Chapter 7 · On mental and mystic ecstasy, wherein rest is given to the intellect, the affection passing wholly over, through ecstasy, into God — The Journey of the Mind into God
On mental and mystic ecstasy, wherein rest is given to the intellect, the affection passing wholly over, through ecstasy, into God
After our mind has passed through these six considerations, which are like the six steps to the throne of the true Solomon, whereby there is an ascent to peace, wherein the true man of peace rests in a peaceful mind, as in an inner Jerusalem; like the six wings of the Cherub, by which the mind of the true man of contemplation, full of the enlightenment of supernal wisdom, may be able to rise aloft; like the first six days, in which the mind is exercised, that finally it may attain to the Sabbath of rest—after our mind has beheld God outside of itself, by his footsteps and in his footsteps; within itself, through his image and in his image; above itself, by the similitude of the divine light reflected above us, and in that light, as far as is possible, according to the stage of progress and the exercise of our mind, when at last, on the sixth day, it shall have reached such a point as to behold in the first and highest principle and in Jesus Christ, the mediator between God and man, those things the like of which can in no degree be found in created things, and which go beyond all perspicacity of the human intellect, it remains that, beholding these things, it shall transcend and pass beyond, not only this sensible world, but also itself; in which transition Christ is the way and the door, Christ is the stair and the vehicle, as the mercy-seat placed above the ark of God, and the sacrament hidden from before the ages. He who looks at this mercy-seat, gazing with his face fully turned at Him who hangs on the cross, through faith, hope, and charity, through devotion, admiration, praise, and jubilation, makes the passover, that is, the transition, with him, so that through the rod of the cross he passes over the Red Sea from Egypt into the desert, where he tastes the hidden manna, and rests with Christ in the tomb, being, as it were, outwardly dead, nevertheless feeling, as far as is possible in the condition of pilgrimage, what was said on the cross to the robber who clung to Christ: “This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.” This also was shown to the Blessed Francis, when, in the ecstasy of contemplation on the lofty mountain (where I thought out these things which are written), there appeared to him a six-winged Seraph, fastened to a cross, as I and many others heard from a companion of his, who was with him at the time when he passed over into God through ecstasy of contemplation, and was set forth as an example of perfect contemplation, as formerly he had been of perfect action, like a second Jacob changed into Israel, that through him God might invite all truly spiritual men to this kind of trance and mental ecstasy, more by example than by word. But in this transition, if it is to be perfect, all intellectual operations must be left behind, and the whole apex of affection transferred and transformed into God. But this is a mystical and most secret thing, which no one knows save him who receives it; and no one receives it save him who desires it; and no one desires it save him whom the fire of the Holy Spirit, sent upon earth by Christ, inflames to the very marrow; and therefore the Apostle says that this mystical wisdom is revealed by the Holy Spirit. Since, therefore, in this, nature can do nothing, and industry but little, little heed must be paid to inquiry and much to unction; little to language and very much to internal joy; little to words and writing and the whole to the gift of God—that is, to the Holy Spirit; little to created things and all to the creative essence, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, while we say with Dionysius to God the Trinity: “Superessential Trinity and Over-God, better than best overseer of Christian theosophy, direct us to the more than unknown, the superlucent and supersublime apex of mystical utterances, where the new and absolute and inconvertible and unchangeable mysteries of theology are hid in the superlucent darkness of occult-teaching science, which is supersplendent in the perfect, supermanifest gloom, in which all things are reflected, and which overfills the invisible intellects with the splendors of the invisible overblest.” So much to God. But to the friend, to whom these things are written, let us say with the same: Do thou, O friend, proceeding boldly on the way to mystic visions, abandon the senses and the operations of the intellect; abandon things sensible and things invisible, and all non-being and being; and, as far as possible, unknowingly restore thyself to the unity of Him who is above all essence and all science. For in rising, by an immeasurable and absolute ecstasy of pure mind, above thyself and all things, thou shalt ascend, abandoning all things and freed from all things, to the superessential ray of divine darkness. But if thou wouldst know how these things are done, ask grace, not learning; desire, not intellect; the groaning of prayer, not the diligence of reading; the spouse, not the master; God, not man; darkness, not clearness; not light, but fire totally inflaming and transporting into God by excessive unctions and most ardent affections. This fire, indeed, is God, and his way is toward Jerusalem, and it was kindled by the man Christ, in the fervor of his most ardent passion—a fervor of which he alone truly partakes who says: “My soul hath chosen strangling and my bones death.” He who chooseth this death may see God, because it is true beyond doubt: “Man shall not see me and live.” Let us die, therefore, and enter into darkness. Let us impose silence on our anxieties, our appetites, and our imaginings. Let us pass with Christ crucified from this world to the Father, that when the Father is shown to us we may say with Philip: “It sufficeth us.” Let us hear with Paul: “My grace is sufficient for thee.” Let us exult with David, saying: “My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” “Blessed be the Lord for evermore: and let all the people say: Amen and Amen.”