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Chapter 6BlinckSteen.1.6

Tweede deel — II. Hoe men een scouwende leven besitten mach

The Path to Hidden Sonship

The author outlines the spiritual progression from living in virtue to dying to self, thereby becoming hidden sons of God.

But I would still gladly know how we may become hidden sons of God and possess a contemplative life. After this, I saw it this way. Just as was said before, we must always live and keep watch in all the virtues, and above every virtue die and fall asleep in God.1 We must die to sin and be born of God into a virtuous life, and we must renounce ourselves and die in God into eternal life.✦✦✦ For this reason, the order follows as such.2 If we are born of the Spirit of God, then we are sons of grace, and so our whole life is adorned with virtues, and thus we overcome everything that is contrary to God; for whatever is born of God overcomes the world, says Saint John. And in this birth all good people are the sons of God. And the Spirit of God stirs and moves each one in particular toward those virtues and those good works for which he is ready and well disposed.3 And so they all please God, and each one particularly, according to the greatness of his love and the nobility of his practice.4 Still, they don't feel established, nor as if they possess God, nor are they assured of eternal life, because they can still turn away and fall into sin.5 And for that reason I call them more servants or friends than sons. But when we forget ourselves, and in our ascent to God become so simple that bare love can take hold of us in the height where it is itself at home above every practice of the virtues—that is, in our origin, from which we are spiritually born—there we will pass away and die in God to ourselves and to all self-possession.6 And in this dying we become hidden sons of God and find within us a new life—an eternal life. And of these sons, Saint Paul says: "You are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."✦

The Blessed Dead in God

By offering ourselves as an everlasting sacrifice, we die to our own works and find rest in the blessed unity of God.

Now understand: the order is this. In our approach to God we must carry ourselves and all our works before us as an everlasting offering to God; and in God's presence we shall leave ourselves and all our works, and, dying in love, we shall pass beyond all createdness into the superessential richness of God. There we shall possess God in an everlasting death to ourselves.✦78 And for this reason the Spirit of God says in the Book of Revelation that the dead who die in the Lord are blessed.✦9 He is right to call them blessed dead, for they remain forever dead and sunk away from themselves into the enjoyable unity of God, and they are always dying anew in love through the in-drawing transformation of that same unity.✦1011 Furthermore, the Spirit of God says: "They will rest from their labors, and their works will follow them." In the way we are born out of God into a spiritual life of virtue, we carry our works before us as an offering to God.12 But in waylessness—where we die back into God into an eternal, blessed life—our good works follow after us, because they are one life with us.13 When we approach God through the virtues, God dwells in us.✦ But in the passing beyond of ourselves and of all things, there we dwell in God.✦14 If we have faith, hope, and love, we have received God, and He dwells in us with His grace.✦✦ And he sends us out as his faithful servants to keep his commandments, and he calls us back in as his intimate friends, if we follow his counsel.✦15 And by this he openly shows us to be his sons, if we live against the world.✦✦16

The Simple Gaze of Contemplation

Contemplation is defined as a simple, imageless gazing into the divine, where the soul is transformed by the eternal Word.

But above all else, if we are to taste God, or feel eternal life within us, then we must go into God with our faith, above reason. And there we shall remain simple, empty, and without images, lifted by love into the open bareness of our mind.17 For where we pass beyond all things in love, and die to every mark of distinction in unknowing and in darkness, there we are wrought and transformed by the eternal Word, which is an image of the Father.18 And in the empty stillness of our spirit we receive the incomprehensible clarity that envelops us and passes through us, just as the air is filled through with the light of the sun.19 And this clarity is nothing other than a groundless gazing and beholding: what we are, we gaze upon; and what we gaze upon, we are—for our thought, our life, and our being are simply raised up and inclined toward the truth that is God.20 And for this reason, in this simple gazing, we are one life and one spirit with God—and this I call a contemplative life. When we cling to God with love, we are practicing the best part; but when we gaze like this into the superessential, we possess God completely.21 This contemplation is always accompanied by a wayless practice—that is, a life of constant renewal.22 For where we go out of ourselves into darknesses and into a bottomless modelessness, there the simple ray of God's brightness always shines—the ray in which we are founded, and which draws us out of ourselves into the superessential and into love’s sinkings-away.2324 This sinking-away of love is always accompanied and followed by a wayless practice of love, for love cannot be idle; it wants to know and taste, through and through, the bottomless richness that lives in its ground.25 And this is an unsatisfied hunger: always striving after what is still lacking — that is, swimming against the current. You can’t let it go or take hold of it; you can’t do without it or obtain it; you can’t speak of it or keep silent about it, because it is above reason and understanding, and transcends all creatures.26 And for that reason, you can neither reach it nor put it into words. But we must look into our innermost depths: there we feel that the Spirit of God drives us and goads us into the restless urgency of love.27 And we must look above ourselves: there we feel that the Spirit of God draws us out of ourselves and consumes us into nothingness in His own selfhood—that is, in the superessential love with which we are one, and which we possess more deeply and more widely than all things.2829 This possession is a simple, abyssal taste of all that is good and of eternal life.30 And in this taste we are swallowed up, beyond reason and without reason, into the deep stillness of the Godhead, which is never moved.31 You can only know this is true through inward feeling, and in no other way. For as to how it is, or who, or where, or what it is—neither reason nor practice can track that down.32 And for this reason our ensuing practice always remains without manner — that is, without any fixed mode.33 We can neither grasp nor understand the bottomless good that we taste and possess, nor can we ever enter into it through our own external practices.34

The Paradox of Union and Distinction

The soul experiences the paradox of being simultaneously one with God and distinct from Him, maintaining both union and active love.

That’s why we are poor in ourselves but rich in God; hungry and thirsty in ourselves, yet drunk and full in God; working in ourselves, but completely idle in God.✦35 This is how we will remain forever, because without the practice of love we can never possess God. Anyone who feels or believes otherwise is deceived. And so we live wholly in God, where we possess our blessedness, and we live wholly in ourselves, where we exercise ourselves in love toward God.36 And even though we live entirely in God and entirely in ourselves, it is still only one life. But it is contrary and twofold in feeling.37 After all, being poor and rich, hungry and full, working and idle—these things are completely contrary.✦ Still, our highest nobility rests in this, now and forever. For we cannot wholly become God and lose our created nature — that is impossible.38 If we also remained entirely in ourselves, cut off from God, then we would be wretched and unblessed. For this reason, we shall feel ourselves wholly in God and wholly in ourselves. Between these two experiences, we find nothing but the grace of God and the exercise of our love. For from our highest experience the clarity of God shines in us, teaching us the truth and moving us toward every virtue and into eternal love for God.39 We keep following this clarity without pause, all the way into the ground from which it comes. And there we feel nothing but a passing out of the spirit and a sinking away into simple, bottomless love with no turning back.4041 If we always stayed there with our simple gaze, we would always feel this.42 Our immersion into God's transformation continues forever without ceasing, as long as we have moved beyond ourselves and possess God in that state of surrendered love.43 For if we possess God in the sunk-away states of love—that is, in the lostness of ourselves—then God is our own, and we are his own, and we are eternally sinking ourselves away without return into our possession, which is God.44 This sinking away is essential, with habitual love.45 And for that reason, it remains true whether we're sleeping or waking, whether we realize it or not. And in this way this sinking away earns no new degree of reward, but it keeps us in the possession of God and of all the good we have already received. This sinking away is like the rivers that, without stopping and without turning back, always flow into the sea, for that is their own place.✦4647 In the same way, if we possess God alone, our essential sinking away with habitual love is always flowing without return into an abysmal awareness that we possess and that is our own.4849 If we were always simple, and gazing with equal wholeness, we would always feel it the same. This sinking away is above all virtues and every practice of love, for it’s nothing other than an eternal going out of ourselves, with a clear foresight into an otherness toward which we lean out of ourselves as into blessedness.5051 For we feel an eternal leaning out into an otherness than what we ourselves are. This is the most inward and hidden distinction we can feel between ourselves and God, for above this there is never any distinction. Still, our reason remains standing with open eyes in darkness—that is, in a groundless unknowing.52 And in this darkness, the groundless clarity remains covered and hidden from us. For its overpowering groundlessness blinds our reason. But it embraces us in simplicity and transforms us with its own being, and so we are unworked by God and wrought into the sinking-aways of love, where we possess blessedness and are one with God.5354 When we are united to God in this way, a living knowledge and an active love remain in us; for without knowledge we cannot possess God, and without the practice of love we cannot be united with God or remain united. If we could be blessed without knowledge, then even a stone, which has no knowledge at all, could be blessed. If I were lord of all the earth and didn't know it, what good would that do me?✦ And for this reason, we will forever know and feel ourselves, tasting and possessing. And Christ himself bears witness of this to us where he speaks of us like this before his Father: “This is eternal life,” he says, “that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” So you can see that our eternal life consists of knowledge with distinction.✦55 Nevertheless, I just said that we are one with God, and holy Scripture bears witness to that. But now I want to say that we must remain eternally other than God, and Scripture also bears witness to this.56 And we must understand both of these within ourselves, and it will be right for us to feel them as well.57

The Fourfold Exercise of Love

The author details the four ways we sense God and exercise our love, leading to a deeper possession of the divine.

That is why I say that in our inward vision—from the vision of God or our highest sensing—there shines a clarity that teaches us the truth about love and all the virtues.58 In this clarity, we are especially taught to sense God and ourselves in59 four ways. First, we sense God in ourselves with his grace. When we take note of this, we can't stay idle.60 For just as the sun, with its brightness and heat, lights up, gladdens, and makes the whole world fruitful, so does God with his grace: he enlightens, gladdens, and makes fruitful all people who want to be obedient to him. For if we are to feel God in us, and if the fire of his love is to burn in us forever, then we must help him stoke it with free will in four ways: we must stay united to the fire within ourselves with inward devotion; and we must go out of ourselves toward all people with loyalty and brotherly love; and we must go beneath ourselves in penance and in all good works and in resisting our disordered desires; and with the flame of this fire we must rise above ourselves with devotion, with thanksgiving and praise and with heartfelt prayer, and always cling with right intention and with felt love.61 Through this, God continues to dwell in us with his grace, for in these four ways is contained every practice we might reasonably and orderly pursue.62 Without this practice, no one can please God; and the person who is most perfect in it is nearest to God. For this reason, it is necessary for everyone; and no one can rise above this, except for those who are contemplative.63 For this reason, first of all, we all feel God within us through his grace, if we64 want to be good. In the second place, if we have a contemplative life, then we feel ourselves living in God. And out of that life in which we feel ourselves in God, a clarity shines into our inward face that enlightens our reason and mediates between us and God.65 And when we remain standing in this clarity with our enlightened reason within ourselves, then we feel that our created life is always, in its very being, sinking away from itself into its eternal life.66 But where we follow that clarity beyond reason, with a simple gaze and with a willing inclination of ourselves, all the way into our highest life: there we receive the transformation of God in the whole of ourselves.67 And so we feel ourselves completely enclosed in God. And after this follows the third distinction of feeling: that we feel ourselves one with God. Through God's transformation, we feel ourselves swallowed up in a bottomless abyss of our eternal blessedness, where we can never again find any distinction between God and ourselves.68 For that is our highest feeling, which we can possess in no other way than by being sunk away in love.69 And for this reason, when we are lifted up and drawn into our highest sensing, all our powers stand idle in an essential enjoyment—but they are not brought to nothing, for then we would lose our created nature.70 As long as we remain idle with a spirit turned toward God and with open eyes that mark nothing in particular, we can contemplate and enjoy.71 But in the very moment we want to examine and mark what it is we feel, we fall into reasoning. Then we find distinction and otherness between ourselves and God. Then we find God outside ourselves in incomprehensibility—and this is the fourth distinction in which we feel God and ourselves. For here we find ourselves standing before the presence of God. The truth we receive from the face of God bears witness to us that God wants to be wholly ours, and that he wants us to be wholly his.72 The moment we feel that God wants to be wholly ours, there springs up in us a gaping, greedy desire—so hungry, so deep, and so empty that even if God gave all he could give without giving himself, it could not satisfy us.73

The Restless Hunger for Divine Sweetness

The soul's hunger for God is an insatiable, restless desire that grows as it tastes the infinite sweetness of the divine.

For when we feel that he has given himself over and abandoned himself to our free desire, so we may taste of him in every way we can long for—and we learn, in the truth of his face, that all we taste, set against what is still withheld from us, is not a drop set against the whole sea—this storms our spirit into heat and into the restlessness of love.7475 For the more of him we taste, the greater desire and hunger become; for each is the cause of the other. This makes us struggle with what is withheld.76 For we feed on his immensity, which we cannot swallow; and we struggle in his infinity, which we cannot pursue to the end.77 And so we can neither enter into God nor God into us.78 For in the restlessness of love we cannot renounce ourselves. And for this reason the heat is so untempered that the exercise of love going back and forth between us and God is all the lightning of heaven; yet we cannot burn up.79 And in this storm of love our works are above reason and without wisdom, for love desires what is impossible for it.80 And reason bears witness that this is love's right. But it cannot counsel love toward this, nor wait for it.81 For as long as we behold with inward devotion that God wants to be ours, God's loving-kindness touches our eager desire.82 And from this comes the restlessness of love.83 For that out-flowing touch of God kindles restlessness and demands work of us—that is, that we love the eternal Love.84 But that in-drawing touch consumes us out of ourselves and demands that we melt and be brought to nothing in unity.85 And in this in-drawing touch we feel that God wills that we be his, for in it we must renounce ourselves and let him work our salvation. But where he touches us in an out-flowing way, there he leaves us to ourselves, makes us free, and sets us before his presence; he teaches us to pray in the spirit and to ask with freedom, and he shows us his incomprehensible riches in as many forms as we can imagine.✦✦ For everything we can think of in which comfort and joy are found, we find all of it in him without measure. And so, when we feel that he wants to be ours with all this richness, and always wants to dwell with us, all the powers of our soul open up to him—especially our eager desire.86 For all the rivers of God's grace are flowing; and the more we taste them, the more we long to taste; and the more we long to taste, the deeper we enter into his touch; and the deeper we enter into God's touch, the more the floods of his sweetness flow through us and overflow us; and the more we are flowed through and filled to overflowing, the better we feel and know that God's sweetness is beyond all grasp and without bottom.8788 That is why the prophet says, “Taste and see, for God is sweet.” But he does not say “how sweet,” because his sweetness is without measure; and for that reason we can neither grasp it nor swallow it.89 God’s bride bears witness to this for us in the Canticle, saying, “I have sat under the shadow of the one I desired, and his fruit is sweet to my throat.” .90

Read the original Latin

Maer ic soude noch gherne weten hoe wij werden moghen verborghene sonen gods ende een scouwende leven besitten.

Hier-na hebbic ghesien, aldus. Ghelijckerwijs dat vore gheseghet es, soe moete wij altoes leven ende waken in allen duechden, ende boven alle doechde sterven ende ontslapen in gode. Want wij moeten den zonden sterven ende ute gode gheboren werden in een doechsam leven, ende wij moeten ons selfs vertijen ende in gode sterven in een eewich leven. Ende hier-omme volcht die ordinancie aldus.

Eest dat wij gheboren werden ute den gheeste gods, soe sijn wij sonen der ghenaden, ende soe wert al onse leven gheciert met doechden, ende also verwinnen wij al dat gode es contrarie; want al dat ute gode gheboren es dat verwint de werelt, spreect sinte Jan. Ende in deser gheborten sijn alle goede menscen die sonen gods. Ende de gheest gods stoect ende beweecht yeghewelcken zonderlinghe tote dien doechden ende tote dien goeden werken daer hi bereet ende heblijc toe es. Ende aldus behaghense alle gode, ende yeghewelcken sonderlinghe, na grootheit sijnre minnen ende na edelheit sijnre oefeninghen. Nochtan en ghevoelen si hem niet ghestadecht noch besittende gode noch versekert eewichs levens, want si moghen noch avekeeren ende vallen in zonden. Ende hier-omme noeme icse meer knechte ochte vriende dan sonen.

Maer wanneer dat wij ons-selven onthoghen, ende in onsen opganghe te gode alsoe eenvoldich werden dat ons blote minne bevaen mach in die hoocheit daer si haersselfs pleecht boven alle oefeninghe van duechden, dat es in onsen oerspronc daer wij gheestelijc ute gheboren werden, daer selen wij ontwerden ende sterven in gode ons-selfs ende alre eyghenscap. Ende in desen stervene werden wij verborghene sonen gods, ende vinden in ons een nuwe leven, ende dat es een eewich leven. Ende van desen sonen spreect sinte pauwels: ‘Ghij sijt doot ende u leven is verborghen met cristum in gode.’

Nu verstaet, de ordinancie es aldus: in onsen toeghanghe te gode soe moeten wij ons-selven ende alle onse werke vore ons dragen alse eene eewighe offerande gode; ende in die jeghenwoordicheit gods sele wij ons selven laten ende alle onse werke, ende, stervende in minnen, selen wij overliden alle ghescapenheit tot in die overweselijcke rijcheit gods: daer selen wij gode besitten in eene eewige verstorvenheit ons-selfs.

Ende hier-omme spreect die gheest gods inden boeke der heimelijcheit, dat die doode salich sijn die inden heere sterven. Met rechte noemt hise salighe doode, want si bliven eewelijc ghestorven ende hem-selven ontsoncken in die ghebrukelijcke eenicheit gods, ende si sijn altoes van nuwes stervende in minnen overmids die intreckende overforminghe der selver eenicheit.

Voertmeer, spreect die gheest gods ‘selen si rasten van haren arbeyte, ende hare werke selen hem navolgen.’

Inder wisen, daer wij ute gode gheboren werden in een gheestelijc doochsam leven, daer draghen wij onse werke voer ons, als een offer, gode. Maer inder onwisen, daer wij weder in gode sterven in een eewich salich leven, daer volghen ons onse goede werke na, want si sijn een leven met ons.

In onzen toeghanghe te gode met duechden soe woent god in ons. Maer in den overlidene ons-selfs ende alre dinc, daer woene wij in gode.

Eest dat wij hebben ghelove hope ende minne, soe hebben wij gode ontfaen, ende hi woent in ons met sijre ghenaden. Ende hi sendt ons ute alse sijn ghetrouwe knechte omme te houdene sine gheboden, ende hi roept ons weder inne alse sine heimelijcke vriende, eest dat wij na-volghen sinen rade. Ende hier-mede vertoent hi ons openbare sine sonen, eest dat wij leven contrarie der werelt.

Maer boven alle dinc sele wij gods ghesmaken, ochte ghevoelen eewichs levens in ons, soe moete wij, boven redene, met onsen ghelove in gode gaen. Ende daer sele wij bliven eenvuldich, ledich ende onghebeelt, overmids minne verhaven in die openne bloetheit onser ghedachten. Want daer wij in minnen overliden alle dinc, ende sterven alles ghemercs in niet-wetene ende in donckerheiden, daer werden wij ghewracht ende overformt met den eewighen woorde, dat een beelde des vaders es. Ende inden ledeghen sine ons gheests ontfaen wij die ombegripelijcke claerheit, die ons beveet ende doergheet ghelijckerwijs dat de locht doergaen wert met claerheiden der zonnen. Ende dese claerheit en es anders niet dan een grondeloes staren ende scouwen: dat wi sijn, dat ane-staren wij; ende dat wij anestaren dat sijn wij; want onse ghedachte ende onse leven ende onse wesen es eenvoldich verhaven ende ghènycht der waerheit die god es. Ende hier omme, in desen eenvuldighen staerne sijn wij één leven ende één gheest met gode: ende dit noeme ic een scouwende leven.

Daer wij met minnen ane gode cleven, daer oefenen wij dat beste deel; maer daer wij aldus in overwesene staren, daer besitten wij gode gheheel. Desen scouwene es altoes anehanghende eene wiseloese oefeninghe, dat es een vernieutende leven. Want daer wij ons-selfs ute-gaen in donckerheiden ende in onwisen sonder gront, daer scijnt die eenvuldighe raeye der claerheit gods altoes, daer wij inne ghefundeert sijn, ende die ons ute ons selven trect in overwesene ende in ontsonckenheiden van minnen. Ende deser ontsonkenheit van minnen es altoes ane-hanghende ende na-volghende eene wiseloese oefeninghe van minnen, want minne en mach niet ledich sijn, maer si wilt doerweten ende doersmaken die grondelose rijcheit die in haren gronde leeft.

Ende dit es een hongher onghepait: altoes crighen in dat ontbliven, dat es swemmen jeghen strom. Men caent ghelaten noch ghevaten; men caent ghederven noch gecrighen; men caent ghespreken noch verswighen, want het es boven redene ende verstaen, ende onthoghende allen creatueren. Ende hieromme en machment ghereyken noch verhalen.

Maer wij selen in ons binnenste sien: daer ghevoelen wij dat ons die gheest gods drijft ende stoect in dat ongheduer van minnen. Ende wij selen boven ons-selven sien: daer ghevoelen wij dat ons die gheest gods ute ons selven trect ende verteert te nieute in sijns selfsheit, dat es, in die overweselijcke minne daer wij een mede sijn, ende die wij besitten diepere ende bredere dan alle dinc. Dit besitten es een eenvuldich afgrondich smaec alles goets ende ewichs levens. Ende in desen smake sijn wij verswolghen boven redene ende sonder redene in die diepe stilheit der godheit die nemmermeer beweecht en wert.

Dat dit waer es, dat machmen met ghevoelne weten, ende anders niet. Want hoe dat es, ochte wie, ochte waer, ochte wat: dat en mach redene noch oefeninghe hervolghen.

Ende hier-omme blijft onse navolghende oefeninghe altoes wiseloes dat es sonder maniere. Want dat grondelose goet dat wij smaken ende besitten, wij en connent begripen noch verstaen; noch wij en moghen met onser oefeninghen ute ons-selven nemmermeer daer inne comen.

Ende hier-omme sijn wij in ons-selven arm ende in gode rike; in ons-selven hongherich ende dorstich, in gode droncken ende sat; in ons-selven werkende, ende in gode alles ledich. Ende aldus selen wij eewelijc bliven; want sonder oefeninghe van minnen en moghe wij gode nemmermeer besitten. Ende soe wie anders ghevoelt ochte ghelooft, hi es bedroghen. Ende aldus leven wij gheheel in gode, daer wij onse salicheit besitten, ende wij leven gheheel in ons-selven, daar wij ons in minnen te gode oefenen. Ende al eest dat wij gheheel in gode leven ende gheheel in ons-selven, dit en es doch maer één leven. Maer het es contrarie ende tweevuldich van ghevoelne. Want arm ende rijcke, hongherich ende sat, werkende ende ledich: dese dinghe sijn te-male contrarie.

Nochtan gheleghet hier inne onse hoochste edelheit, nu ende eewelijc. Want wij en moghen te-male niet god werden ende onse ghescapenheit verliesen, dat es ommoghelijc. Bleven wij oec te-male in ons selven ghesondert van gode, soe moesten wij sijn elendich ende onsalich. Ende hier-omme selen wij ons gheheel in gode ghevoelen ende gheheel in ons-selven.

Ende tuschen dese twe ghevoelne en venden wij anders niet dan die ghenade gods ende die ufeninghe onser minnen. Want ute onsen oversten ghevoelne schijnt die claerheit gods in ons die ons die waerheit leert, ende beweecht tot allen duechden ende in eeuwigher minnen te gode. Deser claerheit sijn wij na-volghende sonder onderlaet tote inden gronde daer sy uut comt. Ende daer en ghevoelen wij anders niet dan ontgheesten ende ontsincken in eenvoldigher grondeloser minnen zonder wederkeer. Bleven wij altoes daer met onsen eenvuldighen ghesichte, des souden wij altoes ghevoelen.

Want onse ontsinken in die overforminghe gods, dat blijft eewelijc zonder ophouden, eest dat wij ons selfs uute-ghegaen sijn ende gode besitten in ontsonckenheyden van minnen. Want besitten wij gode in ontsonckenheiden van minnen, dat es in verlorenheiden ons selfs, soe es god onse eyghen, ende wij sijn sijn eyghen, ende wij sijn ons selfs ontsinckende eewelijc zonder wederkeer in ons eyghendom dat god es.

Dit ontsincken es weselijc, met hebbelijcker minnen. Ende daer-omme eest slapende ende wakende, wete wijt ochte en wete wijt niet. Ende in deser wijs en verdient dit ontsincken enghenen nuwen graet van lone, maer het behout ons in dat besitten gods ende alles dies goeds dat wij vercreghen hebben.

Dit ontsincken es ghelijc den rivieren die sonder ophouden ende sonder wederkeren altoes vlieten inde zee, want dat es haer eyghen stad. Alsoe ghelijckerwijs, eest dat wij gode alleene besitten, soe es onse weselijcke ontsinken met hebbelijcker minnen altoes vlietende sonder wederkeer in een afgrondich ghevoelen dat wij besitten ende dat onse eyghen es.

Waren wij dan altoes eenvuldich, ende met ghelijcker gheheelheyt toesiende, wij soudens altoes ghelijc ghevoelen. Nu es dit ontsinken boven alle doechde ende boven alle oefeninghe van minnen, want het en es anders niet dan een eewich uutgaen ons-selfs, met eenen claren voersiene in eene anderheit, daer wij ute ons-selven in neyghen alse in zalicheden. Want wij ghevoelen een eewich ute-neyghen in eene anderheit dan dat wij selve sijn. Ende dit es dat innichste ende dat verborghenste onderscheet dat wij tuschen ons ende gode ghevoelen moghen, want hier boven en es nemmer onderscheet. Nochtan blijft onse redene staende met openen oghen in donckerheiden, dat es in onwetene sonder gront. Ende in deser donckerheit blijft ons bedect ende verborghen die grondelose claerheyt. Want hare overcomende grondeloesheyt die verblent onse redelijcheit. Maer sy beveet ons in eenvuldicheit ende overformt ons met haers selfsheit, ende aldus werden wij van gode ontwracht ende ghewracht tote in ontsonckenheyden van minnen daer wij salicheit besitten ende met gode een sijn.

Alse wij aldus gode gheenicht werden, hier-ave blijft in ons een levende weten, ende eene werkende minne; want sonder onse weten en moghen wij gode niet besitten, ende sonder oefeninghe van minnen en moghen wij met gode niet gheëenycht werden noch gheënicht bliven. Want mochte wij salich sijn sonder onse weten, soe mochte oec een steen salich sijn die en-gheen weten en heeft. Dat ic heere van al eertrijcke ware, ende ics niet en wiste, wat holpe my dat?

Ende hier-omme sele wij ons emmermeer weten ende ghevoelen smakende ende besittende. Ende dit tuycht ons cristus selve daer hi dus spreect van ons vore sinen vader: ‘Dit es, spreect hy, eewich leven, dat sy dy alleene bekinnen eenen ghewarighen god, ende dien du ghesonden hebste, jhesum cristum.’

Aldus moechdi merken dat onse eewighen leven gheleghet in kinnissen met ondersceede. Nochtans hebbe ic te-hans gheseghet dat wij één met gode sijn, ende dat tuycht ons die heylighe scriftuere. Maer nu wille ic segghen dat wij een ander van gode eewelijc bliven moeten, ende dit tuycht oec die scriftuere. Ende dit moeten wij beide in ons verstaen ende ghevoelen sal ons recht zijn.

Ende hier-omme segghe ic aldus, dat in onsen inwindeghen aenschine, uten aenschine gods ochte ute onsen oversten ghevoelne, soe schijnt eene claerheit die ons die waerheit leert van minnen ende van allen duechden. Ende sonderlinghe in deser claerheit soe werden wij gheleert gods ende ons te ghevoelne in . iiij. manieren. Inden eersten ghevoelen wij gode in ons met zijnre ghenaden. Ende als wij des waer-nemen, soe en connen wij niet ledich ghesijn. Want ghelijckerwijs dat die zonne met harer claerheit ende met harer hitten verlicht ende verblijt ende vruchtbaer maect alle die werelt, alsoe doet god met zynre ghenaden: hy verclaert ende hy verblijdt ende hy maect vruchtbaer alle menschen die hem ghehoorsam willen sijn.

Want selen wij gode in ons ghevoelen, ende sal dat vier sijnre minnen in ons eewelijc berren, soe moete wijt hem met vryen wille hulpen stoken in . iiij. manieren: wij moeten in ons zelven den viere gheenicht bliven met innicheyden; ende wij moeten ute ons-selven gaen tot allen menschen met trouwen ende met bruederlijcker minnen; ende wij moeten beneden ons-selven gaen in penitenciën ende in allen goeden werken ende in wederstane onser ongheordender ghelost; ende wij moeten metter vlammen van desen viere boven ons-selven gaen met devociën, met dancke ende met love ende met innigen ghebede, ende altoes ane-cleven met rechter meyninghen ende met ghevoelijcker liefden.

Ende hier-mede blijft god wonende in ons met sijnre ghenaden; want in desen . iiij. manieren es bevaen alle die oefeninghe dier wij pleghen mogen met redenen in wisen. Ende sonder dese oefeninghe en mach niement gode behaghen; ende die alre-volcomenst es in deser oefeninghen, hy es gode alre-naest. Ende hier-omme esser noet allen menschen; ende hier boven en mach niemen comen dan scouwende menschen.

Ende hieromme, inden eersten, soe ghevoelen wij alle gode in ons met sijnre ghenaden, eest dat wij goets (godes ?) willen sijn. Ten anderen male, eest dat wij hebben een scouwende leven, soe ghevoelen wij ons levende in gode. Ende ute dien levene daer wij ons in gode ghevoelen, soe schijnt eene claerheit in onse inwindeghe aenschijn die onse redene verlicht ende tusschen ons ende gode middelt. Ende alse wij in deser claerheit met onser verlichter redenen staende bliven in ons-selven, soe ghevoelen wij dat onse ghescapen leven altoes weselijc hemselven ontsinckende es in sijn eewich leven. Maer daer wij der claerheyt navolghen boven redene, met eenvoldighen gesichte ende met willigher gheneychtheyt ons selfs, tote in onse overste leven: daer ontfaen wij die overforminghe gods in alheyt ons-selfs.

Ende alsoe ghevoelen wij ons te male bevaen in gode. Ende hier-na volcht dat derde onderscheet van ghevoelne, dat es, dat wij ons met gode één ghevoelen. Want overmids die overforminghe gods ghevoelen wij ons verswolghen in een grondeloes abis onser eewigher zalicheit, daer wij tusschen gode ende ons nemmermeer onderscheet venden en moghen. Want dat es onse overste ghevoelen, dat wij anders niet besitten en moghen dan in ontsonckenheiden van minnen.

Ende hieromme, als wij werden verheven ende ghetrocken in onse overste ghevoelen, soe staen alle onse crachte ledich in een weselijc ghebruken, maer si en werden niet te nieute; want soe verloren wij onse ghescapenheit. Ende alsoe langhe als wij met gheneychden gheeste ende met openen oghen sonder merken ledich staen, alsoe langhe moghen wij scouwen ende ghebruken. Maer inden selven oghenblicke dat wij proeven ende merken willen wat dat es dat wij ghevoelen, soe vallen wij in redenen. Ende dan venden wij onderscheet ende anderheyt tusschen ons ende gode. Ende dan venden wij gode buten ons in ombegripelijcheiden, ende dit es dat vierde onderscheet daer wij gode ende ons in ghevoelen. Want hier venden wij ons staende voer die jeghenwoordicheyt gods. Ende die waerheit die wij ontfaen uten aenschine gods, die tuycht ons dat god te-male wilt onse sijn, ende dat hi wilt dat wij te-male sine sijn. Ende inden selven oghenblicke dat wij des ghevoelen dat god te-male wilt onse zijn, soe ontsprinct in ons eene gapende ghierighe ghelost, die alsoe hongherich ende alsoe diep ende alsoe idel is, al gave god dat hi gheleisten mochte, sonder hem selven, het en mochte ons niet ghenoeghen.

Want in dien dat wij ghevoelen dat hi hem-selven ghelaten ende ghegheven heeft onser vriër ghelost, sijns te ghesmakene in alder wijs dat wijs begheren moghen; ende wij leeren, in die waerheit sijns aenschijns, dat al dat wij ghesmaken, jeghen dat ons ontblijft, dat en es niet een druppe jeghen al de zee: ende dit verstormt onsen gheest in hitten ende in ongheduere van minnen. Want soe wijs meer ghesmaken, soe lost ende hongher meder wert; want ieghewelc es des anders sake. Ende dit doet ons crighen in ontbliven. Want wij teren op sine onghemetenheit, die wij niet verswelghen en moghen; ende wij crighen in sine ongheïntheit, die wij niet hervolghen en moghen. Ende aldus en connen wij in gode comen noch god in ons. Want in ongheduere van minnen en connen wij ons-selfs niet vertijen. Ende hier-omme es die hitte soe onghetempert, dat die oefeninghe van minnen tuscen ons ende gode gaende ende kerende es al die blixeme des hemels; nochtans en connen wij niet verberren.

Ende in desen storme van minnen sijn onse werke boven redene ende wiseloes, want minne beghert dat haer ommoghelijc is. Ende redene tughet dat der minnen recht es. Maer si en can der minnen hier-toe gheraden noch verbeiden. Want alsoe langhe als wij aensien met innicheiden dat god onse wilt sijn, soe gherijnt die goedertierenheit gods onse gierighe ghelost.

Ende hier-ave comt ongheduer van minnen. Want dat uutvloeyende gherinen gods stoect ongheduer, ende eyscht ons werc, dat es: dat wij minnen die eewighe minne. Maer dat intreckende gherinen vertert ons ute ons-selven ende eyscht ons versmelten ende vernieuten in eenicheiden. Ende in dit intreckende gerinen ghevoelen wij dat god wilt dat wij sijne sijn, want daer-inne moeten wij ons-selfs vertyen, ende laten hem werken onse zalicheit. Maer daer hi ons uutvloeyende gherijnt, daer laet hi ons ons-selven, ende maect ons vri ende sedt ons voer sine jeghenwoordicheit, ende leert ons beden inden gheeste ende eyschen met vryheiden, ende vertoent ons sine ombegripelijcke rijcheit in alsoe menigher formen als wij ghevisieren connen. Want al dat wij gedincken moghen daert troest ende vroude in gheleecht, dat vinden wij al in hem sonder mate.

Ende hier-omme, als wij dan dat ghevoelen, dat hi met al deser rijcheit onse wilt sijn, ende altoes met ons wonen wilt, hier-jeghen ontpluken alle die crachte onser zielen, ende sonderlinghe onse ghierighe ghelost. Want alle die rivieren der ghenaden gods, die vloeyen; ende soe wijs meer ghesmaken, soe ons meer lust te smakene; ende soe ons meer ghelust te smakenne, soe wi dieper crighen in sijn gherinen; ende soe wij diepere crighen in dat gerinen gods, soe ons die vloede sijnre soeticheit meer doervloeyen ende overvloeyen; ende soe wij meer doervloeyt werden ende overvloeyt sijn, soe wij bat ghevoelen ende bekinnen dat die soeticheit gods ombegripelijc es ende sonder gront.

Ende hier-om spreect die prophete aldus: ‘Smaect ende siet, want god es soete.’ Maer hi en spreect niet: ‘hoe soete,’ want sine soeticheit es sonder mate; ende hier-omme en connen wise noch begripen noch verswelghen. Ende dit tuycht ons die bruyt gods inden cantiken ende spreect aldus: ‘Ic hebbe gheseten onder des-gheens scaduee dien ic begherde, ende sine vrocht es soete mijnder kelen.’ .

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Rom.6.2 — By no means! We who died to sin—how could we still live in it?
  2. ↩John.1.13;1John.3.9 — who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 1John.3.9 — Everyone who has been born of God does not practice sin, because his seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
  3. ↩Matt.16.24;Luke.9.23 — Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Luke.9.23 — Then he said to all, "If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me."
  4. ↩Col.3.3 — For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
  5. ↩Col.3.3 — For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
  6. ↩Rev.14.13 — And I heard a voice from heaven saying, 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.' 'Yes,' says the Spirit, 'so that they may rest from their labors, for their works follow with them.'
  7. ↩Rev.14.13 — And I heard a voice from heaven saying, 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.' 'Yes,' says the Spirit, 'so that they may rest from their labors, for their works follow with them.'
  8. ↩John.14.23;1John.4.12-1John.4.16 — Jesus answered him, 'If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.' 1John.4.12 — No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 1John.4.13 — By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 1John.4.14 — And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 1John.4.15 — Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 1John.4.16 — And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
  9. ↩John.15.4-John.15.7;1John.4.13-1John.4.16 — Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you, unless you remain in me. John.15.5 — I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who abides in me, and I in him, this one bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing. John.15.6 — If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and is dried up; and they gather them, and throw them into the fire, and it is burned. John.15.7 — If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 1John.4.13 — By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 1John.4.14 — And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 1John.4.15 — Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 1John.4.16 — And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
  10. ↩1Cor.13.13 — And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
  11. ↩John.14.23 — Jesus answered him, 'If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.'
  12. ↩John.15.14-John.15.15 — You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you. John.15.15 — No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because all that I heard from my Father I have made known to you.
  13. ↩Rom.8.14-Rom.8.19 — For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Rom.8.15 — For you did not receive a spirit of slavery again to fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, in which we cry, "Abba, Father." Rom.8.16 — The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Rom.8.17 — And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. Rom.8.18 — For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is about to be revealed to us. Rom.8.19 — For the eager longing of creation waits for the revelation of the sons of God.
  14. ↩1John.2.15-1John.2.17 — Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1John.2.16 — For all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father, but is from the world. 1John.2.17 — And the world is passing away, and its desire; but the one who does the will of God remains forever.
  15. ↩2Cor.6.10 — as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing all things.
  16. ↩2Cor.6.10 — as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing all things.
  17. ↩Eccl.1.7 — All the streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full; to the place where the streams flow, there they return to flow again.
  18. ↩Mark.8.36;Matt.16.26 — For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Matt.16.26 — For what will it benefit a person if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will a person give in exchange for their life?
  19. ↩John.17.3 — And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and the one you sent, Jesus Christ.
  20. ↩John.4.23-John.4.24;Eph.6.18 — But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father seeks such as these to worship him. John.4.24 — God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. Eph.6.18 — Through all prayer and supplication, praying at every season in the Spirit, and for this keeping watch with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
  21. ↩Eph.3.8 — To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Middle Dutch ontslapen is the mystical repose of falling asleep/resting in God, not physical sleep; kept as 'fall asleep' to preserve Ruusbroec's death-and-rest image.
  2. 2 ↩ordinancie here means the ordered arrangement of the spiritual path Ruusbroec is about to set out, not a legal statute; rendered as 'order'.
  3. 3 ↩heblijc (hebbelijk): rendered 'well disposed' for habitual aptitude/readiness; could also be 'apt' or 'suited'.
  4. 4 ↩oefeninghen: spiritual exercises/practice of virtue; rendered 'practice' to keep the devotional sense without sounding technical.
  5. 5 ↩besittende gode is Ruusbroec's technical language for contemplative possession of God; kept as 'possessing God' rather than softened to mere closeness.
  6. 6 ↩ontwerden is Ruusbroec’s technical term for mystical un-becoming (passing out of self); eyghenscap is proprietorship/ownness—rendered here as self-possession rather than legal property.
  7. 7 ↩Middle Dutch overweselijcke is Ruusbroec's technical term for what is beyond created being (often rendered 'superessential'). Kept for doctrinal precision rather than flattened to 'infinite' or 'spiritual'.
  8. 8 ↩verstorvenheit is the state of having died away (to self), not mere moral restraint or sadness; rendered as 'death to ourselves' to keep the dying/mortification force continuous with the surrounding sections.
  9. 9 ↩Middle Dutch 'boeke der heimelijcheit' (book of the secret/mystery) is the traditional title for the Apocalypse/Revelation; rendered as Book of Revelation.
  10. 10 ↩'ghebrukelijcke eenicheit' is Ruusbroec's technical term for the fruitive/enjoyable unity of God (unity as fruition); rendered 'enjoyable unity' to keep modern-readable voice without flattening the mystical sense.
  11. 11 ↩'eewelijc ghestorven' and 'altoes van nuwes stervende' name mystical death to self, not mere physical death—continuous dying in love into God.
  12. 12 ↩Middle Dutch *wise* is Ruusbroec’s technical term for a distinct spiritual mode or manner; *gheestelijc doochsam leven* is a spiritual life ordered by virtue (*duecht*).
  13. 13 ↩*Onwise* (waylessness / modelessness) is Ruusbroec’s counterpart to *wise*: the modeless dying into God beyond distinct modes of practice. *Weder in gode sterven* is dying back/again into God, not ordinary physical death.
  14. 14 ↩Middle Dutch overlidene (overliden) is Ruusbroec’s technical term for mystical dying-through / going beyond self and creatures into God; rendered as “passing beyond” rather than literal “death” alone.
  15. 15 ↩heimelijcke means private/intimate rather than merely secret; rendered as 'intimate friends' for the inward friendship with God.
  16. 16 ↩Parsed as God openly presenting/showing us as his sons (not merely showing his sons to us), matching the servant/friend/son progression in the section.
  17. 17 ↩onghebeelt keeps the Ruusbroeckian sense of imageless (free of formed mental pictures); bloetheit is rendered as bareness, not physical nakedness.
  18. 18 ↩ghemercs is rendered as 'mark of distinction' (what the mind notes or marks off); alternatives include 'noticing' or 'mental grasp'.
  19. 19 ↩ledeghen sine is rendered as 'empty stillness' (vacant rest of the spirit); sine = rest/stillness, ledeghen = empty/idle of images.
  20. 20 ↩ghènycht is rendered 'inclined toward'; Ruusbroeckian usage also supports 'united to' the truth that is God.
  21. 21 ↩overwesene: Ruusbroec’s technical term for the superessential (beyond essence); rendered ‘the superessential’ to keep the mystical load without archaism.
  22. 22 ↩wiseloese: Ruusbroec’s ‘without mode/way’; standard English rendering ‘wayless’ (not foolish or random).
  23. 23 ↩onwisen sonder gront: not moral ‘unwisdom’ but modeless/wayless abyss without ground; ‘bottomless modelessness’ preserves both onwijs and sonder gront.
  24. 24 ↩ontsonckenheiden van minnen: plural ‘sinkings-away’ of love—states of being sunk/immersed in love, not mere emotional collapse.
  25. 25 ↩doerweten / doersmaken: intensive ‘know through’ and ‘taste through’—thorough penetration by knowing and savoring, not mere intellectual knowledge.
  26. 26 ↩onthoghende allen creatueren: rendered 'transcends all creatures' (elevating above / surpassing every creature), not mere spatial height.
  27. 27 ↩ongheduer van minnen: the unquiet, impatient restlessness of love (not mere emotional agitation); stoect is goad/spur/stoke.
  28. 28 ↩overweselijcke minne is Ruusbroec’s technical term: love above/beyond created being (superessential), not merely ‘supernatural’ in the loose modern sense.
  29. 29 ↩sijns selfsheit rendered as ‘His own selfhood’ (God’s own essence/self); verteert te nieute = consumes to nothingness (mystical annihilation language).
  30. 30 ↩eenvuldich: Ruusbroec’s ‘onefold/simple’ (undivided), not naïve; afgrondich: abyssal/abyss-like depth; smaec: interior spiritual savor/taste.
  31. 31 ↩boven redene ende sonder redene: both beyond the reach of reason and without discursive reasoning; stilheit der godheit is the unmoved rest of the divine essence.
  32. 32 ↩oefeninghe rendered as 'practice' (spiritual exercise/discipline); hervolghen as 'track down' (pursue/follow after). The claim is that discursive reason and deliberate spiritual method cannot pursue the manner, identity, place, or nature of this Godhead-experience.
  33. 33 ↩wiseloes / sonder maniere: technical Middle Dutch mystical pair for practice beyond particular modes or forms of reason and method; rendered as without manner / without fixed mode.
  34. 34 ↩grondelose goet: literally groundless/bottomless good; kept as bottomless good for the abyssal divine Good that exceeds comprehension.
  35. 35 ↩Middle Dutch ledich here is contemplative emptiness/rest from self-activity in God, not laziness; it pairs with werkende (working) in the self.
  36. 36 ↩salicheit can mean salvation or blessedness/beatitude; rendered blessedness for the contemplative possession of God in this chapter.
  37. 37 ↩ghevoelne is experiential sensing/feeling, not mere emotion; the life is one, but the felt modes oppose each other.
  38. 38 ↩ghescapenheit rendered as 'created nature' (creatureliness); Ruusbroec means we remain creatures and cannot pass over into bare Godhead by dissolving that status.
  39. 39 ↩claerheit gods: rendered as 'clarity of God' for Ruusbroec's contemplative illumination; also means brightness/radiance of divine light.
  40. 40 ↩ontgheesten: technical Ruusbroec term for going beyond the spirit's own activity into God; rendered 'passing out of the spirit' rather than a psychological emptying.
  41. 41 ↩eenvoldigher grondeloser minnen: 'simple, bottomless love' preserves the undivided and abyssal force of the pair; 'simple' = undivided, not naive.
  42. 42 ↩eenvuldighen ghesichte: 'simple gaze' = single, undivided contemplative regard, not naive looking.
  43. 43 ↩Middle Dutch ontsinken and ontsonckenheide name Ruusbroec's contemplative 'sinking away' into God—not mere emotional collapse, but the soul's relinquishing motion into divine transformation (overforminghe).
  44. 44 ↩verlorenheiden ons selfs is self-loss in love (not damnation). eyghendom is mystical mutual possession: God becomes 'ours' and we become 'his' as we sink without return into that ownership, which is God himself.
  45. 45 ↩Middle Dutch weselijc marks the sinking as of the soul’s essence/being (not a passing act); hebbelijcker minnen is Ruusbroec’s technical “habitual love” (hebbelijke minne), love as an abiding habit rather than a momentary feeling.
  46. 46 ↩ontsincken: Ruusbroec’s technical term for the soul’s essential sinking away into God, not mere emotional collapse.
  47. 47 ↩stad here means proper place or station, not city.
  48. 48 ↩weselijcke ontsinken / hebbelijcker minnen: essential sinking paired with habitual love (hebbelijk = love as a settled habitus, not a passing act), continuing the terms of the previous section.
  49. 49 ↩afgrondich ghevoelen: abysmal/abyssal felt awareness of God; rendered ‘abysmal awareness’ to keep Ruusbroec’s abyss-language without modern casual sense of ‘terrible.’
  50. 50 ↩ontsinken is Ruusbroec’s technical term for the contemplative sinking-away / rest of the self in God; rendered as 'sinking away' rather than ordinary 'sinking' to keep the mystical force.
  51. 51 ↩anderheit ('otherness') names God as that which is other than the self; kept as 'otherness' rather than paraphrased as 'another being' to preserve Ruusbroec’s technical vocabulary.
  52. 52 ↩onwetene sonder gront is the apophatic 'groundless unknowing' of mystical darkness; 'unknowing' keeps the technical force better than 'ignorance'.
  53. 53 ↩ontwracht ende ghewracht is Ruusbroec’s pair: the soul’s own working is taken away (unworked) and God works the soul (wrought). Kept as 'unworked…and wrought' to preserve the technical contrast rather than paraphrasing into looser passivity language.
  54. 54 ↩sy / haers selfsheit refers to the groundless clarity (claerheyt) of the prior sentences; rendered with neuter 'it/its' for that abstract subject, not personal 'she'.
  55. 55 ↩Middle Dutch kinnissen met ondersceede is a technical Ruusbroeckian pairing: not bare absorption into God, but knowing that still holds difference—preparing the twin claims that follow (one with God, yet other than God).
  56. 56 ↩een ander van gode means remaining another/other than God—creaturely distinction preserved forever, not a second godhead. Rendered as “other than God” to keep the contrast with “one with God” clear.
  57. 57 ↩Parsed as two coordinated demands on the same twin truth (one with God / other than God): interior understanding (verstaen) and interior feeling (ghevoelen). The clause ghevoelen sal ons recht zijn is taken as ‘feeling them will be right for us,’ not as a separate third proposition.
  58. 58 ↩Middle Dutch aenschine can mean vision, beholding, or countenance; rendered as vision to keep Ruusbroec's contemplative sense of inner seeing. oversten ghevoelne is the soul's highest mystical sensing of God, not ordinary emotion.
  59. 59 ↩Source ends mid-phrase with 'in .' before the following numbered fragment; sense continues as 'in four ways' across s3–s4.
  60. 60 ↩ledich can mean idle, empty, or unoccupied; here the moral/spiritual force is inactivity once grace is perceived.
  61. 61 ↩Middle Dutch love here is lof (praise), not English love; minnen/liefden carry the love sense elsewhere in the sentence.
  62. 62 ↩oefeninghe rendered as 'practice' (spiritual exercise/discipline), not mere physical exercise; in wisen as 'in an ordered way' (ordered modes), not merely 'wisely'.
  63. 63 ↩scouwende menschen = contemplative people (those living the scouwende leven); 'above this' (hier boven) means beyond the fourfold active practice into contemplation.
  64. 64 ↩Source ends mid-clause at goets, with an editorial query (godes ?). The continuous reading with s2 is eest dat wij goets willen sijn (“if we want to be good”); godes would yield “if we want to be God’s / of God.” Translation follows goets as good and completes in s2.
  65. 65 ↩inwindeghe aenschijn is Ruusbroec’s image of the soul’s inward countenance or face; claerheit is mystical clarity/illumination, not mere intellectual clearness. middelt keeps the force of a mediating light between the soul and God.
  66. 66 ↩weselijc = essentially / in its being (not casually “really”). ontsinckende is Ruusbroec’s sink-away/lose-oneself verb for created life yielding into eternal life; kept as sinking away rather than a weaker “passing.”
  67. 67 ↩overforminghe gods is Ruusbroec’s technical term for God’s over-forming / transforming action in the soul; rendered transformation of God (God’s transforming work), not a change of God’s nature. eenvoldighen gesichte = simple/undivided contemplative gaze.
  68. 68 ↩overforminghe gods rendered as 'God's transformation' (divine overforming of the self); not a change in God, but the creature's being overformed by God.
  69. 69 ↩ontsonckenheiden van minnen: Ruusbroec's technical term for the soul's sinking-away / being lost in love; rendered as 'being sunk away in love' to keep the motion of ontsincken without archaism.
  70. 70 ↩weselijc ghebruken: Ruusbroec's technical term for fruitive enjoyment of God in the essence/being; rendered 'essential enjoyment' rather than paraphrased as mere 'rest' or 'bliss'.
  71. 71 ↩sonder merken: without noticing or particularizing objects; the idle, non-grasping gaze of contemplation, not literal blindness.
  72. 72 ↩aenschine gods: countenance/face/radiance of God; 'face' keeps the biblical register without archaic 'countenance'.
  73. 73 ↩idel here means empty/void as capacity (hungry openness), not 'idle' or moral vanity; ghelost is appetitive longing/desire.
  74. 74 ↩ghelaten ende ghegheven: God yields and gives himself to the soul’s free desire (ghelost), not that the soul possesses him as property, but that he opens himself to be tasted.
  75. 75 ↩ongheduere van minnen: restlessness / impatience of love—desire that cannot wait or rest while God remains partly withheld.
  76. 76 ↩crighen in ontbliven: struggle / strive / contend within the condition of lack—what remains ontblijvende, still kept from us. Parallel to crighen in sine ongheïntheit in the next sentence.
  77. 77 ↩hervolghen: pursue / follow after; with the double negative niet ... en moghen, the sense is that the soul cannot overtake or exhaust the infinite.
  78. 78 ↩Not a denial of grace or union elsewhere in the work, but the present storm-state: restlessness of love blocks the quiet self-abandonment needed for mutual indwelling.
  79. 79 ↩gaende ende kerende: going and returning—love’s mutual traffic between soul and God. blixeme des hemels: lightning of heaven; verberren: be burned up / consumed.
  80. 80 ↩Middle Dutch wiseloes is literally ‘wisdom-less’: beyond rational measure and discretion, not mere foolishness.
  81. 81 ↩Rendered as ‘wait for’; Middle Dutch verbeiden can also mean await patiently or endure. The force is that reason can neither advise love into this extremity nor hold still while love takes it.
  82. 82 ↩gierighe is avid/greedy; in this mystical hunger-context it marks intense, covetous longing for God, not moral avarice.
  83. 83 ↩ongheduer: Ruusbroec’s term for love’s impatient unrest/restlessness, not mere irritation.
  84. 84 ↩uutvloeyende gherinen: God’s outward-flowing touch (technical Ruusbroec pair with intreckende gherinen).
  85. 85 ↩vernieuten: mystical annihilation (being brought to nothing in God), not physical destruction.
  86. 86 ↩Middle Dutch ghierighe ghelost is a strong appetitive term (eager/greedy desire). Here it is the soul's hungry longing for God, not moral avarice; rendered 'eager desire' to keep the force without sounding disordered.
  87. 87 ↩Ruusbroec's gherinen is the divine touch or contact of God (cf. previous section's uutvloeyende/intreckende gherinen). Rendered 'touch' to keep the technical mystical sense without modernizing into mere emotion.
  88. 88 ↩wijs read as wij + es ('we them'), referring to the rivers of grace: 'the more we taste them'.
  89. 89 ↩verswelghen is rendered ‘swallow’ to keep the tasting/eating image from the psalm; it means fully take in or consume, not mere physical swallowing.
  90. 90 ↩Source sentence is only a bare period ('.'); no verbal content to translate.

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A daily portion of stillness

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