Greco-Christian stream·Rhineland Mystics·Heinrich Suso·Chapter LVI.

Chapter LVI.

Of the very highest flight of a soul experienced in the ways of God.

The wise daughter said : — There is nothing which I would more gladly learn from Scrip- ture than the answer to this deep and pregnant question, where and how a well-exercised per- son's understanding may arrive at its highest end and aim in the deepest abyss of the God- head, in such a manner that what is actually experienced will harmonise with the teaching of Holy Writ?

The Servitor drew from Scripture an answer conformable to right reason, and its purport ac- cording to its hidden meaning was as follows. Every one who has attained to the true nobility of spirit ponders in simplicity and inactivity the pregnant word which the Eternal Son

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spoke in the Gospel, " Where I am, there also shall My servant be" (John xii. 26). Now he who has not shrunk from following the Son to that bitter ivhere, on which according to His manhood He took post in death upon the cross, has, in virtue of this promise, the right and the possibility of enjoying, after a blissful and in- tellectual manner, in time and in eternity, the delightful where of the Son's pure Godhead, so far as this is possible more or less. But where is the where of the Son's pure Godhead 1 It is in the form-pregnant light of the divine Unity, — a light which may be termed in its unname- ableness a nothingness; in its inward concen- tration, an essential stillness; in its indwelling outflow, a triune nature ; in its peculiar property, a self-comprehending light; in its uncreated creativeness, an existence which makes things to be. And in the modeless darkness of this light all multiplicity ceases, and the spirit loses itself as self, and comes to an end as regards its own activity. This is the highest aim and the endless where, in which the spirituality of all spirits finds its end. Ever to lose oneself in this is everlasting bliss. Thou must know, moreover, in order to understand this better, that in the form-pregnant THE SOUL'S HIGHEST FLIGHT. 303 light of the Divine Unity there is an indwelling outspringing impulse by which the Persons are ponred forth out of the almighty and eternal Godhead. For the Trinity of the Persons is in the Unity of the nature, and the Unity of the nature is in the Trinity of the Persons. The Unity has its actuality in the Trinity, and the Trinity has its potentiality in the Unity; ac- cording to what St. Augustin says in his book about the Trinity — namely, that the Trinity of the Persons contains in itself the Unity as Their nature and essence, and hence it is that each Person is God, and according to the sim- plicity of the nature so also is the Godhead. Now the Unity shines forth in the Trinity after a divided fashion; but the Trinity, viewed as tending inwards and as indwelling, shines forth in the Unity after a simple fashion, just as the three Persons contain in themselves the Unity after the same simple fashion. The Father is the fountain-head of the Son, and the Son is an outflowing of the Father, gushing forth from Him eternally as regards the Personality, and dwelling in Him as regards the being or essence. The Father and the Son pour forth Their Spirit; and the Unity, which is the being of the primal fountain-head, is the being of all the

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three Persons. But as to how the Trinity is one, and the Trinity in the Unity of the nature is one, while nevertheless the Trinity comes forth from the Unity, this cannot be expressed in words, owing to the simplicity of that deep abyss. Hither it is, into this intellectual where, that the spirit, spiritualising itself, soars up, now flying on the summitless heights, now swimming in the bottomless depths of the sublime marvels of the Godhead. Nevertheless, the spirit re- tains there its own nature as a spirit, while it enjoys the co-eternal, co-omnipotent, indwelling and outflowing Persons, and high above the clouds and bustle of things below contemplates with fixed gaze the Divine marvellousness. For what greater marvel can there be than the pure Unity, into which the Trinity of the Persons merges itself in simplicity, and in which all the multiplicity of sensible objects ceases. And this is to be understood in the sense that the outflowing of the Persons poured forth is al- ways tending back again into the Unity of the self-same essence, and that all creatures in regard to their indwelling outflow (i. e, their ideal procession) are from eternity in this one essence, and have in it an existence identical with God's life, God's knowledge, and God's THE SOUL'S HIGHEST FLIGHT. 305 essence, according to the words in the beginning of St. John's Gospel, " That which was made, was in Him life from everlasting."* This pure Unity is a dark stillness and an inactive in- activity, which no one can understand, save he alone whom the Unity in itself illumines. Out of this still inactivity there shines forth freedom without any admixture of wickedness, for free- dom is the fruit of the new birth of self-anni- hilation; and there shines forth likewise deep hidden truth without speck of falsehood, and this truth is born of the unveiling of the veiled Divine purity ; for now at length, after the reve- lation of these things, the spirit is unclothed of that dusky light which has hitherto followed it, and in which it has till now viewed objects in a human and earthly way. And it finds that it has now become, strictly speaking, another, and something quite different, from what it till then understood itself to be according to its previous light; as St. Paul has said, "I live, but not I" (Gal. ii. 20) ; and in this manner it is unclothed and simplified in the modeless sim- * Quod factum, est, in ipso vita erat (Joan. i. 3, 4). Ac- cording to this deeply-suggestive reading, the clause qvod factum est is referred to the words that follow instead of to those which precede. Many of the Fathers read the passage thus. X

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plicity of the Divine essence, which makes its light to shine into all things in simplicity and stillness. In this simple and modeless contem- plation the spirit takes no note of the permanent distinction of the Persons, viewed as separate. For, as Christian doctrine teaches, it is not the Person of the Father, taken by itself, whicli produces bliss, nor the Person of the Son, taken by itself, nor the Person of the Holy Ghost, taken by itself; but it is the three Persons, in- dwelling in the Unity of the essence, that is eternal bliss. And this is the being itself of the Persons by nature, and it is that which gives being to creatures by grace, and it con- tains in itself the form and idea of all things in simplicity and essentially. Now, just as this form-pregnant light subsists as being, even so all things subsist in it according to their essen- tial being, and not according to their accidental character ; and since, moreover, it pours itself as light into all things, therefore its property is to subsist as light. And hence it is that all things shine forth in this absolute being in inte- rior stillness, without detriment to its simplicity. This intellectual where, in which, as has been just set forth, the tried servant of God should dwell with the eternal Son, may be re- THE SOUL'S HIGHEST FLIGHT. 307 garded as the essentially existing unnameable Nothingness. And here it is that the spirit arrives at the naught of the Unity; and this Unity is termed naught because the spirit can- not discover any mode of being under which to frame a conception of what it is. Nevertheless the spirit clearly feels that it is contained by another, quite different from what it is itself; for which reason that which contains it deserves more properly the name of something than naught, though it seems to the spirit naught because it cannot find any mode of conceiving what it is. Now when the spirit, by the loss of its self-consciousness, has in very truth esta- blished its abode in this glorious and dazzling obscurity, it is set free from every obstacle to union and from all its individual properties, as St. Bernard says; and this takes place less or more according as the spirit remains in the body or goes out of it when it passes away out of itself into God. And this loss of the spirit's self is after that Divine manner in which all things, so to speak, have come to be for it, as the Scripture says (1 Cor. xv. 28). In this merging of itself in God the spirit passes away, and yet not wholly; for it receives indeed some attributes of the Godhead, but it

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does not become God by nature. What befalls it is all of grace, for it is still a something which has been created out of nothing, and continues to be this everlastingly. Thus much then we may say : When the spirit has passed away out of itself and has been taken up into God, it is rid of that wondering doubt which it felt while losing itself, and it ceases to exist in regard to the sense, so far as its own knowledge of itself is concerned. For, to use ordinary language, the spirit is drawn upwards by the might of the all-luminous Divine essence above its natural capacity into the purity of the Divine naught, in which it is unclothed of all created modes, though without ceasing to retain its own proper mode of existence as a creature. This modeless mode is the being of the Persons, which they contain within Them as their nature in absolute simplicity and perfection. And it is by gazing upon this that the spirit is divested of itself, as has been said ; and this takes place in the naught of the Unity, when the spirit ceases to be conscious of its own proper name and existence, in the perfect knowledge of this naught to which it has attained; for in it the spirit loses itself in a forget- fulness of self and all things ; and this happens to it the moment it turns away from itself and THE SOUL'S HIGHEST FLIGHT. 309 all created things to the purity of the uncreated naught. On this wild mountain range of the Divine wJiere, there is an abyss, perceptible to all pure spirits, disporting itself, so to speak, before them, and opening itself out to their gaze, — here it is they enter into the hidden depths of that which is unnameable and into that wild estrange- ment ; and this is the fathomless abyss of all creatures, which naught but itself can fathom, and which lies hid from all that is not God, save only from those to whom God pleases to reveal it. And these persons must seek it in detach- ment, and in a certain sense they must behold it with God Himself; according to the words of Scripture, "We shall know then, even as we are known" (1 Cor. xiii. 12 ; 1 John iii. 2). The spirit has not this knowledge from its own self, for the Unity in the Trinity draws it up into Itself — that is to say, into the spirit's true supernatural dwelling-place, in which it dwells above itself in that which has drawn it up thither. Here the spirit dies, and yet is all alive in the marvels of the Godhead. The dying of the spirit consists in this : that when it has passed away into God it no longer takes note of any distinction between individual ex- istences ; nevertheless, as regards the outpour-

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ing of the Persons and of creatures, it holds firmly the distinction between the three Per- sons, and also the separate existence of every creature, as is explained in the Servitor's short treatise concerning Truth. Observe, moreover, that when the spirit has passed out of itself in the way described above, there shines forth out of the Unity a simple light, and this modeless light streams out from the three Persons into the purity of the spirit. When this light falls upon the spirit, it sinks down out of itself and all that belongs to self, the activity of all its powers comes to an end, and it is divested of its opera- tions and its self-existence. This arises from the entering of the spirit into God, when it has passed away out of itself as regards the sense, and is lost in the stillness of the glorious dazzling obscurity and of the naked simple Unity. It is in this modeless where that the highest bliss is to be found. The maiden exclaimed i — Oh, wonderful ! But how is one to enter into it? He answered : — I leave the answer of this question to that bright light St. Denys, who speaks thus to his disciple : If thou wouldst enter into the hidden mysteriousness, mount boldly upwards ; and disregarding thy outer and inner senses, and THE SOUL'S HIGHEST FLIGHT. 311 the workings of thy reason in itself, and all things visible and invisible, and all that is and is not, mount upwards to the simple Unity. Into this thou must press forward without knowing it, even into that silence which is above all being and above all science, with the purity and simplicity of a mind utterly abstracted from every creature, right into the very splen- dours of the Divine darkness. Here thou must let go every hold, and part with every thing created; for in the superessential Trinity of the God-transcending Godhead, on that mys- terious, incomprehensible, all-dazzling pinnacle of pinnacles, marvellous things are heard from out the low whispering silence, and marvellous things are felt, new and yet unchangeable, amid the splendours of that dark obscurity, which is the fulness of light and glory manifested, where- in all that is shines forth, and which fills to overflowing the sightless mind of the beholder with its incomprehensible, invisible, and efful- gent luminousness.

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Chapter LVLT. The conclusion of the contents of this book in a few simple words. The daughter said: — Ah, sir, you speak with so much Christian learning, both from your own experience and from Holy Writ, concerning the mystery of the pure Godhead, and the flowing forth and the flowing in again of the spirit, could you not draw out for me this mysterious teaching, as you understand it, under the form of a similitude, that I may be the better able to comprehend it? And I should also be very glad if you would gather together in a short discourse, and illustrate by figures, all the sublime doctrines which you have handled at length, that they may be more firmly fixed in my weak mind. He answered : — How can one express in figures what has no figure, and set forth in words what has no mode of being, seeing that it is above the ken of sense and human reason ? For every thing to which it may be likened is a thousand times more unlike than like it. Nevertheless, in order to expel from your ima- gination figures by figures, I will try, so far as CONCLUSION. 313 is possible, to image forth for you in similitudes these form-transcending thoughts, as in truth they may be termed, and thus conclude a long discourse in a few words. Hearken then. It is said by a learned doc- tor that God, in regard to His Godhead, is like a very wide ring, whose centre is every where, and circumference nowhere. Now picture to your imagination what follows. If a stone is flung with violence into the centre of a sheet of still water, a ring is formed in the water, and this ring by its own might makes a second ring, and the second makes a third; and in proportion to the force of the first fling will be the breadth and width of the circles ; and the force of the fling might be even great enough to pass beyond the limit of the water. Imagine now that the first ring represents the infinite might of the Divine nature in the Father. This produces a second ring like it, according to the Person, and this ring is the Son. And the two produce the third, which is the Spirit of both, co-eternal and co-omnipotent with them. Thus the three cir- cles signify Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. In this deep abyss, the Divine nature in the Father is everlastingly speaking forth and begetting the Word as to the personality, and dwelling in Him

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as to the essence — that self-same Word, I mean, who has taken upon Him human nature. If any one wishes to picture this to his imagination, let him figure to himself a man, from the depths of whose heart a form like the man's own springs forth, yet in such a way as to be always gazing fixedly upon and returning back again into him out of whom he sprang. This spiritual super- essential begetting of the Divine Word is the full and entire cause of the bringing forth of all creatures and spirits into their natural state of existence. The supreme superessential Spirit has ennobled man, by illuminating him with a ray from His eternal Godhead; and this is God's image in the rational soul, which also is everlasting. Hence from out the great ring, which represents the eternal Godhead, there flow forth, to carry on the metaphor, little rings, which may be taken to signify the high nobility of rational creatures. Now there are some persons who, to their own hurt, turn away from this nobility of their reason, and, plastering over the radiant image of God within them, turn themselves to the bodily pleasures of this world ; and when they fancy that they possess the joy which they are pursuing, stern death comes and puts an end to CONCLUSION. 315 them. But a man who acts conformably to reason turns away from the bright spark of his soul to that which is eternal, and out of which the spark came forth; and he gives all creatures their dismissal, and cleaves to the eternal Truth alone. Attend, likewise, to the right and orderly way in which the flowing back again of the spirit into God should take place, as set forth in the following instruction : — The first thing which a man should do is to turn away entirely and with all his might from the pleasures of the world, and from sinful practices, to God, with persevering prayer, seclusion, and virtuous dis- creet exercises, in order thus to bring his body into subjection to the spirit. The second thing is to offer himself willingly and patiently to bear the countless multitude of contradictions which may come upon him from God or creatures. The third thing is to take the sufferings of Christ crucified as the model on which to form himself, and to copy Him in His sweet teach- ing, gentle walk, and pure life, which He pro- posed to us as our example, and in this manner to press onwards through Him. The fourth thing to be done is to divest himself of exterior occu- pations, and to establish himself in a stillness

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and repose of soul by an energetic detachment from all things, as if he were dead to himself, and could not guide himself, and had no other thought but for the honour and glory of Christ and His Heavenly Father. To this he should add an humble bearing towards all men, whether friends or foes. After a man has passed through these exercises, the next point at which he ar- rives is, that his outward senses, which until then were much too actively employed on ex- terior objects, cease from action ; and his spirit's highest powers, dying to their natural opera- tion, acquire a supernatural sensitiveness. Here it is that the spirit, having parted with every jk^tm ofrft&fcire which had clung to it, presses ft^ierun^krotkjh the ring, which signi- fies line eteuaft Godhelraj^nd arrives at spiritual perfection^ ^nW suWime$fc health of the spirit in iK^iwn p^fj&ffiont. doafiKts in this: that bein^Ii^ freetkfroia£ihe weiffftfc of sin, it soars upwarok in. the naigMrra GoTL into its divinely illuminatiji reason, ^hesgjit enjfys a perpetual influx of nokvenly consol^fronsi It can now behold the secrefc^elations o^ftings, and inter- pret them according ^Treason with true dis- crimination, and it is duly set free from bondage by the Son in the Son. It still, however, con- CONCLUSION. 317 tinues to view things in their outflow from God, and to contemplate them as existing each one in its own proper nature. This may be called the transport of the spirit, for it is now lifted up above time and place, and has passed away by intense loving contemplation into God. Now, he who can clear a way for himself still further, and to whom God is pleased to give great and special help by drawing him away mightily from creatures, as He did to St. Paul, and may pos- sibly still do to others, according to what St. Bernard says — this man finds his created spirit seized upon by the superessential Spirit, and drawn into that which it never could have at- tained to in its own strength. This entry of the spirit into God strips it of all images, forms, and multiplicity, and it loses consciousness of itself and all things, and becomes merged with, the three Persons in 'the-' abyss of ; their indwelling simplicity, and enjoys there its highest and truest bliss. Here all*1 striving and seeking cease, for the beginning arid the end have be- come one, and the spirit, being divested of itself, has become one with them, as is explained else- where with the help of figures.* But as to how a man can pass away in this life, either perma- * In the Treatise on Truth.

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nently or transiently, and how, while he is still in time, he can be caught up above time, more or less, and be drawn out of himself and trans- ported into the formless Unity — all this I have already set forth with the necessary distinctions. And now, daughter, remember that all these figures and images, with their interpretations, are as remote from and unlike the formless Truth as a black Moor is unlike the beautiful sun ; and this comes from the formless and in- comprehensible simplicity of the Truth. The maiden looked upwards, and said: — Praised be the eternal Truth for the beautiful instruction which I have received from your wise words concerning the first entry of a be- ginner into the interior life, the hindrances which he will meet with as he advances, the things which he will have to avoid, his suffer- ings and his exercises, as well as the hidden mystery of the pure and absolute Truth, accord- ing to the good distinctions which you have laid down. Glory be to God eternally for this. Now, when this holy maiden had been thus nobly guided by her spiritual father, with the help of good distinctions and in accordance with the whole Christian truth, along all the ways which end in supreme bliss, and when she had CONCLUSION. 319 well mastered it, as far as is possible in this life, he wrote to her in his last letter thus : — Come now, daughter; give creatures their dismissal, and leave off thy questionings. Give ear, and listen for thyself to what God will say within thee. Thou mayest well rejoice that thou hast obtained that which to many a one is wanting. Painfully as thou hast earned it, all this is now past and over. Henceforth there is nothing more for thee to do except to possess Divine peace in still repose, and joyfully to await the moment when thou shalt pass away from this life into the fulness of everlasting bliss. It came to pass soon afterwards that the holy maiden died; and her end was a blessed one, even as her life had been.* After her death she appeared in a vision to her spiritual father clad in snow-white garments, shining with a dazzling brightness, and full of heavenly joy. She drew nigh to him, and showed him in what noble fashion she had passed away into the pure God- head. He saw and heard this with delight, and the vision filled his soul with heavenly consola- tion. When he came to himself again, he sighed deeply, and thought within himself: — * Elizabeth Stiiglin died in the convent of Thoss, near Winterthur, A.d. 1360, five years before her spiritual father.

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Ah, God! how blessed is the man who strives, after Thee alone ! He may well be content t(l suffer whose sufferings Thou rewardest thus.V^ God help us to rejoice in this maiden and in all His dear friends, and to enjoy His Divine countenance eternally. Amen. THE END. wanton: ROBSON ASD AD*, UKK.VT SOUTHERN PBINTIUG WORKS, I'ASCSAS BO AD, K.W. B 765 .S74 A313 1865 SMC Seuse, Heinrich, 1295-1366. The 1 i f e of B lessed Henry Suso / AXF-3903

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