Greco-Christian stream·Rhineland Mystics·Heinrich Suso·Chapter VIII.
Source context
- Theme
- Suso's Chapter VIII — specific chapter theme not determinable from available corpus data
Steiner
not engaged in the GA corpus
Cross-tradition
- Dominican mysticism (Eckhart, Tauler lineage)Suso's position within the Rhine-Dominican current places individual chapter-level themes in structural parallel with Eckhart's apophatic union and Tauler's practical-affective appropriation of that union.
Chapter VIII.
Of certain visions.
He had at this time very many visions of future and hidden things, and God gave him an experimental knowledge, so far as was possible, of how things were in heaven, hell, and purgatory. It happened to him com- monly, that many souls appeared to him upon
VISIONS. 31
their leaving this world, and told him how it had fared with them, what sins were the cause of their purgatory, how they could be helped, or what wasw their reward from God. Among others there appeared to him the blessed Master Eckart, and the holy brother John der Fucrer of Strasburg. The Master signified to him, that he was in exceeding glory, into which his soul was quite transformed, and made godlike in God. Upon, this the Servitor besought him to tell him two things. The first was, the manner in which those persons dwell in God, who with real and genuine detachment have sought to rest in the supreme Truth alone? To this he answered, that no words can tell the way in which these persons are taken up into the modeless abyss of the divine essence. The second thing was ; what exercise is most calcu- lated to help forward him, whose earnest desire is to arrive at this state ? The Master replied, that he must die to himself by deep detach- ment, receive every thing as from God and not from creatures, and establish himself in un- ruffled patience towards all men, however wolf- ish they may be.
The other brother, John, also showed him in a vision the ravishing beauty with which
32LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SITSO.
his soul was glorified, and of him too he asked the explanation of another point. The ques- tion was: which among all spiritual exercises is the most painful, and at the same time the most profitable? The brother answered, that there is nothing more painful, and yet more profitable for a man, than, when forsaken by God, to go out of himself by patience, and thus to leave God for God. The Servitor's own father, who had led a very worldly life, appeared to him after death, and with a woful aspect showed him his agon- ising purgatory, and the chief sins for which he had incurred it, and explained to him dis- tinctly how he was to help him. The Servitor did this ; and afterwards his father appeared to him, and told him that he had been set free. His holy mother also, in whose heart and body God worked many marvels in her lifetime, ap- peared to him in a vision, and made known to him the great reward which she had received from God. The like happened to him in the case of numberless other souls; and it was a source of pleasure to him, and during a long time it gave him instruction and support in the course which he was then pursuing. HIS BEHAVIOUR AT TABLE. 33
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