Chapter Seven

The Mystical Transport of the Mind In Which Rest Is Given to Our Understanding And Our Affection Passes over Entirely to God


1. Accordingly, the mind has reached the end of the way of six contemplations. They are like six steps by which it arrives at peace as at the throne of the true Solomon, where the Man of Peace rests in the peaceful mind as in an inner Jerusalem. They are also like the six wings of the Cherubim, by which the mind of the true contemplative, overflooded by the light of heavenly wisdom, is enabled to soar on high. They are like the first six days, during which the mind must be trained so that it may finally reach the Sabbath of rest.
After our mind has beheld God outside itself through and in vestiges of Him, within itself through and in His image, and above itself through the divine similitudes shining upon us, and in the divine Light itself in so far as it is possible in our state as wayfarer and by the exercise of our minds, and when at length the mind has reached the sixth step, where it can behold in the first and highest Principle and in the Mediator of God and men, Jesus Christ, things the like of which cannot possibly be found among creatures, and which transcend all acuteness of the human intellect - when the mind has done all this, it must still, in beholding these things, transcend and pass over, not only this visible world, but even itself. In this passing over, Christ is the way and the door, Christ is the ladder and the vehicle, being, as it were, the Mercy-Seat above the Ark of God and the mystery which has been hidden from eternity.

2. He who turns his full countenance toward this Mercy-Seat and with faith, hope, and love, devotion, admiration, joy, appreciation, praise and rejoicing, beholds Christ hanging on the Cross, such a one celebrates the Pasch, that is, the Passover, with Him. Thus, using the rod of the Cross, he may pass over the Red Sea, going from Egypt into the desert, where it is given to him to taste the hidden manna; he may rest with Christ in the tomb, as one dead to the outer world, but experiencing, nevertheless, as far as is possible in this present state as wayfarer, what was said on the Cross to the thief who was hanging there with Christ. This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise.

3. This also was shown to the Blessed Francis, when, in a transport of contemplation on the mountain height - where I pondered over the matter that is here written - there appeared to him the six-winged Seraph fastened to a cross, as I and many others have heard from the companion who was then with him at that very place. Here he passed over into God in a transport of contemplation. He is set forth as an example of perfect contemplation, just as previously he had been of action, like a second Jacob-Israel. And thus, through him, more by example than by word, God would invite all truly spiritual men to this passing over and this transport of soul.

4. In this passing over, if it is to be perfect, all intellectual activities ought to be relinguished and the most profound affection transported to God, and transformed into Him. This, however, is mystical and most secret, which no one knows except him who receives it, no one receives except him who desires it, and no one desires except him who is penetrated to the marrow by the fire of the Holy Spirit, Whom Christ sent into the world. That is why the Apostle says that this mystical wisdom is revealed by the Holy Spirit.

5. And since, therefore, nature avails naught and human endeavor but little, little should be attributed to inquiry, but much to unction; little to the tongue, but very much to interior joy, little to the spoken or written word, but everything to the Gift of God, that is, to the Holy Spirit. Little or nothing should be attributed to the creature, but everything to the creative essence - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And thus, with Dionysius, we address the Triune God: "O Trinity, Essence above all essence, and Deity above all deity, supremely best Guardian of the divine wisdom of Christians, direct us to the supremely unknown, superluminous, and most sublime height of mystical knowledge. There new mysteries - absolute and changeless mysteries of theology - are shrouded in the superluminous darkness of a silence, teaching secretly in the utmost obscurity that is manifest above all manifestation; of a darkness that is resplendent above all splendor, and in which everything shines forth, of a darkness which fills invisible intellects full above all plenitude with the splendors of invisible good things that are above all good."
So much let us say to God. To the friend, however, for whom these words were written, we can say with Dionysius: "And you, my friend, in this matter of mystical visions, redouble your efforts, abandon the senses, intellectual activities, visible and invisible things - everything that is not and that is - and, oblivious of yourself, let yourself be brought back, in so far as it is possible, to unity with Him Who is above all essence and all knowledge. And transcending yourself and all things, ascend to the super-essential gleam of the divine darkness by an incommensurable and absolute transport of a pure mind."

6. If you wish to know how these things may come about, ask grace, not learning; desire, not the understanding; the groaning of prayer, not diligence in reading; the Bridegroom, not the teacher; God, not man; darkness, not clarity; not light, but the fire that wholly inflames and carries one into God through transporting unctions and consuming affections. God Himself is this fire, and His furnace is in Jerusalem; and it is Christ who enkindles it in the white flame of His most burning Passion. This fire he alone truly perceives who says: My soul chooseth hanging, and my bones, death. He who loves this death can see God, for it is absolutely true that Man shall not see me and live.
Let us, then, die and enter into this darkness. Let us silence all our care, our desires, and our imaginings. With Christ crucified, let us pass out of this world to the Father, so that, when the Father is shown to us, we may say with Philip: It is enough for us. Let us hear with Paul: My grace is sufficient for thee, and rejoice with David, saying: My flesh and my heart have fainted away: thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion forever. Blessed be the Lord forever, and let all the people say: so be it, so be it. Amen.