Slot — het vierde element: een uutvloende ghemeyne mensche
The Outflowing Life of the Contemplative
The soul rooted in God flows outward in selfless service, balancing contemplation and action through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The person sent down from this height of God into the world is full of truth and rich in every virtue. And he doesn't seek his own, but the honor of the One who has sent him.✦ Therefore, they are righteous and true in all things. And he has a rich, generous ground, founded in the richness of God.1 Because of this, they must always pour out to all who need them; for the living fountain of the Holy Spirit is their wealth, and no one can exhaust it.✦2 They are a living, willing instrument of God, through whom God works what He wills and how He wills; they don't claim this as their own, but give God the honor.3 Therefore, they remain willing and ready to do everything God commands, and are strong and resolute in enduring and bearing everything God allows to come upon them.4 And for this reason he has a common life; for contemplation and action are equally ready for him, and in both he is complete.5
The Necessity of Contemplative Order
True common life is impossible without the foundational order of the contemplative path.
No one can live this common life unless they are a contemplative person, and no one can contemplate or enjoy God unless they have these6 six7 points ordered in him as I said them earlier.
Discernment and Union with God
True union with God requires detachment from creatures and an open, peaceful heart, avoiding the delusions of false contemplation.
And for this reason all those are deceived who imagine they contemplate while they inordinately love, practice, or possess any creature; who think they enjoy God before they are free of images, or rest before they enjoy him.8 All of them are deceived. For we must be joined to God with open hearts, with peaceful consciences, and with a bare face turned toward Him, unfeignedly and in true truth.9 Then we will rise from virtue to virtue, contemplate God, enjoy Him, and become one in Him, just as I have told you.
A Final Prayer for Union
The chapter concludes with a prayer for the grace to attain this life of union.
May this come about for all of us—may God help us to it. Amen.
Read the original Latin
Die mensche die ute deser hoocheit van gode neder-ghesent wert inde werelt, hi es volder waerheit, ende rijcke van allen doechden. Ende hi en soeket sijns niet, maer des-gheens eere diene ghesonden heeft. Ende daer-omme es hi gherecht ende warechtich in allen dinghen. Ende hi heeft eenen rijcken melden gront, die ghefondeert es inde rijcheit gods. Ende daer-omme moet hi altoes vloeyen in alle die-ghene die sijns behoeven; want die levende fonteyne des heilichs gheests die es sine rijcheit diemen niet versceppen en mach. Ende hi es een levende willich instrument gods daer god mede werct wat hi wilt ende hoe hi wilt; ende des en dreecht hi hem niet ane, maer hi gheeft gode die eere. Ende daer omme blijft hi willich ende ghereet al te doene dat god ghebiedt; ende sterc ende ghenendich alt te dogene ende te verdraghene dat god op hem ghestaedt. Ende hier-omme heeft hi een ghemeyn leven; want hem es scouwen ende werken even ghereet, ende in beyden es hi volcomen.
Want niemen en mach dit ghemeyn leven hebben, hi en si een scouwende mensche ende niemen en mach scouwen noch gods ghebruken hi en hebbe dese . vj. poente in hem alsoe gheordent als icse hier vore seide.
Ende hier omme sijn alle die bedroghen die wanen scouwen, ende eenige creatuere onordelijc minnen, oefenen ocht besitten; die ghebruken wanen eer sy onghebeelt zijn, ochte rasten eer si ghebruken. Dese zijn alle bedroghen. Want wij moeten te gode ghevoecht zijn met opender herten, met ghevreeder conzienciën, met eenen bloten aenschyne, ongheveynsdelijc in rechter waerheit. Ende dan zelen wij opgaen van duechden in duechden, ende gode bescouwen ende sijns ghebrucken ende in hem één werden ghelijckerwijs dat ic u gheseghet hebbe.
Dat ons allen dit gheschie, dies helpe ons god. Amen.
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.7.18;John.5.30 — Whoever speaks on their own seeks their own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him. John.5.30 — I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me.
- ↩John.4.14 — but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst forever; rather, the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life
Notes
- 1 ↩Middle Dutch melde/melden here means generous, liberal, free-giving (not 'announce'). Gront is Ruusbroec's technical term for the soul's ground; rendered as 'generous ground' to keep both the liberality and the mystical-foundation sense.
- 2 ↩Literally 'scoop dry' or empty by drawing off; rendered 'exhaust' for natural contemporary English while keeping the inexhaustible-fountain image.
- 3 ↩Ane-dragen means to attribute or ascribe to oneself; rendered 'doesn't claim this as his own' to keep the non-self-appropriation force without stiff diction.
- 4 ↩From ghestaden, 'to permit/allow'; not 'establish'. Rendered 'allows to come upon him' for the burden God permits.
- 5 ↩Ruusbroec's technical term for the highest 'common' life that unites contemplative rest and active outflow; not 'ordinary life'. Kept as 'common life' to match the chapter's ghemeyne mensche vocabulary and the previous section's ghemein leven.
- 6 ↩ghemeyn leven: Ruusbroec’s technical ‘common life’—the outgoing life uniting contemplation and work. ghebruken: mystical enjoyment/fruition of God, not casual pleasure.
- 7 ↩vj. is Roman numeral 6; with s1 ‘dese’ and s3 ‘poente’ it forms ‘these six points’.
- 8 ↩Middle Dutch ghebruken is Ruusbroec’s technical term for fruition/enjoyment of God; rendered here as “enjoy.” Onghebeelt means imageless—stripped of mental forms and creaturely images before pure contemplation.
- 9 ↩Bloten aenschyne (bare countenance/aspect) is a Ruusbroec technical phrase for a stripped, unadorned orientation to God; rendered “bare face toward him” to keep the image without archaism.
The Sparkling Stone (Vanden blinkenden steen) companion
A daily portion of stillness
Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.
Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.
- Daily bite-sized excerpts from the contemplative classics, never a wall of text
- A built-in timed stillness practice that grows from 2 minutes to 10
- Gentle progression through the tradition — the app remembers where you are on the ascent