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.
—inasmuch as these all say to the hearer: ‘We made not ourselves but were made by the Eternal’—if, after such words, they were forthwith to hold their peace, having drawn the mind’s ear towards their Maker, and He were now to speak alone, not through them but by Himself, so that we might hear His word, not through human language, nor through the voice of an angel, nor through any utterance out of a cloud, nor through any misleading appearance, but might instead hear, without these things, the very Being Himself, Whose presence in them we love—might hear Him with our Spirit even as now we strain our intellect and reach, with the swift movement of thought, to an eternal Wisdom that remains unmoved beyond all things—if this movement were continued, and all other visions (being utterly unequal to the task) were to be done away, and this one vision were to seize the beholder, and were to swallow him up and plunge him in the abyss of its inward delights, so that his life for ever should be like that fleeting moment of consciousness for which we have been yearning, would not such a condition as this be an ‘ENTER THOU INTO THE JOY OF THY LORD’?”
This passage describes the Via Negativa in terms of aspiration drawn (we cannot doubt) from experience. The soul must cast all things away: sense, perception, thought, and the very consciousness of self; and yet the process and its final result are of the most intense and positive kind. We are reminded of Wordsworth’s—
‘Thought was not; in enjoyment it expired.’ 1
Perhaps more striking is the testimony of St Thomas a Kempis, since, having no taste for speculation, he is not likely to be misled by theories. In the /wztation of Christ} occurs the following passage: “When shall I at full gather myself in Thee, that for Thy love I feel not myself, but Thee only, above all feeling and all manner, in a manner not known to all?”
1 Excursion, Book I.
—since these all say to the hearer: ‘We did not make ourselves, but were made by the Eternal’—if, after such words, they were at once to fall silent, having drawn the mind’s ear towards their Maker, and He were now to speak alone, not through them but by Himself, so that we might hear His word, not through human language, nor through the voice of an angel, nor through any utterance out of a cloud, nor through any misleading appearance, but might instead hear, without these things, the very Being Himself, Whose presence in them we love—might hear Him with our Spirit, even as we now strain our intellect and reach, with the swift movement of thought, to an eternal Wisdom that remains unmoved beyond all things—if this movement were continued, and all other visions (being utterly unequal to the task) were done away, and this one vision were to seize the beholder, swallow him up, and plunge him into the abyss of its inward delights, so that his life for ever would be like that fleeting moment of consciousness for which we have been yearning, would not such a condition as this be an ‘ENTER INTO THE JOY OF YOUR LORD’?”
This passage describes the Via Negativa in terms of aspiration drawn (we cannot doubt) from experience. The soul must cast all things away—sense, perception, thought, and the very consciousness of self; and yet the process and its final result are of the most intense and positive kind. We are reminded of Wordsworth’s—
‘Thought was not; in enjoyment it expired.’ 1
Perhaps more striking is the testimony of St Thomas a Kempis, since, having no taste for speculation, he is unlikely to be misled by theories. In the Imitation of Christ1 the following passage occurs: “When shall I gather myself fully in You, so that for love of You I feel not myself but You alone, above all feeling and all manner, in a manner not known to all?”
1 Excursion, Book I.