and everlastingly possess with Him and
in Him our eternal bliss.
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This most inward life is practised in three ways.
At times, the inward man performs his introspection simply,
according to the fruitive tendency, above all activity and above
all virtues, through a simple inward gazing in the fruition of
love. And here he meets God without intermediary. And from out the
Divine Unity, there shines into him a simple light and this light
shows him Darkness and Nakedness and Nothingness.[64] In the
Darkness, he is enwrapped and falls into somewhat which is in no
wise, even as one who has lost his way. In the Nakedness, he loses
the perception and discernment of all things, and is transfigured
and penetrated by a simple light. In the Nothingness, all his
activity fails him, for he is vanquished by the working of God's
abysmal love, and in the fruitive inclination of his spirit he
vanquishes God, and becomes one spirit with him. And in this
oneness with the Spirit of God, he enters into a fruitive tasting
and possesses the Being of God. And he is filled, according to the
measure in which he has sunk himself in his essential being with
the abysmal delights and riches of God. And from these riches an
envelopment and a plenitude of sensible love flow forth into the
unity of the higher powers. And from this plenitude of sensible
love, a savoury and penetrating satisfaction flows forth into the
heart and the bodily powers. And through this inflow the man
becomes immovable within, and helpless as regards himself and all
his works. And in the deeps of his ground he knows and feels
nothing, in soul or in body, but a singular radiance with a
sensible well-being and an all-pervading saviour. This is the
first way, and it is the way of emptiness; for it makes a man
empty of all things, and lifts him up above activity and above all
the virtues. And it unites the man with God, and brings about a
firm perseverance in the most interior practices which he can
cultivate. When, however, any restlessness, or working of the
virtues, puts intermediaries, or images, between the inward man
and the naked introversion which he desires, then he is hindered
in this exercise; for this way consists in a going out, beyond all
things, into the Emptiness. This is the first form of the most
inward exercise.
At times such an inward man turns towards God with ardent desire
and activity; that he may glorify and honour Him, and offer up and
annihilate in the love of God, his selfhood and all that he is
able to do. And here he meets God through an intermediary. This
intermediary is the gift of Savouring Wisdom, the ground and
origin of all virtues; which enkindles and moves all good men
according to the measure of their love, and at times so greatly
stirs and enkindles the inward man through love, that all the
gifts of God, and all that God may give, except the gift of
Himself, seem too little to him, and cannot satisfy him, but
rather increase his impatience. For he has an inward perception or
feeling in his ground; where all the virtues begin and end, where
love dwells, and where with ardent desire he offers up all his
virtues to God. And here the hunger and thirst of love become so
great that he perpetually surrenders himself, and gives up his own
works, and empties himself, and is noughted in love, for he is
hungry and thirsty for the taste of God; and, at each irradiation
of God,[65] he is seized by God, and more than ever before is
newly touched by love. Living he dies, and dying he lives again.
And in this way the desirous hunger and thirst of love are renewed
in him every hour.
This is the second way, which is the way of longing, in which love
dwells in the Divine likeness, and longs and craves to unite
itself with God. This way is more profitable and honourable to us
than the first, for it is the source of the first; for none can
enter into the rest which is above all works save the man who has
loved love with desire and with activity. And this is why the
grace of God and our active love must both go before and follow
after; that is to say, they must be practised both before and
after. For without acts of love we cannot merit anything, neither
achieve God, nor keep the possession of that which we have
acquired through the works of love. And for this reason no one who
has power over himself, and can practise love, should be idle.
When, however, a good man lingers in any gift of God, or any
creature, he will be hindered in this most inward exercise; for
this exercise is a hunger which nothing can still, save God alone.
From these two ways the third way arises; and this is an inward
life according to justice. Now understand this: God comes to us
without ceasing both with means and without means, and demands of
us both action and fruition, in such a way that the one never
impedes, but always strengthens, the other. And therefore the most
inward man lives his life in these two ways: namely, in work and
in rest.[66] And in each he is whole and undivided; for he is
wholly in God because he rests in fruition, and he is wholly in
himself because he loves in activity: and he is perpetually called
and urged by God to renew both the rest and the work. And the
justice of the spirit desires to pay every hour that which is
demanded of it by God. And therefore, at each irradiation of God,
the spirit turns inward, in action and in fruition; and thus it is
renewed in every virtue, and is more deeply immersed in fruitive
rest. For God gives, in one gift, Himself and His gifts; and the
spirit gives, at each introversion, itself and all its works. For
by means of the simple irradiation of God and the fruitive
tendency and melting away of love, the spirit has been united with
God, and is incessantly transported into rest. And through the
gifts of Understanding and Savouring Wisdom, it is touched in an
active way, and perpetually enlightened and enkindled in love. And
there is shown and presented to it in the spirit all that one may
desire. It is hungry and thirsty, for it beholds the food of the
angels and the heavenly drink. It works diligently in love, for it
beholds its rest. It is a pilgrim; and it sees its country. In
love it strives for victory; for it sees its crown. Consolation,
peace, joy, beauty and riches, and all that can delight it, are
shown without measure in ghostly images to the reason which is
enlightened in God. And through this showing and the touch of God,
love remains active. For this just man has established a true life
in the spirit, in rest and in work, which shall endure eternally;
but, after this life, it shall be changed into a higher state.
Thus the man is just; and he goes towards God with fervent love in
eternal activity; and he goes in God with fruitive inclination in
eternal rest. And he dwells in God, and yet goes forth towards all
creatures in universal love, in virtue, and in justice. And this
is the supreme summit of the inward life. All those men who do not
possess both rest and work in one and the same exercise, have not
yet attained this justice. This just man cannot be hindered in his
introversion, for he turns inward both in fruition and in work;
but he is like to a double mirror, which receives images on both
sides. For in his higher part, the man receives God with all His
gifts; and, in his lower part, he receives bodily images through
the senses. Now he can enter into himself at will, and can
practise justice without hindrance. But man is unstable in this
life, and that is why he often turns outwards, and works in the
senses, without need and without the command of the enlightened
reason; and thus he falls into venial sins. But in the loving
introversion of the just man all venial sins are like to drops of
water in a glowing furnace.
And with this I leave the inward life.
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64. |
This is that "contemplation in caligine"
celebrated by all Christian mystics of the Dionysian
tradition. It introduces consciousness into a universe which
seems dark, bare, and nought to the intellect, because it
transcends all the conceptions with which that intellect is
able to deal; being indeed "dark with excess of light." Thus
Dionysius says:
"We pray that we may enter the Radiant Darkness, and through
blindness and ignorance may see and know that this blindness
and ignorance is itself above sight and knowledge" (Mystic
Theology, cap. 1); and again, "The Divine Dark is the
inaccessible Light in which God is said to dwell. Into this
dark, invisible because of its surpassing brightness and
unsearchable because of the abundance of its supernatural
torrents of light, all enter who are deemed worthy to know and
see God: and by the very fact of not seeing or knowing, are
truly in Him Who is above all sight and knowledge." (Letter to
Dorothy the Deacon.)
So, too, the author of The Cloud of Unknowing�"Let be this
everywhere and this aught, in comparison of this nowhere and
this nought. Reck thee never if thy wits cannot reason of this
nought; for surely I love it much the better. It is so worthy
a thing in itself that they cannot reason thereupon. this
nought may better be felt than seen: for it is full blind and
full dark to them that have but little while looked thereupon.
Nevertheless, if I shall soothlier say, a soul is more blinded
in feeling of it for abundance of ghostly light, than for any
darkness or wanting of bodily light."
(The Cloud of Unknowing, cap. 68.) |
65. |
The Flemish "inblicke Gods" suggests the
sudden flashing glance of Divine enlightenment: keen, vivid,
but transitory, like lightning in the sky. |
66. |
This conception of the dual life which man
possesses in the likeness of God appears to be derived from
Dionysius, who says:
"That which is established above both every rest and every
movement, and moves each thing according to the law of its own
being in its own movement, is both the Rest and the Movement
of all." (Divine Names, cap. 1.) |
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