Dionysus the Areopagite
late 5th centhury
The simple, absolute and immuteable mysteries of the divine Truth are hidden
in secret. For this darkness, though of deepest obscurity, is yet radiantly clear;
and , though beyond touch and sight, it more than fills our unseeing minds with
splendours of transcendent beauty .. And we behold that darkness beyond
being, concealed under all natural light. - The mystical theology
Then, set free from the worlds of sense and of intellect, the soul enters into the
mysterious obscurity of a holy ignorance, and ..... loses itself into him who can be neither seen nor
apprehended ..Then the soul comes to know a special joy: fruition of the touch divine.
- The mystical theology
We pray to enter into the super-bright gloom, and through not seeing and not knowing, to see
and to know that the not to see nor to know is itself the above sight and knowledge.
For this is veritably to see and to know and to celebrate superessentiality the superessential,
through the abstraction of all existing things, just as those who make a lifelike statue,
by extracting all the encumbrances which have been placed upon the clear view of the concealed,
and by bringing light , by the mere cutting away, the genuine beauty concealed in it. And, it is
necessary, as I think, to celebrate the abstraction in an opposite way to the definitions.
For we used to place these latter by the beginning from the foremost and descending through
the middle to the lowest; but, in this case, by making the ascents from the lowest to the highest,
we abstract everything, in order that, without veil, we may know that agnosia; which is
enshrouded under all the known , in all the things that be, and may see that superessential gloom
, which is hidden by all the light in existing things. -The Mystical Theology
The divine dark is the inaccessible Light in which God is said to dwell.
Into this dark, invisible because of its surpassing brightness and unreachable
because of the abundance of its supernatural torrents of light, all enter who are worthy
to know and see God: and, by the very fact of not seeing or knowing, are truely
in Him who is above all sight and knowledge - letter to Dorothy the Deacon.
Meister Eckhart
1260-1329
God and the Godhead are as different from eachother as heaven and earth ..
God becomes where all creatures express him: there he becomes "God"
..When I am come into the core, the soil, the stream, and the source of the Godhead,
no one ask me where I am coming from or where I have been. No one has missed me
in the place where "God" ceases to become. - Miscellanies.
All that a man has here externally in multiplicity is instrinsically One.
Here all blades of grass , wood and stone, all things are One.
This is the deepest depth. - Miscellanies..
There is a spirit in the soul, untouched by time and
flesh, flowing from the Spirit, remaining in the Spirit, itself wholly
spiritual. In this principle is God, ever verdant, ever flowering in all
joy and glory of His actual Self. - Miscellanies.
The treasure of the Kingdom of God has been hidden by time and multiplicity
and the soul`s own works, or briefly by its creaturely nature. But in the measure
that the soul can separate itself from this multiplicity, to that extent it reveals
within itself the Kingdom of God. Here the soul and the Godhead are one ..
The whole scarrered world of lower things is gathered up to onenesss when
the soul climbs up to that life in which there are no opposites - Miscellanies
God`s ultimate purpose is birth. He is not content until he brings his Son to birth in us.
-Miscellanies
The seed of God is in us.Given an intelligent and hard-working farmer,
it will thrive and grow up to God, whose seed it is; and accordinglyits fruits will be God-nature.
Pear seeds grow into pear trees, nut into nut trees, and God seed into God. -Miscellanies
When God laugs at the soul and the soul laughs back at God, the persons of the Trinity are born.
To speak in hyperbole, when the Father laughs at the Son and the Son laughs back to the Father
, that laughter gives pleasure, that pleasure gives joy, that joy gives love, and love gives the persons
of the Trinity in which the Holy Spirit is one. - Miscellanies
Fire transforms all things it touches into its own nature.
The wood does not change the fire into itself,
but the fire changes the wood into itself.
In the same way we are transformed into God
so that we may know him as he is.
Acting and becoming are one:
God and I are one in this work:
he acts and I become. - Miscellanies.
I f the soul knows God in creatures, night falls.
If it sees how they have their being in God , morning breaks.
But if it sees the Being that is in God himself alone, it is high noon!
See! This is what one ought to desire with mad fervour -
that all his life should become Being. -Miscellanies.
The Ground of God and the ground of the soul are one and same. - Miscellanies
Oh wonder of wonders! When I think of the union of the soul with God!
The divine love-spring surges over the soul, sweeping her out of herself
into the unnamed being of her original source... In this exalted state she has
losr her proper self and is flowing full-flood into the unity of the divine nature ..
Henceforth I shall not speak about the soul, for she has lost her name in the oneness
of the divine essence. There she is no more called soul : she is called infinite bieng.
-Tractate 11.
Jan Van Ruysbroeck
1293-1381
I n this return in love in the divine ground every divine way and activity and all the attributes
of the persons are swallowed up in the rich compass of the essential unity.
All the divine means and all conditions, and all living images which are reflected in
the mirror of truth, lapse in the onefold and ineffable waylessness beyond reason.
Here there is nothing but eternal rest in the fruitive embrace of outpouring love.
This is the dark silence in which all lovers lose themselves.
-The adornment of the Spiritual Marriage.
The Image of God is found essentially and personally in all mankind.
Each possesses it whole, entire and undivided, and all together not more
than one alone. In this way we are all one, intimately united in our eternal
images, which is the image of God and the source in us of all our life.
-The adornment of the Spiritual Marriage.
This is why the soul receives, in the highest, most secret part of its being,
the impress of its Eternal Image, and the uninterrupted effulgence of the divine light, and is
the eternal dwelling-place of God: wherein He abides as in perpetual habitation, and yet which
He perpetually visits with the new coming and new radiance and new spleandour of His eternal birth.
For where He comes, He is : and where He is, He comes.
- The adornment of the Spiritual Marrigage
Unity is this : that a man feel himself to be gathered together with all his powers
in the unity of his heart. Unity brings inward peace and restfulness of heart.
Unity of heart is a bond which draws together body and soul, heart and senses
, and all the outward and inward powers and encloses them in th eunion of love.
-The adornment of the Spiritual Marriage.
And the coming of the Bridegroom is so swift that he is perpetually coming and dwelling
within the unfathomable riches, and ever coming anew in His Person, without intercpetion
, with such new brightness that it seems as though he had never come before.
For His coming consists beyond time, in an eternal Now, which is ever received with new longings
and new joy. Behold, the delight and the joy which the Bridegroom brings with Him in the coming
are boundless and without measure, for they are Himself.
-The adornment of the Spiritual Marrigage.
How great is the difference between the secret friend and the hidden child!
For the friend makes only loving, living but measured accents towards God.
But the child presses on to lose his own life upon the summits, in that simplicity
which knoweth not itself - The Sparkling Stone
When we transcend ourselves and become in our ascent towards God so simple that
the bare supreme Love can lay hold of us, then we cease, and we and all our selfhood
die in God. And in this death we become the hidden children of God, and find new life within us.
-The Sparkling Stone.
When love has carried us above and beyond all things into the Divine Dark..
we receive in peace the Incomprehensible Light , enfolding us and penetrating us
.. What is this Light, if it be not a contemplation of the Infinite, and an intuition of Eternity?
We behold that which we are, and we are that which we behold; because our thought, life
and being are uplifted in simplicity and made one with the Divine Truth which is God.
-The Sparkling Stone.
We can speak no more of Father, Son and Holy Spirit or of any creature,
but only of one Being, which is the very substance of the Divine Persons.
There we all are before our creation...
There the Godhead is, in simple essence, without activiity ; Eternal Rest,
Unconditioned Dark, the Nameless being, the Superessence of all created things.
-The Seven degrees of Love.
O ur work is the love of God.
Our satisfaction lies in submission to the divine embrace. -Miscellanies
Julian of Norwich
Thus I learned that love is our Lord`s meaning. And I saw full in this and in everything else,
that before God made us, he loved us. And that love was never ended nor ever shall be.
And in this love he has performed all his actions; he has made all things profitable to us.
And in this love our life is everlasting. In our making we had our beginning; but love wherein he
made us is without beginning .... And all this shall we see in God without end.
-Revelations of Divine Love
Thomas Traherne
An empty book is like an Infant`s Soul, in which anything may be written.
It is capable of all things, but containeth nothing.
I have a mind to fill with profitable wonders.
And since Love made you put it into my hands I will fill it with
those Truths you love without knowing them : and with those things
which, if it be possible, shall shew my Love ; to you, in communicating
most enriching Truths : to Truth, in her beauties in such a Soul.
-Centuries of Meditation
The fellowship of the mystery that hath been hid in God since the creation
is not only the contemplation of His Love in the work of redemption tho` that
is wonderful, but the end for which we are redeemed ; a communion with Him
in all His Glory. For which cause st.Peter saith "the god of all grace hath called
us unto His Eternal Glory in Jesus Christ" His Eternal Glory by the methods of
His Divine Wisdom being made ours M and our fruition of it the end for which our Saviour
Suffered - Centuries of Meditation
To think well is to serve God in the interior court : To have a mind composed of Divine Thoughts
, and set frame, to be like Him within. To conceive aright and to enjoy the world, is to conceive
the Holy Ghost, and to see His Love : which is the Mind of the Father. And this more pleaseth Him
than many Worlds, could we create as fair and great as this, For when you are once acquainted with
the world, you will find the goodness and Wisdom of God so manifest therein, that it was impossible
another, or better should be made. Which being made to be enjoyed , nothing can please or serve
Him more, than the Soul that enjoys it. For that Soul doth accomplish the end of His desire in Creating it.
-Centuries of Meditation
To be Holy is so zealously to desire, so vastly to esteem, and so earnestly to endeavour it,
that we would not for millions of gold and silver, decline, nor fail , nor mistake in a tittle.
For then we please God when we are most like Him. We are like Him when our minds are in frame.
Our minds are in frame when our thoughts are like His. And our thoughts are like His when we have such
conceptions of all objects as God hath, and prize all things according to their value. For God doth prize
all things rightly, which is a Key that opens into the very thoughts of His bosom. It seemeth arrogance to
pretend to the knowledge of His secret thoughts. But how shall we have the Mind of God unless we know
his thoughts? Or how shall we ve led by His divine spirit, till we have His Mind? His thoughts are hidden :
but He hath revealed unto us the hidden Things of Darkness. By His works and by His attributes we know
His Thoughts : and by thinking the same, are Divine and Blessed.
-Centuries of Meditation.
The World is not this little Cottage of Heaven and Earth. Though this be fair, it is too small a Gift.
When God made the World He made the Heavens, and the Heavens of Heavens, and the Angels, and the
Celestial Powers. These also are parts of the World: So are all those infinite and eternal Treasures that are to abide
forever, after the Day of Judgment. Neither are these, some here, and some there, but all everywhere, and at once to
be enjoyed. The World is unknown, till the Value and Glory of it is seen : till the Beauty and
Serviceableness of its parts is considered. When you enter into it, i9t is an illimited field of Variety and Beauty :
where you may lose yourself in the multitude of Wonder and Delights. But it is an happy loss to lose oneself in
admiration at one`s own Felicity : and to find God in exchange for oneself. Which we then do
when we see Him in His Gifts, and adore His Glory. - Centuries of Meditation.
You never know yourself till you know more than your body. The Image of God was not seated in the features of
your face, but in the lineaments of your Soul. In the knowledge of your Powers, Inclinations, and Principles, that
knowledge of yourself chiefly consisteth. Which are so great that even to the most learned of men, their Greatness
is Incredible; and so Divine, that they are infinite in value. Alas the World is but a little centre in
comparison to you. Suppose it millions of miles from the Earth to the Heavens , and millions of millions above the
Stars, both hereand over the heads of our Antipodes : it is surrounded with infinite and eternal space : And like a
gentleman`s house to one that is travelling ; it is a long time before you come unto it, you pass it in an instant, and
leave it forever. The Omniprescense and Eternity of God are your fellows and companions. And all that is in them
ought to be made your familiar Treasures. Your understanding comprehends the World like the dust of a balance,< br>
measures Heaven with a span, and esteems a thousand years but as one day. So that Great, Endless, Eternal
Delights are only fit to be its enjoyments. - Centuries of Meditation.
The Cross is the abyss of the wonders, the centre of desires, the shcool of virtues
, the house of wisdom, the throne of love, the theatre of joys , and the place of sorrows;
It is the root of happiness and the gate of Heaven.
-Centuries of Meditation.
Understand what heaven is : It is but the turning in of the will
He alone is a true christian,
Not I, the I that I am , know these things ,
The only true way by which God may be perceived in his Word
All of the exterior ,visible world, with all its creatures are a corollary of the spiritual World
The Scholar asked his master, saying :
This is the precious pearl, whose beauty is more glorious,
The best treasure that a man can attain unto in this world is true knowledge;
Gerrard Winstanley
Mankind is the cheif creature, and the Spirit of universal Love in his branches,
First, all my strenght, my forces were utterly routed, my house I dwelt in afire ;
Sister Madonna Kolbenschlag
I think our concept of God is a product of our own dualistic thinking, which is that
1574-1625
into the Love of God. Wheresoever thou findest God manifesting
himself in love , there thou findest heaven , without travelling
for it so much as one foot . -
-Six Points
whose soul and Mind has entered again into its original matrix,
out of which the life of man has taken its origin, that is to say : The Eternal Word.
-Six Points
but God knows them In me
-Apologia
,his Essence and His will , is that man arrives at a state of Unity with himself -
and that ,not merely in his imagination, but in his Will, he should leave everything that is
his personal self, or that which belonged to that self, Money and Goods, Mother and Father,
Brother and Sister,Wife and Child,body and Life, and that his own self should become as
nothing to him. Man must surrender everything and become poorer than a bird in the air
that owns a nest. Man must own no nest for his heart in this world. Not that he should run
away from his home,and desert his wife,child and relatives, commit suicide or throw away
his possessions so that he may not be therein corporally : But he should kill and annihilate
his self-will, the will that claims all these things as its possession.
-Apologia
- Of Heaven and Hell .
Where goeth the soul when the body dieth? His master answered: There is no necessity
for it to go any wither. What not ! said the inquisitive Junius : Must not the soul leave the body
at death, and go either to heaven or to hell ? - It needs no going forth, replied
the venerable Theophorus : Only the outward mortal life with the body shall separate
themselves from the soul. The soul hath Heaven and Hell within itself before, according
it is written "The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation, neither shall
they say, Lo here ! or Lo there ! For the kingdom of God is within You" And whichsoever
of the two , that is , either Heaven or Hell is manifested in it, that the soul standeth
- Of Heaven and Hell
and whose virtue more sovereign than the sun:
It is a never-failing comfort in all afflictions, a balsam
for all sores, a panacea for all diseases, a sure antidote
against all poison, and death itself ; it is that joyful and assured
companion and guide, which never forsakes a man, but convoys
him... into the blessed paradise of perfect bliss.
-Signaturum Rerum.
even the knowledge of himself : For man is the great mystery
of God , the microcosm, or complete abridgement of the whole universe : he is
the mirandum Dei opus, God`s masterpiece, a living emblem and
hieroglyphic of eternity and time; and therefore to know whence he is, and what his
temporal and eternal being and well-being are, must needs be that one
necessary thing, to which all our chief study should aim, and in comparison of which
all the wealth of the world is but dross, and a loss to us.
-Signaturum Rerum.
1609-1676
is the Lord of all the Earth; and this Spirit in man unfolds himself in Light and Darkness
: his face is called the universal power of Love: his back parts are called the selfish power;
or thus, the one is called the Son of Bondage which causes shame, the other is called the
Son of Freedom, which brings peace and honour: these Two strive in the womb of the Earth
which shal come forth first; and which shall rule; the fleshly man, hath got the start; but the other
will prove the stronger, and cast him out with honour.
-The Curse and Blessing that is in Mankinde.
Abiezer Coppe
1619-1674
my father and my mother forsook me, the wife of my bosome loather me, mine old name
was rotted, perished ; and I was utterly plagued, consumed, damned, rammed, and sunke
into nothing, into the bowels of the still Eternity (my mothers wombe) out of which I came naked,
and wheretho I returned again naked. And lying a while there, rapt up in silence, at lenght,
(the body or outward frome being awake all this while) a most terrible thunder-clap, and
after that a second. And upon the second thunder-clap, which was exceedingly terrible,
I saw a great body of light, like the light of the Sun, and red as fire, in the forme of a drum
(as it were) whereupon with exceedingly trembling and amazement of the flesh, and with
joy unspeakable in the spirit, I clapt my hands, and cryed out, amen, haleluja, halelujah,
amen And so lay trembling, sweating, and smoaking (for the space of half an houre)
at lenght with a loud voyce I Inwardly cryed out, Lord, what wilt thou do with me; my most
excellent majesty and eternal glory in me answered & sayd, Fear not, I will take thee
up into mine everlasting Kingdom. But thou shalt first drink a bitter cup, a bitter cup...
a bitter cup, whereupon being filled with exceeding amazement i was throwne into the belly
of hell (and take what you can of it in these expressions) I was among all the Devils
in hell, even in their most hideous hew. And under all this terrour, and amazement,
there was a little spark of transcendent, transplendent, unspeakable glory, which survived,
and sustained itself, triumphing , exulting, and exalting itself above all the Fiends.
And, confounding the very blacknesse of darknesse (you must take it in these terms, for
it is infinitely beyond expression). Upon this the life was taken out of the body (for a season)
and it was thus resembled, as if a man with a great brush dipt in whiting, should with one stroke
wipe out, or sweep off a picture upon a wall, &c. after a while , breath and life returned into
the form againe; whereupon I saw varous streams of light (in the night) which appeared to the
outward eye; and immediately I saw three hearts (or three appearances in the form of hearts),
of exceeding brightnesse; and immediately an innumerable company of hearts, filling each corner
of the room where I was. And methought there was variety and distinction, as if there had been
severall hearts, and yet most strangely and unexpressibly complicated or folded up in unity....
And at this vision, a most strong, glorious voyce uttered these words; The spirits of just
men made perfect. The spirits &c. with whom I had a absolut cleare, full communion,
and in a two fold more familiar way, then ever I had outwardly with my dearest friends,
and nearest relations. - A Fiery Flying Roll
things are either transcendent and immanent. And I do not believe that anymore.
Spirit and matter are not slit in the manner we have stereo-typically thought of it.
My experience of God is of being transcendent and immanent all at once...
I no longer belive that God is up there, and I do not believe that God is only within me,
and I do not believe that God is merely out there in history. I think we are actually in
God at all times.