On the Divine Names and the Mystical Theology — trans. C. E. Rolt
The translator’s English as printed (C. E. Rolt). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
CONTEMPLATION ag it is unsatisfied. From the simple unity of its own being it gazes up at the Simple Unity of the Uncreated Light which still shines above it and beyond it. The Light is One Thing and the human spirit is another. All elements of difference in the human spirit and in the Uncreated Light have disappeared, but there still remains the primary distinction between Contemplating Subject and Contemplated Object. The human self and the Uncreated Light stand in the mutual relationships of “Me” and “Thee.” That which says “Me” is not the Being Which is addressed as “Thee”; and the Being addressed as “Thee” is not that which says “Me.” The two stand over against one another.
This relationship must now be transcended by a process leading to ecstasy. The human spirit must seek to go forth out of itself (i.e. out of its created being) into the Uncreated Object of its contemplation and so to be utterly merged. So it ceases to desire even its own being in itself. Casting selfhood away, it strives to gain its true being and selfhood by losing them in the Super-Essence. Laying its intellectual activity to rest it obtains, by a higher spiritual activity, a momentary glimpse into the depths of the Super-Essence, and perceives that There the distinction between “Me” and “Thee” is not. It sees into the hidden recesses of an unplumbed Mystery in which its own individual being and all things are ultimately transcended, engulphed and transformed into one indivisible Light. It stands just within the borders of this Mystery and feels the process of transformation already beginning within itself. And, though the movements of the process are only just commenced, yet it feels by a hidden instinct the ultimate Goal whither they must lead. For, as Ruysbroeck says: “To such men it is revealed that they are That which they contemplate.”
CONTEMPLATION 27 it remains unsatisfied. From the simple unity of its own being it gazes up at the Simple Unity of the Uncreated Light, which still shines above it and beyond it. The Light is One Thing and the human spirit is another. All elements of difference in the human spirit and in the Uncreated Light have disappeared, but there still remains the primary distinction between Contemplating Subject and Contemplated Object. The human self and the Uncreated Light stand in the mutual relationship of “Me” and “Thee.” That which says “Me” is not the Being Which is addressed as “Thee”; and the Being addressed as “Thee” is not that which says “Me.” The two stand over against one another.
This relationship must now be transcended by a process leading to ecstasy. The human spirit must seek to go forth out of itself (i.e. out of its created being) into the Uncreated Object of its contemplation, and so be utterly merged. So it ceases to desire even its own being in itself. Casting selfhood away, it strives to gain its true being and selfhood by losing them in the Super-Essence. Laying its intellectual activity to rest, it obtains, through a higher spiritual activity, a momentary glimpse into the depths of the Super-Essence, and perceives that There the distinction between “Me” and “Thee” does not exist.
It sees into the hidden recesses of an unplumbed Mystery in which its own individual being and all things are ultimately transcended, engulfed and transformed into one indivisible Light. It stands just within the borders of this Mystery and feels the process of transformation already beginning within itself. And though the movements of the process have only just begun, it feels by a hidden instinct the ultimate Goal to which they must lead. For, as Ruysbroeck says: “To such men it is revealed that they are That which they contemplate.”