{ "meta": { "schema_version": "1.1", "endpoint": "/api/sources/rhineland-mystics/suso/vol-1-48-chapter-lvi.json" }, "work": { "slug": "suso", "name": "Heinrich Suso" }, "parents": [ { "slug": "rhineland-mystics", "name": "Rhineland Mystics", "url": "/sources/rhineland-mystics/" } ], "chapter": { "num": 49, "slug": "vol-1-48-chapter-lvi", "title": "Chapter LVI.", "of": 51, "words": 4344, "text": "## Chapter LVI.\n\nOf the very highest flight of a soul experienced in the ways \nof God. \n\nThe wise daughter said : — There is nothing \nwhich I would more gladly learn from Scrip- \nture than the answer to this deep and pregnant \nquestion, where and how a well-exercised per- \nson's understanding may arrive at its highest \nend and aim in the deepest abyss of the God- \nhead, in such a manner that what is actually \nexperienced will harmonise with the teaching of \nHoly Writ? \n\nThe Servitor drew from Scripture an answer \nconformable to right reason, and its purport ac- \ncording to its hidden meaning was as follows. \nEvery one who has attained to the true nobility \nof spirit ponders in simplicity and inactivity \nthe pregnant word which the Eternal Son \n\n\n302 LIFE OF BLESSED HENKY SUSO. \n\nspoke in the Gospel, \" Where I am, there also \nshall My servant be\" (John xii. 26). Now he \nwho has not shrunk from following the Son \nto that bitter ivhere, on which according to His \nmanhood He took post in death upon the cross, \nhas, in virtue of this promise, the right and the \npossibility of enjoying, after a blissful and in- \ntellectual manner, in time and in eternity, the \ndelightful where of the Son's pure Godhead, so \nfar as this is possible more or less. But where \nis the where of the Son's pure Godhead 1 It is \nin the form-pregnant light of the divine Unity, \n— a light which may be termed in its unname- \nableness a nothingness; in its inward concen- \ntration, an essential stillness; in its indwelling \noutflow, a triune nature ; in its peculiar property, \na self-comprehending light; in its uncreated \ncreativeness, an existence which makes things \nto be. And in the modeless darkness of this \nlight all multiplicity ceases, and the spirit loses \nitself as self, and comes to an end as regards its \nown activity. This is the highest aim and the \nendless where, in which the spirituality of all \nspirits finds its end. Ever to lose oneself in \nthis is everlasting bliss. \n\nThou must know, moreover, in order to \nunderstand this better, that in the form-pregnant \n\n\nTHE SOUL'S HIGHEST FLIGHT. 303 \n\nlight of the Divine Unity there is an indwelling \noutspringing impulse by which the Persons are \nponred forth out of the almighty and eternal \nGodhead. For the Trinity of the Persons is in \nthe Unity of the nature, and the Unity of the \nnature is in the Trinity of the Persons. The \nUnity has its actuality in the Trinity, and the \nTrinity has its potentiality in the Unity; ac- \ncording to what St. Augustin says in his book \nabout the Trinity — namely, that the Trinity \nof the Persons contains in itself the Unity as \nTheir nature and essence, and hence it is that \neach Person is God, and according to the sim- \nplicity of the nature so also is the Godhead. \nNow the Unity shines forth in the Trinity after \na divided fashion; but the Trinity, viewed as \ntending inwards and as indwelling, shines forth \nin the Unity after a simple fashion, just as the \nthree Persons contain in themselves the Unity \nafter the same simple fashion. The Father is \nthe fountain-head of the Son, and the Son is an \noutflowing of the Father, gushing forth from \nHim eternally as regards the Personality, and \ndwelling in Him as regards the being or essence. \nThe Father and the Son pour forth Their \nSpirit; and the Unity, which is the being of \nthe primal fountain-head, is the being of all the \n\n\n304 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\nthree Persons. But as to how the Trinity is \none, and the Trinity in the Unity of the nature \nis one, while nevertheless the Trinity comes \nforth from the Unity, this cannot be expressed \nin words, owing to the simplicity of that deep \nabyss. Hither it is, into this intellectual where, \nthat the spirit, spiritualising itself, soars up, now \nflying on the summitless heights, now swimming \nin the bottomless depths of the sublime marvels \nof the Godhead. Nevertheless, the spirit re- \ntains there its own nature as a spirit, while it \nenjoys the co-eternal, co-omnipotent, indwelling \nand outflowing Persons, and high above the \nclouds and bustle of things below contemplates \nwith fixed gaze the Divine marvellousness. For \nwhat greater marvel can there be than the pure \nUnity, into which the Trinity of the Persons \nmerges itself in simplicity, and in which all \nthe multiplicity of sensible objects ceases. And \nthis is to be understood in the sense that the \noutflowing of the Persons poured forth is al- \nways tending back again into the Unity of \nthe self-same essence, and that all creatures in \nregard to their indwelling outflow (i. e, their \nideal procession) are from eternity in this one \nessence, and have in it an existence identical \nwith God's life, God's knowledge, and God's \n\n\nTHE SOUL'S HIGHEST FLIGHT. 305 \n\nessence, according to the words in the beginning \nof St. John's Gospel, \" That which was made, \nwas in Him life from everlasting.\"* This pure \nUnity is a dark stillness and an inactive in- \nactivity, which no one can understand, save he \nalone whom the Unity in itself illumines. Out \nof this still inactivity there shines forth freedom \nwithout any admixture of wickedness, for free- \ndom is the fruit of the new birth of self-anni- \nhilation; and there shines forth likewise deep \nhidden truth without speck of falsehood, and \nthis truth is born of the unveiling of the veiled \nDivine purity ; for now at length, after the reve- \nlation of these things, the spirit is unclothed of \nthat dusky light which has hitherto followed it, \nand in which it has till now viewed objects in \na human and earthly way. And it finds that \nit has now become, strictly speaking, another, \nand something quite different, from what it till \nthen understood itself to be according to its \nprevious light; as St. Paul has said, \"I live, \nbut not I\" (Gal. ii. 20) ; and in this manner it \nis unclothed and simplified in the modeless sim- \n\n* Quod factum, est, in ipso vita erat (Joan. i. 3, 4). Ac- \ncording to this deeply-suggestive reading, the clause qvod \nfactum est is referred to the words that follow instead of \nto those which precede. Many of the Fathers read the \npassage thus. \n\nX \n\n\n306 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\nplicity of the Divine essence, which makes its \nlight to shine into all things in simplicity and \nstillness. In this simple and modeless contem- \nplation the spirit takes no note of the permanent \ndistinction of the Persons, viewed as separate. \nFor, as Christian doctrine teaches, it is not the \nPerson of the Father, taken by itself, whicli \nproduces bliss, nor the Person of the Son, taken \nby itself, nor the Person of the Holy Ghost, \ntaken by itself; but it is the three Persons, in- \ndwelling in the Unity of the essence, that is \neternal bliss. And this is the being itself of \nthe Persons by nature, and it is that which \ngives being to creatures by grace, and it con- \ntains in itself the form and idea of all things \nin simplicity and essentially. Now, just as this \nform-pregnant light subsists as being, even so \nall things subsist in it according to their essen- \ntial being, and not according to their accidental \ncharacter ; and since, moreover, it pours itself \nas light into all things, therefore its property is \nto subsist as light. And hence it is that all \nthings shine forth in this absolute being in inte- \nrior stillness, without detriment to its simplicity. \nThis intellectual where, in which, as has \nbeen just set forth, the tried servant of God \nshould dwell with the eternal Son, may be re- \n\n\nTHE SOUL'S HIGHEST FLIGHT. 307 \n\ngarded as the essentially existing unnameable \nNothingness. And here it is that the spirit \narrives at the naught of the Unity; and this \nUnity is termed naught because the spirit can- \nnot discover any mode of being under which to \nframe a conception of what it is. Nevertheless \nthe spirit clearly feels that it is contained by \nanother, quite different from what it is itself; \nfor which reason that which contains it deserves \nmore properly the name of something than \nnaught, though it seems to the spirit naught \nbecause it cannot find any mode of conceiving \nwhat it is. Now when the spirit, by the loss \nof its self-consciousness, has in very truth esta- \nblished its abode in this glorious and dazzling \nobscurity, it is set free from every obstacle to \nunion and from all its individual properties, \nas St. Bernard says; and this takes place less \nor more according as the spirit remains in the \nbody or goes out of it when it passes away out \nof itself into God. And this loss of the spirit's \nself is after that Divine manner in which all \nthings, so to speak, have come to be for it, as \nthe Scripture says (1 Cor. xv. 28). \n\nIn this merging of itself in God the spirit \npasses away, and yet not wholly; for it receives \nindeed some attributes of the Godhead, but it \n\n\n308 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\ndoes not become God by nature. What befalls it \nis all of grace, for it is still a something which \nhas been created out of nothing, and continues \nto be this everlastingly. Thus much then we \nmay say : When the spirit has passed away out \nof itself and has been taken up into God, it is \nrid of that wondering doubt which it felt while \nlosing itself, and it ceases to exist in regard to \nthe sense, so far as its own knowledge of itself \nis concerned. For, to use ordinary language, \nthe spirit is drawn upwards by the might of the \nall-luminous Divine essence above its natural \ncapacity into the purity of the Divine naught, \nin which it is unclothed of all created modes, \nthough without ceasing to retain its own proper \nmode of existence as a creature. This modeless \nmode is the being of the Persons, which they \ncontain within Them as their nature in absolute \nsimplicity and perfection. And it is by gazing \nupon this that the spirit is divested of itself, as \nhas been said ; and this takes place in the naught \nof the Unity, when the spirit ceases to be conscious \nof its own proper name and existence, in the \nperfect knowledge of this naught to which it has \nattained; for in it the spirit loses itself in a forget- \nfulness of self and all things ; and this happens \nto it the moment it turns away from itself and \n\n\nTHE SOUL'S HIGHEST FLIGHT. 309 \n\nall created things to the purity of the uncreated \nnaught. On this wild mountain range of the \nDivine wJiere, there is an abyss, perceptible to all \npure spirits, disporting itself, so to speak, before \nthem, and opening itself out to their gaze, — here \nit is they enter into the hidden depths of that \nwhich is unnameable and into that wild estrange- \nment ; and this is the fathomless abyss of all \ncreatures, which naught but itself can fathom, \nand which lies hid from all that is not God, save \nonly from those to whom God pleases to reveal \nit. And these persons must seek it in detach- \nment, and in a certain sense they must behold \nit with God Himself; according to the words of \nScripture, \"We shall know then, even as we \nare known\" (1 Cor. xiii. 12 ; 1 John iii. 2). \n\nThe spirit has not this knowledge from its \nown self, for the Unity in the Trinity draws it \nup into Itself — that is to say, into the spirit's \ntrue supernatural dwelling-place, in which it \ndwells above itself in that which has drawn it \nup thither. Here the spirit dies, and yet is all \nalive in the marvels of the Godhead. The \ndying of the spirit consists in this : that when \nit has passed away into God it no longer takes \nnote of any distinction between individual ex- \nistences ; nevertheless, as regards the outpour- \n\n\n310 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\ning of the Persons and of creatures, it holds \nfirmly the distinction between the three Per- \nsons, and also the separate existence of every \ncreature, as is explained in the Servitor's short \ntreatise concerning Truth. Observe, moreover, \nthat when the spirit has passed out of itself in \nthe way described above, there shines forth out \nof the Unity a simple light, and this modeless \nlight streams out from the three Persons into the \npurity of the spirit. When this light falls upon \nthe spirit, it sinks down out of itself and all that \nbelongs to self, the activity of all its powers \ncomes to an end, and it is divested of its opera- \ntions and its self-existence. This arises from \nthe entering of the spirit into God, when it has \npassed away out of itself as regards the sense, \nand is lost in the stillness of the glorious dazzling \nobscurity and of the naked simple Unity. It is \nin this modeless where that the highest bliss is \nto be found. \n\nThe maiden exclaimed i — Oh, wonderful ! \nBut how is one to enter into it? He answered : \n— I leave the answer of this question to that \nbright light St. Denys, who speaks thus to his \ndisciple : If thou wouldst enter into the hidden \nmysteriousness, mount boldly upwards ; and \ndisregarding thy outer and inner senses, and \n\n\nTHE SOUL'S HIGHEST FLIGHT. 311 \n\nthe workings of thy reason in itself, and all \nthings visible and invisible, and all that is and \nis not, mount upwards to the simple Unity. \nInto this thou must press forward without \nknowing it, even into that silence which is \nabove all being and above all science, with the \npurity and simplicity of a mind utterly abstracted \nfrom every creature, right into the very splen- \ndours of the Divine darkness. Here thou must \nlet go every hold, and part with every thing \ncreated; for in the superessential Trinity of \nthe God-transcending Godhead, on that mys- \nterious, incomprehensible, all-dazzling pinnacle \nof pinnacles, marvellous things are heard from \nout the low whispering silence, and marvellous \nthings are felt, new and yet unchangeable, amid \nthe splendours of that dark obscurity, which is \nthe fulness of light and glory manifested, where- \nin all that is shines forth, and which fills to \noverflowing the sightless mind of the beholder \nwith its incomprehensible, invisible, and efful- \ngent luminousness. \n\n\n312 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\n\nChapter LVLT. \n\nThe conclusion of the contents of this book in a few simple \nwords. \n\nThe daughter said: — Ah, sir, you speak \nwith so much Christian learning, both from \nyour own experience and from Holy Writ, \nconcerning the mystery of the pure Godhead, \nand the flowing forth and the flowing in again \nof the spirit, could you not draw out for me \nthis mysterious teaching, as you understand \nit, under the form of a similitude, that I may \nbe the better able to comprehend it? And I \nshould also be very glad if you would gather \ntogether in a short discourse, and illustrate by \nfigures, all the sublime doctrines which you \nhave handled at length, that they may be more \nfirmly fixed in my weak mind. \n\nHe answered : — How can one express in \nfigures what has no figure, and set forth in \nwords what has no mode of being, seeing that \nit is above the ken of sense and human reason ? \nFor every thing to which it may be likened \nis a thousand times more unlike than like it. \nNevertheless, in order to expel from your ima- \ngination figures by figures, I will try, so far as \n\n\nCONCLUSION. 313 \n\nis possible, to image forth for you in similitudes \nthese form-transcending thoughts, as in truth \nthey may be termed, and thus conclude a long \ndiscourse in a few words. \n\nHearken then. It is said by a learned doc- \ntor that God, in regard to His Godhead, is like \na very wide ring, whose centre is every where, \nand circumference nowhere. Now picture to \nyour imagination what follows. If a stone is \nflung with violence into the centre of a sheet \nof still water, a ring is formed in the water, and \nthis ring by its own might makes a second ring, \nand the second makes a third; and in proportion \nto the force of the first fling will be the breadth \nand width of the circles ; and the force of the \nfling might be even great enough to pass beyond \nthe limit of the water. Imagine now that the \nfirst ring represents the infinite might of the \nDivine nature in the Father. This produces a \nsecond ring like it, according to the Person, and \nthis ring is the Son. And the two produce the \nthird, which is the Spirit of both, co-eternal and \nco-omnipotent with them. Thus the three cir- \ncles signify Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. In \nthis deep abyss, the Divine nature in the Father \nis everlastingly speaking forth and begetting the \nWord as to the personality, and dwelling in Him \n\n\n314 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\nas to the essence — that self-same Word, I mean, \nwho has taken upon Him human nature. If any \none wishes to picture this to his imagination, let \nhim figure to himself a man, from the depths of \nwhose heart a form like the man's own springs \nforth, yet in such a way as to be always gazing \nfixedly upon and returning back again into him \nout of whom he sprang. This spiritual super- \nessential begetting of the Divine Word is the \nfull and entire cause of the bringing forth of all \ncreatures and spirits into their natural state of \nexistence. The supreme superessential Spirit \nhas ennobled man, by illuminating him with \na ray from His eternal Godhead; and this is \nGod's image in the rational soul, which also is \neverlasting. Hence from out the great ring, \nwhich represents the eternal Godhead, there flow \nforth, to carry on the metaphor, little rings, which \nmay be taken to signify the high nobility of \nrational creatures. \n\nNow there are some persons who, to their \nown hurt, turn away from this nobility of their \nreason, and, plastering over the radiant image \nof God within them, turn themselves to the \nbodily pleasures of this world ; and when they \nfancy that they possess the joy which they are \npursuing, stern death comes and puts an end to \n\n\nCONCLUSION. 315 \n\nthem. But a man who acts conformably to \nreason turns away from the bright spark of his \nsoul to that which is eternal, and out of which \nthe spark came forth; and he gives all creatures \ntheir dismissal, and cleaves to the eternal Truth \nalone. \n\nAttend, likewise, to the right and orderly \nway in which the flowing back again of the \nspirit into God should take place, as set forth \nin the following instruction : — The first thing \nwhich a man should do is to turn away entirely \nand with all his might from the pleasures of the \nworld, and from sinful practices, to God, with \npersevering prayer, seclusion, and virtuous dis- \ncreet exercises, in order thus to bring his body \ninto subjection to the spirit. The second thing \nis to offer himself willingly and patiently to bear \nthe countless multitude of contradictions which \nmay come upon him from God or creatures. \nThe third thing is to take the sufferings of \nChrist crucified as the model on which to form \nhimself, and to copy Him in His sweet teach- \ning, gentle walk, and pure life, which He pro- \nposed to us as our example, and in this manner \nto press onwards through Him. The fourth thing \nto be done is to divest himself of exterior occu- \npations, and to establish himself in a stillness \n\n\n316 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\nand repose of soul by an energetic detachment \nfrom all things, as if he were dead to himself, \nand could not guide himself, and had no other \nthought but for the honour and glory of Christ \nand His Heavenly Father. To this he should \nadd an humble bearing towards all men, whether \nfriends or foes. After a man has passed through \nthese exercises, the next point at which he ar- \nrives is, that his outward senses, which until \nthen were much too actively employed on ex- \nterior objects, cease from action ; and his spirit's \nhighest powers, dying to their natural opera- \ntion, acquire a supernatural sensitiveness. \n\nHere it is that the spirit, having parted with \nevery jk^tm ofrft&fcire which had clung to it, \npresses ft^ierun^krotkjh the ring, which signi- \nfies line eteuaft Godhelraj^nd arrives at spiritual \nperfection^ ^nW suWime$fc health of the spirit \nin iK^iwn p^fj&ffiont. doafiKts in this: that \nbein^Ii^ freetkfroia£ihe weiffftfc of sin, it soars \nupwarok in. the naigMrra GoTL into its divinely \nilluminatiji reason, ^hesgjit enjfys a perpetual \ninflux of nokvenly consol^fronsi It can now \nbehold the secrefc^elations o^ftings, and inter- \npret them according ^Treason with true dis- \ncrimination, and it is duly set free from bondage \nby the Son in the Son. It still, however, con- \n\n\nCONCLUSION. 317 \n\ntinues to view things in their outflow from God, \nand to contemplate them as existing each one in \nits own proper nature. This may be called the \ntransport of the spirit, for it is now lifted up \nabove time and place, and has passed away by \nintense loving contemplation into God. Now, \nhe who can clear a way for himself still further, \nand to whom God is pleased to give great and \nspecial help by drawing him away mightily from \ncreatures, as He did to St. Paul, and may pos- \nsibly still do to others, according to what St. \nBernard says — this man finds his created spirit \nseized upon by the superessential Spirit, and \ndrawn into that which it never could have at- \ntained to in its own strength. This entry of the \nspirit into God strips it of all images, forms, and \nmultiplicity, and it loses consciousness of itself \nand all things, and becomes merged with, the \nthree Persons in 'the-' abyss of ; their indwelling \nsimplicity, and enjoys there its highest and \ntruest bliss. Here all*1 striving and seeking \ncease, for the beginning arid the end have be- \ncome one, and the spirit, being divested of itself, \nhas become one with them, as is explained else- \nwhere with the help of figures.* But as to how \na man can pass away in this life, either perma- \n* In the Treatise on Truth. \n\n\n318 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\nnently or transiently, and how, while he is still \nin time, he can be caught up above time, more \nor less, and be drawn out of himself and trans- \nported into the formless Unity — all this I have \nalready set forth with the necessary distinctions. \nAnd now, daughter, remember that all these \nfigures and images, with their interpretations, \nare as remote from and unlike the formless \nTruth as a black Moor is unlike the beautiful \nsun ; and this comes from the formless and in- \ncomprehensible simplicity of the Truth. \n\nThe maiden looked upwards, and said: — \nPraised be the eternal Truth for the beautiful \ninstruction which I have received from your \nwise words concerning the first entry of a be- \nginner into the interior life, the hindrances \nwhich he will meet with as he advances, the \nthings which he will have to avoid, his suffer- \nings and his exercises, as well as the hidden \nmystery of the pure and absolute Truth, accord- \ning to the good distinctions which you have \nlaid down. Glory be to God eternally for this. \n\nNow, when this holy maiden had been thus \nnobly guided by her spiritual father, with the \nhelp of good distinctions and in accordance with \nthe whole Christian truth, along all the ways \nwhich end in supreme bliss, and when she had \n\n\nCONCLUSION. 319 \n\nwell mastered it, as far as is possible in this life, \nhe wrote to her in his last letter thus : — Come \nnow, daughter; give creatures their dismissal, \nand leave off thy questionings. Give ear, and \nlisten for thyself to what God will say within \nthee. Thou mayest well rejoice that thou hast \nobtained that which to many a one is wanting. \nPainfully as thou hast earned it, all this is now \npast and over. Henceforth there is nothing \nmore for thee to do except to possess Divine \npeace in still repose, and joyfully to await the \nmoment when thou shalt pass away from this \nlife into the fulness of everlasting bliss. \n\nIt came to pass soon afterwards that the holy \nmaiden died; and her end was a blessed one, \neven as her life had been.* After her death she \nappeared in a vision to her spiritual father clad \nin snow-white garments, shining with a dazzling \nbrightness, and full of heavenly joy. She drew \nnigh to him, and showed him in what noble \nfashion she had passed away into the pure God- \nhead. He saw and heard this with delight, and \nthe vision filled his soul with heavenly consola- \ntion. When he came to himself again, he \nsighed deeply, and thought within himself: — \n\n* Elizabeth Stiiglin died in the convent of Thoss, near \nWinterthur, A.d. 1360, five years before her spiritual father. \n\n\n320 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\n\nAh, God! how blessed is the man who strives, \nafter Thee alone ! He may well be content t(l \nsuffer whose sufferings Thou rewardest thus.V^ \nGod help us to rejoice in this maiden and in \nall His dear friends, and to enjoy His Divine \ncountenance eternally. Amen. \n\n\nTHE END. \n\n\nwanton: \n\nROBSON ASD AD*, UKK.VT SOUTHERN PBINTIUG WORKS, \nI'ASCSAS BO AD, K.W. \n\n\nB 765 .S74 A313 1865 SMC \n\nSeuse, Heinrich, \n\n1295-1366. \nThe 1 i f e of B lessed \n\nHenry Suso / \nAXF-3903", "project_translation": false, "text_trust": "verbatim", "quote_safe": true, "license": null, "methodology_url": null } }