{ "meta": { "schema_version": "1.1", "endpoint": "/api/sources/rhineland-mystics/suso/vol-1-45-chapter-li.json" }, "work": { "slug": "suso", "name": "Heinrich Suso" }, "parents": [ { "slug": "rhineland-mystics", "name": "Rhineland Mystics", "url": "/sources/rhineland-mystics/" } ], "chapter": { "num": 46, "slug": "vol-1-45-chapter-li", "title": "Chapter LI.", "of": 51, "words": 2100, "text": "## Chapter LI.\n\nHow to distinguish between a well-ordered reason and one \nwhich is all flowers and glitter. \n\nThe Servitor replied as follows: — At the \nend of the first combats, which have for their \nobject to bring flesh and blood into subjection, \na man arrives at a deep sea in which many \nperish ; and this is a use of reason which is all \nglitter and external show. Now what is meant \nby this f The following is what I mean by a \nuse of reason which is all glitter and outward \nshow: — When a man has been emptied inte- \nriorly of the grossness caused by sin, and his \nmind is freed from the forms and images which \nused to cling to it, and he is able to soar up- \nwards joyously above time and space, which till \nthen held him in bondage, so that he could not \n\n\n258 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\nuse liis nature's noble powers — at such a time, \nwhen he has already begun to open his soul's \neyes and to taste a new and better pleasure, \neven that which springs from the perception of \ntruth, the enjoyment of divine bliss, the gazing \ninto the now of eternity which lies before him, \nand such like, and when, moreover, his created \nreason begins to recognise in itself and in all \nthings a portion of the everlasting and uncreated \nreason, it comes to him as something wondrous \nstrange, when, for the first time, he sees himself \nas he was before and as he is now, and he dis- \ncovers that he was before like a poor, godless, \nneedy creature, both blind and far from God ; \nwhereas now it seems to him that he is full of \nGod, and that there is nothing which is not \nGod; nay, more, that God and all things are \nabsolutely one. And he catches at this view \ntoo hastily, and in an unseasonable way, and \nhis mind runs wild, like new wine which is still \nfermenting and has not settled, and he seizes \nupon that which is present to his thoughts, or \nwhich is suggested to him, without the needful \ndistinction, by some One, who is Himself that \nvery One to whom alone he should give ear, \nand to no one else; and then he resolves ac- \ncording to his self-satisfied judgment to dismiss \n\n\nMISUSE OF REASON. 259 \n\nfrom his thoughts every thing created, and he \nregards no longer hell or heaven, devil or angel, \nin their own created nature; nay, he disdains \nalso Christ's suffering Humanity as soon as he \nhas beheld God in it. Yet for all this, he has \nnot gone to the bottom in his knowledge of \nthings ; namely, in regard to their distinctions, \nand what is permanent and what is transient in \nthem. It fares, in fact, with such men as with \nthe honey-bees. When the bees are fully grown, \nand for the first time burst forth out of the hive, \nthey fly at random on this side and on that, they \nknow not whither ; and some go astray in their \nflight and are lost, while others return again in \ndue course to the hive. The same thing hap- \npens with these persons when, with their undis- \nciplined reason, they try to behold God as all \nin all, and endeavour, according to their imper- \nfect intelligence, to let go this and that, they \nknow not how. It is true, indeed, that every \nthing must be let go by him who would attain \nperfection ; but they do not understand how \nthis letting-go of things is to be managed, and \nthey try to let go this and that without discre- \ntion, and to rid themselves of all things without \nattending to the necessary distinctions. This \nfault arises either from unlearned simplicity or \n\n\n260 LITE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\nunmortified craftiness. Hence many a one ima- \ngines that he has attained everything if only he \ncan go forth ont of himself in this way, and \ndetach himself from himself. But it is not so. \nFor he has only slunk over the outer ditch of \nthe still unstormed fortress, under cover of the \nscreen behind which he skilfully and secretly \nconceals himself, and he cannot yet, by the \norderly annihilation of his spiritual being, pass \naway into a veritable poverty of spirit, in which \nevery foreign object is in a certain sense let go, \nand to which the possession of the everlasting \nand simple Godhead corresponds, now that all \nhuman activity has come to an end, as will be \nshown hereafter with the requisite distinctions. \n\nBehold, this is the point where some persons, \nwithout knowing it, stick fast for many years, \nand can neither come in nor go out. But I will \nshow thee, by the help of a distinction, the right \nroad, so that thou mayest not be able to go astray. \n\n\nChapter LIT. \n\nA good distinction between true and false detachment. \nKnow, then, that there are three kinds of \npassing away. The first is a complete passing \n\n\nTRUE AND FALSE DETACHMENT. 261 \n\naway. This takes place when a thing passes \naway so entirely that it ceases to exist; as a \nshadow passes away and is no more. In this \nsense of the word, the spirit of a man, to which \nwe give the name of a rational soul, does not \npass away at its going forth, but it continues \nfor ever, in virtue of the high nobility of its \nrational nature and godlike powers. For God, \nafter whose image it is fashioned, is a super- \nessential reason, and therefore it is impossible \nfor the soul to cease to exist, as the mortal body \ndoes. \n\nAnother kind of passing away may be termed \na half passing away, and has its own hour and \ntime. This is the case with those who are rapt \nin contemplation into the pure Godhead, as \nPaul was; or again, in another way, when a \nman becomes abstracted in thought, as often \nhappens, and thus passes away out of himself. \nThis kind, however, is transitory; for when \nPaul came to himself again, he found himself \nthe same Paul, a man as before. \n\nThe third kind may be called a metaphorical \npassing away. This takes place when a man, \nby the renunciation of his free-will, abandons \nhimself to God at each moment that he finds \nhimself, just as if he knew nothing about him- \n\n\n262 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\nself, and God alone was lord and master. This \nkind of passing away cannot be complete and \nperpetual, so long as the body and soul are \nunited; for at the very moment when a man \nhas detached himself from himself, and fancies \nthat he has so entirely passed away into God \nthat he will never resume himself, so far as his \nlower or sensual nature is concerned, all at once, \nin an instant, he and his perverse self are back \nagain, and he is the same that he was before, \nand has to forsake himself again and again. To \nthink, then, that in this imperfect state of detach- \nment a man may lawfully do just whatever he \npleases, would be a simple delusion. Though \ncertainly it is true, that the more any one \nestranges himself from himself, and passes away \nout of himself into God, the more completely \nhe is established in the very truth. \n\nThou must know further that there are two \nkinds of detachment from self. The one is \ncalled antecedent, and the other subsequent \ndetachment. Thou wilt understand this better \nfrom an example. A thief feels in himself \nthrough the wickedness of his nature an im- \npulse and craving to steal. But his conscience \nopposes this, saying : — Thou shouldst not steal, \nfor it is a sin. Now if the thief went out of \n\n\nTRUE AND FALSE DETACHMENT. 263 \n\nhimself and obeyed his conscience, this would \nbe antecedent detachment, and the nobler of \nthe two, for he would remain in his innocence. \nIf, however, he will not detach himself from \nhimself in this matter, but resolves to satisfy his \nwicked propensities, later on, when he has been \ncaught and he sees that he must hang for it, the \nsubsequent detachment comes, moving him to \nyield himself patiently to death, since it cannot \nbe otherwise. This kind of detachment is good \nand saves the man's soul, but the other is be- \nyond comparison nobler and better. Hence we \nought not to be so daring as to abandon our- \nselves to sin, according to the sentiments of \nsome foolish persons, who say that he who would \narrive at perfect detachment must wade through \nall sins. This is false ; for a man would be a \nfool to throw himself wantonly into a filthy \npool, in order that he might afterwards become \nmore beautiful. \n\nTherefore the most pious of God's friends \nearnestly desire to be brought to naught, and \nto abide steadfastly in antecedent detachment, \nwithout ever resuming themselves in any thing \nso far as human frailty will permit ; and when- \never they fail in this, it is a source of lamenta- \ntion to them. It is true, indeed, that they have \n\n\n264 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\nthis advantage over other men, that they can \nrid themselves more speedily of the obstacle (i.e. \nof the sin which stands between them and God) ; \nfor out of their lamentation itself springs up at \nonce a subsequent detachment, which replaces \nthem quickly where they were before, and this \nhappens when a man, finding himself still a man, \nbears with himself as such for God's glory. \n\nMoreover this subsequent detachment be- \ncomes in a certain sense profitable to them, \nthrough the self-knowledge which results from \nit; and here their lamentation ceases to be a \nlamentation, and they are born again into their \nformer state of simplicity, and become once \nmore what they were before. If, however, a \nman who is thus incomplete were to try by \nsubtlety to help himself, alleging, What harm \ncan it do a man if he resumes himself in what \nis only accidental, and thereby commits some \nsin exteriorly, provided that the essence of the \nman remains as it was, without being resumed \nin any point ? To this I answer, that he neither \nunderstands himself nor what he says. And all \nlearned doctors will agree to this, if only they \nunderstand what the term accident means. For \nthe name of accident is given to that which may \nbe added to or taken from the substantial essence \n\n\nTRUE AND FALSE DETACHMENT. 265 \n\nwithout destroying the substance, as colour on \na board. But here the case is different ; for the \nsoul and body, which in their ignorance they \nterm accidents, are two essential parts which \nmake up a man's essence, and do not belong to \nhim as accidents. Therefore every man, however \nperfectly he may be able to detach himself from \nhimself, and to bring himself back again, has \nstill that in him by which he can act virtuously \nor sinfully. For the annihilation of the spirit, \nits passing away into the simple Godhead, and \nall its nobility and perfection, are not to be re- \ngarded as a transformation of man's created es- \nsence into God, in virtue of which all that he is \nis God, only that he does not perceive it through \nhis grossness, or, in other words, that he has be- \ncome God, and his own essence is annihilated ; \nbut they are to be understood of a going out of \nself, and a contempt for self, such as has been \ndescribed. And thus it is that the spirit of a \nman is taken out of itself and passes away duly \nand rightfully, and then for the first time it is \nwell with him. For God has now become all \nthings to him, and all things have become, as it \nwere, God to him ; for all things present them- \nselves to him now in the manner in which they \nare in God, and yet they all remain each one \n\n\n266 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\nwhat it is in its own natural essence. This is \nwhat those who are blindly ignorant and unex- \nercised in reasoning cannot or will not admit \ninto their bewildered minds according to the \nabove true distinction. \n\nThou mayest now, with the help of this \ngood distinction, proceed to consider the follow- \ning rational maxims and instructions, which \nhave for their object to free men from their \ngrossness of spirit, and to lead them onwards \nto their highest bliss.", "project_translation": false, "text_trust": "verbatim", "quote_safe": true, "license": null, "methodology_url": null } }