Overall Synthesis of The Sparkling Stone by John van Ruysbroeck
The Sparkling Stone is a contemplative and mystical treatise that outlines the full path of the soul’s ascent into union with God and its subsequent return to the world as a channel of divine love. The work is structured around a detailed articulation of the stages of inner purification, spiritual illumination, divine union, and the fruition of that union in a transformed, charitable life. Ruysbroeck’s approach is both deeply metaphysical and profoundly experiential, rooted in the Christian mystical tradition and drawing especially on the themes of Trinitarian love, self-emptying, and the interior life.
At the heart of the work is the idea that the soul must be purified of all disordered loves and false attachments before it can begin to perceive and enjoy God. This purification involves both moral virtue and detachment from all images, concepts, and even self-conscious striving. The soul must be emptied of self through humility, peace, and interior silence. As this process deepens, the soul becomes increasingly receptive to divine grace, leading to the possibility of a contemplative union in which the soul perceives God with “bare thought” and rests in His simplicity.
This contemplative life reaches its peak in a mystical union that Ruysbroeck calls “fruition”-a direct, loving adherence to God in which the soul experiences both the indrawing and outpouring touches of the Divine. In the indrawing, the soul is drawn out of itself and absorbed into the mystery of God’s own being, entering into the simple unity of the Trinity. This results in a state where the soul no longer sees itself as distinct but becomes one with God “without difference and without distinction.” This union is marked not by activity but by a peaceful, loving rest in God’s own life, a state that surpasses the intellect and draws the soul into the “darkness” of God-His unknowable essence.
However, this highest experience of God is not the end of the soul’s journey. For Ruysbroeck, true union must give birth to action. The soul, having been transformed by love, is sent back into the world by God. It now lives what he calls the “common life,” marked by a balance of contemplation and active charity. This God-seeing person seeks only the glory of God, not his own. He is a vessel of virtue, a source of help to others, and lives out of the inexhaustible abundance of the Holy Spirit. He is both hidden in God and manifest in love for the world-rooted in the divine life and bearing fruit in acts of compassion and justice.
Throughout The Sparkling Stone, Ruysbroeck emphasizes that none of this can be achieved by mere effort or desire, but only through divine grace and conformity to Christ. He also repeatedly warns against self-deception-those who think they enjoy God while clinging to images, attachments, or self-interest are deluded. The true contemplative is marked by total inward purity, an open and surrendered heart, and a willingness to follow God both into the solitude of contemplation and the demands of daily life.
In essence, The Sparkling Stone presents a map of the soul’s transformation in God. It leads the reader from purification through illumination to the heights of divine union and back down again into a world transfigured by love. The work is at once a rigorous theological vision of Christian mysticism and a deeply personal testimony to the life of grace.
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Prologue: In the prologue of The Sparkling Stone, Ruysbroeck outlines the ideal of Christian perfection as a harmonious integration of four qualities: moral zeal, interior spiritual depth, contemplative union with God, and loving outflow toward others. True holiness is not found in isolation or imbalance, but in the unity of these dimensions, each enriching and tempering the others. When they are present together, the soul is in a perfect state and, through the continual increase of divine grace, it grows ever deeper in virtue and the knowledge of truth-both before God in hidden intimacy and before others in visible witness.
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“The man who would live in the most perfect state of Holy Church must be a good and zealous man; an inward and ghostly man; an uplifted and God-seeing man; and an outflowing man to all in common.”
Ruysbroeck opens with a concise map of Christian perfection: moral zeal, inner depth, mystical vision, and loving action. Each trait points to a distinct dimension of the spiritual life – ethical integrity, contemplative interiority, union with God, and generous charity. Perfection is not found in just one of these, but in their harmonious integration.
“Whenever these four things are together in a man, then his state is perfect;”
The “perfect state” is not a singular achievement, but a balanced fullness of spiritual life. These four dimensions – virtue, interior life, vision of God, and outward love – must coexist. Ruysbroeck avoids extremes: no mysticism without virtue, no charity without contemplation.
“and through the increase of grace he shall continually grow and progress in all virtues, and in the knowledge of truth, before God and before all men.”
Perfection is dynamic, not static. Even the perfect soul is still “growing,” not by human strength but by divine grace. This growth deepens both virtue (moral excellence) and truth (spiritual knowledge), lived transparently before God (inwardly) and before all men (outwardly).
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1. What four qualities define the person who lives in the most perfect state of Holy Church according to Ruysbroeck?
Ruysbroeck identifies four qualities:
A good and zealous man: One who lives a morally upright life and is fervent in devotion and works.
An inward and ghostly man: A person rooted in interiority, attuned to the spiritual life, and sensitive to the workings of grace.
An uplifted and God-seeing man: One who lives in contemplation, raised above himself through divine illumination, beholding God.
An outflowing man to all in common: One who expresses his union with God in active love and generosity toward all.
These four aspects represent the integration of moral virtue, contemplative depth, mystical union, and active charity.
2. Why does Ruysbroeck say that all four aspects must be present together?
He teaches that a person’s state is perfect only when all four qualities are united. This union ensures that no part of the spiritual life is isolated or overemphasized. For example, contemplation without charity, or zeal without interiority, would be incomplete. True perfection lies in the balance and interpenetration of all four.
3. How does Ruysbroeck describe spiritual progress in the perfect soul?
Spiritual progress is described as a continual growth through the increase of grace. The perfect person doesn’t remain static but advances in virtue (moral life) and knowledge of truth (spiritual insight). This growth is visible before God (indicating interior, divine knowledge) and before all men (indicating visible fruitfulness and witness).
4. What does the phrase “knowledge of truth before God and before all men” imply about the nature of true wisdom?
True wisdom is not merely intellectual or private. It is a lived knowledge that arises from grace, is perceived by God, and bears fruit in the world. The phrase implies both mystical knowledge (known in divine intimacy) and practical knowledge (manifested in moral and charitable action). It is a wisdom that shines inwardly and outwardly.
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Chapter 1. Ruysbroeck outlines three essential qualities that constitute a truly good man: a clean conscience free from mortal sin, a threefold obedience to God, the Church, and one’s rightly formed conscience, and a sincere intention to glorify God in all actions. These qualities together make a soul open and receptive to divine grace. Ruysbroeck insists that without any one of these, a person cannot be considered good or in the grace of God. Yet he also affirms that even the most sinful person can become good in an instant if he sincerely resolves to live by these principles, for such a resolution disposes the soul immediately to God and fills it with grace.
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“The first, which a good man must have, is a clean conscience without reproach of mortal sin.”
The foundation of goodness is moral integrity. A clean conscience means not only the absence of serious sin, but also a deep alignment of the will with God. Ruysbroeck begins with purification – the necessity of being reconciled with God through repentance and confession, in accordance with the teaching of the Church.
“Whosoever wishes to become a good man must examine and prove himself with due discernment, from that time onward when he could first have committed sin.”
Conversion begins with self-examination – an honest and discerning review of one’s life from the first moment of moral responsibility. Ruysbroeck emphasizes the Church’s guidance, underscoring the importance of tradition, confession, and moral seriousness.
“The second thing which pertains to a good man is that he must in all things be obedient to God, and to Holy Church, and to his own proper convictions.”
Goodness is not only about avoiding sin, but also about active obedience. This includes:
Obedience to God: the ultimate source of truth;
Obedience to Holy Church: the visible authority and sacramental life;
Obedience to one’s own convictions: the properly formed conscience, when aligned with grace.
All three must harmonize. Ruysbroeck refuses both legalism and mere individualism.
“So shall he live without care and doubt, and shall ever abide without inward reproach in all his deeds.”
The fruit of true obedience is peace – not anxiety or scrupulosity, but a quiet conscience, rooted in fidelity. This spiritual tranquility is a mark of the good man.
“The third thing which behoves every good man is that in all his deeds he should have in mind, above all else, the glory of God.”
The good man is not self-centered, but God-centered. Every action should aim at the glorification of God, either explicitly or implicitly. This orientation sanctifies even mundane work.
“If… he has not always God before his eyes, yet at least there should be established in him the intention and desire to live according to the dearest will of God.”
Ruysbroeck allows for human frailty. Even when direct attention to God lapses, a fixed intention toward God’s will preserves the purity of the act. This is a pastoral and deeply Carmelite insight – intention sanctifies.
“These three things, when they are possessed in this way, make a man good.”
Goodness is not a vague ideal, but the result of three concrete principles: a purified conscience, obedience to divine and ecclesial authority, and the God-centered aim of one’s life.
“And whosoever lacks any one of these three is neither good nor in the grace of God…”
Ruysbroeck speaks with clarity and seriousness. These are not optional virtues – without them, the soul is not rightly disposed to grace.
“But whenever a man resolves in his heart to fulfil these three points… in that very instant he becomes good, and is susceptible of God, and filled with the grace of God.”
Here is the heart of Ruysbroeck’s theology of transformation: the will’s turning to God is decisive. The soul that sincerely chooses these three pillars – contrition, obedience, and the glory of God – is immediately “susceptible” to grace, regardless of past sin. God rushes in where the will opens.
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1. What is the first requirement for becoming a good man, and how is it to be fulfilled?
The first requirement is a clean conscience, free from the guilt of mortal sin. To achieve this, a person must engage in serious self-examination, discerning his sins from the first moment he became morally responsible. This self-scrutiny should be guided by the precepts and customs of Holy Church, meaning it includes sacramental confession and genuine repentance. Purity of conscience is foundational because it prepares the soul for grace and aligns the will with God’s law.
2. What threefold obedience defines the second mark of a good man?
A good man must be obedient in three ways:
To God: This is the highest obedience, aligning oneself with divine law and grace.
To Holy Church: This involves submission to ecclesial authority, the sacramental life, and Church teachings.
To one’s own proper convictions: That is, a rightly formed conscience, consistent with truth and charity.
These three are not in competition but must work in harmony. Ruysbroeck insists on equal obedience to all three, emphasizing that a well-ordered soul lives in peace, free from doubt and inward reproach.
3. According to Ruysbroeck, how should a good man orient his actions, and what does this imply about human limitations?
The good man should orient all his actions toward the glory of God. This is the supreme intention that should underlie every deed. However, Ruysbroeck acknowledges human limitations – a person may not always consciously think of God during busy tasks. Still, if the deep intention and desire to do God’s will is firmly established in the heart, the action remains pleasing to God. This affirms that habitual intention, rather than constant attention, sustains the spiritual life amidst daily responsibilities.
4. What does Ruysbroeck say about the person who lacks any one of the three qualities of a good man?
He states firmly that without any one of these three – purity of conscience, obedience, or the intention to glorify God – a person is neither good nor in the grace of God. The three are essential and interconnected. Missing even one disrupts the soul’s receptivity to grace. Ruysbroeck speaks with pastoral seriousness, urging complete commitment rather than partial virtue.
5. Can a person become good instantly, even after a life of sin? If so, how?
Yes, according to Ruysbroeck, in the very instant that a person resolves in his heart to fulfill these three principles, he becomes good. This act of sincere will – turning toward God with contrition, obedience, and the desire to glorify Him – opens the soul to grace. Even the worst sinner can become “susceptible of God” and be filled with grace through this authentic inner conversion. This underscores Ruysbroeck’s belief in the transformative power of the will under grace.
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Chapter 2. Ruysbroeck teaches that a morally good man becomes truly spiritual-what he calls a “ghostly” man-by progressing through three interior transformations: freedom from images, spiritual freedom in desire, and the felt union with God. To be free from images means to let go of all disordered affections and attachments that form impressions in the soul, even in relationships or devotions, unless they are entirely oriented toward God. This detachment prepares the soul to ascend freely in prayer and love without interior hindrance, exercising a spiritual liberty that lifts it toward God in all its actions. When the soul lives in this imageless ascent, it begins to experience an inner union with God-a dynamic communion in which desire and grace continually renew one another. This perpetual rhythm of ascent and union is what constitutes the true interior or ghostly life. Without these three stages, a man may be externally virtuous but cannot be considered truly spiritual.
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“If, further, this good man would become an inward and ghostly man, he needs must have three further things. The first is a heart unencumbered with images; the second is spiritual freedom in his desires, the third is the feeling of inward union with God.”
Ruysbroeck now moves from moral goodness to interior transformation – from being good to being ghostly (i.e., spiritual). He sets out three progressively deeper requirements: detachment from images, inner freedom, and mystical union. These are not arbitrary but flow organically from the purified moral life described earlier.
“He who would have a heart void of images may not possess anything with affection, nor may he cling to any one, or have intercourse with him with attachment of the will…”
The first stage, freedom from images, requires detachment of the will. Ruysbroeck is not condemning love of persons or things per se, but rather any disordered affection – clinging to others for selfish or fleshly reasons. Such attachments implant images in the soul that crowd out the simplicity required for God.
“All intercourse and all affection which do not aim purely at the honour of God bring images into a man’s heart… born, not of God, but of the flesh.”
The key distinction is between love that arises from the Spirit and love born of the flesh. Only those relationships and affections ordered to God’s glory are spiritually safe. Disordered affections create “images” – not just visual impressions, but interior distractions and idols that cloud the heart.
“If a man would become spiritual, he must forsake all fleshly lusts and loves and must cleave with longing and love to God alone, and thus possess Him.”
Ruysbroeck here calls for radical detachment, but it is not an emptying for its own sake. The soul must “cleave” to God alone, not by suppression but by longing and love. The goal is not negation but divine possession through desire purified of all lesser loves.
“This loving possession of God makes a man inwardly free from ungodly images; for God is a Spirit, of Whom no one can make to himself a true image.”
Since God is pure Spirit, no finite image can represent Him adequately. To possess God spiritually is to be drawn into a formless, imageless communion. The purified soul becomes image-free not through effort alone, but through love’s union with the imageless God.
“Certainly in this exercise a man should lay hold of good images to help him; such as the Passion of our Lord…”
Ruysbroeck is pastoral here. He acknowledges the use of holy images – meditating on Christ’s Passion, for instance – as stepping stones. But even these must give way in the final stage to what he calls imageless Nudity, the pure presence of God unmediated by form.
“The second condition is inward freedom. Through this, the man should be able to raise himself towards God in all inward exercises, free from images and encumbrances…”
Once the heart is cleansed of images, the soul gains inward freedom. This freedom is not passive but active – it enables the soul to rise in prayer, praise, worship, and love, drawn by God’s grace. It is the liberty of a heart unburdened and ready to soar.
“Through this inward exercise, he reaches the third state; which is that he feels a ghostly union with God.”
The climax of the process is inward union – a spiritual and experiential oneness with God. This is not merely conceptual but felt, lived, and transformative. It is the culmination of detachment and freedom: an infused union of the soul with God.
“Whosoever… has an imageless and free ascent unto his God, and means nought else but the glory of God, must taste of the goodness of God…”
Ruysbroeck makes clear that pure intention – desiring only God’s glory – is the gateway to divine taste and experience. The soul encounters God in freedom and simplicity, beyond all created forms.
“And in this union, the inward and spiritual life is made perfect… activity and union perpetually renew themselves; and this perpetual renewal… is a ghostly life.”
Here we see Ruysbroeck’s mystical dynamism: union is not static. It perpetually draws the soul deeper through renewed desire and new acts of love. The rhythm of union and activity, of resting and rising, constitutes the living pulse of the spiritual life.
“So you are now able to see how a man becomes good through the moral virtues and an upright intention; and how he may become ghostly through the inward virtues and union with God.”
Ruysbroeck summarizes: the journey moves from moral goodness (virtues and intention) to spiritual depth (inward virtues and mystical union). The two stages are not opposed, but integrated – the one prepares for the other.
“But without these said points, he can neither be good nor ghostly.”
The path is exacting. Without the threefold moral foundation and the threefold spiritual ascent, the soul remains unformed. Ruysbroeck offers both invitation and warning: the mystical life is open to all, but not cheapened.
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1. What are the three qualities that make a good man into an inward or “ghostly” man?
To become an inward or spiritual (ghostly) man, a person must possess:
A heart unencumbered with images – meaning freedom from attachments that implant created forms or “images” into the soul.
Spiritual freedom in his desires – the ability to rise to God in prayer and devotion without distraction or inner bondage.
The feeling of inward union with God – a lived, experiential communion that renews the soul continually.
These qualities move the soul from moral goodness to mystical interiority.
2. What does Ruysbroeck mean by “images,” and why must the heart be free from them?
By “images,” Ruysbroeck refers not only to mental pictures but to attachments, affections, and created forms that clutter the soul and distract it from God. These images originate from fleshly or self-centered love, not from the Spirit. To be inward, the soul must forsake such attachments and cleave to God alone. Even relationships or religious devotions that are not ordered purely to God’s glory can become spiritual distractions if they create interior “images.”
3. Can any images be useful in the spiritual life according to Ruysbroeck?
Yes – good images can be temporarily useful. Ruysbroeck allows for the use of holy meditations, especially on the Passion of Christ or anything that stirs greater devotion. These can serve as helps or stepping-stones. However, in the final stage of contemplative union, the soul must let go of all images – even good ones – to enter into the imageless “Nudity” of God, who as Spirit cannot be fully grasped or imagined.
4. What is “spiritual freedom,” and how does it affect the soul’s relation to God?
Spiritual freedom is the soul’s ability to lift itself freely toward God in all its exercises – such as thanksgiving, praise, worship, prayer, and love. It means being unbound by attachment, imagination, or interior distractions. This freedom is enabled by grace and interior zeal and makes the soul light, mobile, and responsive in its communion with God. It is the condition necessary for the unhindered ascent of the soul.
5. What is the nature and function of “inward union with God” in the spiritual life?
Inward union with God is a felt, experiential communion where the soul is joined to God beyond all images and desires only His glory. This union perfects the spiritual life, but it is dynamic – not static. It leads to new stirrings of desire and acts of love, which in turn deepen the union. Ruysbroeck describes this as a perpetual renewal: activity (the soul’s loving ascent) and union (its resting in God) feed each other continually. This rhythm is the very life of the inward man.
6. What is the relationship between moral goodness and the ghostly life according to Ruysbroeck?
Moral goodness – consisting of virtues, a clean conscience, and right intention – is the foundation for the ghostly life. Without it, no true inwardness can take root. But the ghostly life goes beyond moral virtue to include detachment from images, spiritual freedom, and union with God. The two levels are integrated: the moral prepares the way; the spiritual completes it. Without both, a man is neither truly good nor truly inward.
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Chapter 3. Ruysbroeck describes how the spiritual man becomes a God-seeing man through three interior conditions: a profound awareness of the soul’s abysmal foundation in God, an unstructured and imageless “wayless” movement of love toward Him, and a dwelling in divine fruition. The soul, grounded in God’s immeasurable depths, is drawn into a love that transcends reason and method, and experiences a continual transformation-melting into unity and burning in the eternal fire of divine love. This consuming love both differentiates and unifies: the soul sees itself as distinct from God, yet in the act of surrender, it loses all distinction and becomes one with Him. Such a life cannot be taught, for it surpasses human instruction and is known only by the direct revelation of God’s eternal truth within the soul.
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“Further, you must know that if this ghostly man would now become a God-seeing man, he needs must have three other things. The first is the feeling that the foundation of his being is abysmal … the second is that his inward exercise should be wayless; the third is that his indwelling should be a divine fruition.”
Ruysbroeck now transitions from the “ghostly” (inward) man to the God-seeing man, who lives in the most elevated spiritual state. This ascent requires three things:
Awareness of one’s abysmal foundation – a mystical sense of the soul’s unfathomable depth and receptivity to God.
Wayless exercise – the soul must operate beyond rational forms, structures, or methods.
Divine fruition – the soul rests in a direct and blissful participation in God’s own life.
These three mark the transition from contemplative practice to mystical union.
“The union with God which a spiritual man feels … as being abysmal-that is, measureless depth, measureless height, measureless length and measureless breadth … And there it feels itself to be one life with God.”
Union with God, in its deepest realization, is immeasurable and limitless. The soul is stretched in every direction-depth, height, length, and breadth-until it becomes lost in divine vastness. This abysmal awareness leads to the soul’s melting into Unity and dying to self, until it becomes one life with God. Ruysbroeck stresses that such union is not metaphorical; it is experientially real, yet it leads to a knowledge that is ignorance, a knowing beyond all knowing.
“And from this there arises the second point, which is an exercise above reason and without condition … he can always enter, naked and unencumbered with images, into the inmost part of his spirit.”
The second trait of the God-seeing soul is its wayless exercise-an interior movement that is beyond all form, reason, or method. In this state, the soul remains empty, image-free, and surrendered, continually drawn by the Divine Unity. This drawing is an eternal interior pull, a loving invitation that only those detached from self can fully feel. It leads to a spiritual fire that consumes the soul in love, demanding total self-surrender.
“This eternal demand of the Divine Unity kindles within the spirit an eternal fire of love … in the transformation within the Unity, all spirits fail in their own activity … and feel nothing else but a burning up of themselves in the simple Unity of God.”
Here Ruysbroeck describes the paradox of divine transformation: the soul, though actively loving, loses all personal initiative and is consumed by a divine fire. This is the purest form of union, in which even love itself becomes God’s action within the soul. The soul no longer sees itself as distinct; it is burned into undifferentiated unity, even though, when it reflects, it still knows itself as “other.” This mystical fire is ceaseless and eternal, the mark of the God-seeing life.
“And thus you may see that the indrawing Unity of God is nought else than the fathomless Love, which lovingly draws inward, in eternal fruition, the Father and the Son and all that lives in Them.”
The movement of the God-seeing soul is nothing less than participation in the Trinitarian Love itself. This love is fathomless and all-consuming, drawing everything into the unity of divine life. All creation, all the saints, all lovers of God, are continually drawn into the inner life of the Trinity, and this movement is itself eternal beatitude. It is not merely something the soul contemplates-it is something the soul becomes.
“And therefore we must all found our lives upon a fathomless abyss; that we may eternally plunge into Love … and be melted away … and eternally wander and sojourn within the Glory of God.”
The conclusion is poetic, rapturous, and visionary. Ruysbroeck teaches that the spiritual foundation must be radical poverty and abyssal receptivity, a total openness to divine immensity. The soul is to plunge, ascend, stray, and dissolve within the infinite Love of God. This mystical journey is not a static vision but a dynamic, unending participation in divine love and glory. All the metaphors-depth, height, wandering, melting-describe the God-seeing soul’s eternal movement into the unknowable God.
“Behold! by each of these images, I show forth to God-seeing men their being and their exercise, but none else can understand them. For the contemplative life cannot be taught. But where the Eternal Truth reveals Itself within the spirit all that is needful is taught and learnt.”
Ruysbroeck closes with a sober note: these things cannot be grasped intellectually or transmitted by teaching. Only the God-seeing soul can understand, because only such a soul experiences these truths inwardly. The contemplative life is given not by instruction, but by the inner revelation of Eternal Truth. This affirms the radical interiority and grace-dependence of the mystical path: it is a gift, not a technique.
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1. What are the three qualities required for a ghostly man to become a God-seeing man?
Ruysbroeck teaches that three further conditions must be met for a spiritual man to become a God-seeing man:
An abysmal foundation – the soul must feel itself rooted in a depth beyond all measure, stretching into height, length, and breadth, until it perceives itself as one with God.
Wayless inward exercise – the soul’s prayer and love must rise beyond reason, method, or image, into pure, formless movement toward God.
Divine fruition – the soul must dwell in a continuous, unmediated enjoyment of God’s being, consumed by divine love.
These mark the transition from inward recollection to mystical contemplation and union.
2. What does Ruysbroeck mean by the “abysmal foundation” of the God-seeing soul?
The “abysmal foundation” refers to the soul’s mystical realization that it exists within a measureless divine reality. This experience reveals the soul as immersed in the limitless depth, height, length, and breadth of God. The soul feels itself melting into unity, surrendering all distinct identity as it dies to itself and lives in God. This abysmal awareness is both foundational and transformative, opening the soul to God’s infinite mystery.
3. What characterizes the “wayless” exercise of a God-seeing soul?
“Wayless” exercise is the soul’s pure, unmediated ascent toward God, free of forms, images, or rational processes. The soul is drawn by the interior pull of Divine Unity, beyond all method or structure. It becomes increasingly detached from self and from all possessions, entering inwardly into the inmost depths of the spirit, where it finds an eternal light and an eternal demand to become one with God. This exercise is entirely passive-active, a movement of total surrender and continual transformation.
4. How does the soul experience the Divine Unity and the eternal fire of love?
In the state of mystical union, the soul experiences the Divine Unity as a consuming fire. This fire is the eternal love of God, which continually draws the soul into itself. As the soul yields more and more to this indrawing, it is inflamed with desire, but also burned up in love, losing its sense of separate existence. It feels both the craving for union and the transformation through union. Though it can still observe a distinction between itself and God, in the act of burning, it experiences only undifferentiated unity.
5. What is the ultimate destiny of the God-seeing soul, according to Ruysbroeck?
The God-seeing soul is destined for eternal fruition in divine love. It is drawn into the fathomless Love that unites Father and Son and all who live in them. The soul eternally plunges, ascends, strays, and melts into the mystery and glory of God. This journey is not static contemplation but a dynamic and endless participation in the raptures of divine goodness. The soul is continually burnt up in love, and this perpetual burning is its blessedness and joy for all eternity.
6. Why does Ruysbroeck say that the contemplative life “cannot be taught”?
Because the God-seeing life transcends reason, image, and instruction, it cannot be conveyed through teaching. It is an experiential mystery, accessible only to those who have been interiorly transformed by grace. Ruysbroeck emphasizes that only the Eternal Truth, revealing itself directly within the soul, can teach what is needed. This underscores the contemplative path as one of divine revelation, not intellectual attainment.
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Chapter 4. This chapter teaches that to the one who overcomes self and all created things, God grants a “sparkling stone” and a “new name” known only to the recipient-symbols of intimate, hidden union with Christ. The sparkling stone is Christ Himself: radiant, weightless, humble, and filled with divine love. Through this gift, the soul receives inner illumination, divine truth, and eternal life. Its smallness and lightness signify Christ’s humility in the Incarnation and His hidden presence in the hearts of those who love Him. The new name, given in this stone, represents the unique, eternal identity bestowed upon the soul as it is spiritually reborn through grace and the workings of the Holy Spirit. This mystical name reflects the soul’s particular love and service to God and remains forever as its true spiritual self, formed through divine union.
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“To him that overcometh … will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a sparkling stone, and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.”
Ruysbroeck begins with a mystical interpretation of Revelation 2:17. The “overcomer” is the soul who transcends self and all else. To such a soul, God grants both hidden manna-a symbol of interior delight in God-and a sparkling stone, the profound gift of Christ Himself. This passage sets the tone for a deeply symbolic meditation on divine union and personal transformation.
“By this sparkling stone we mean our Lord Christ Jesus, for He is, according to His Godhead, a shining forth of the Eternal Light, and an irradiation of the glory of God, and a flawless mirror in which all things live.”
The “sparkling stone” is Christ, radiant with divine light and truth. The metaphor suggests both beauty and humility: Christ is exalted in His Godhead and yet accessible, unassuming, and even overlooked. He reflects God’s glory and reveals life itself, a mirror in which all creatures are known and held.
“This stone is also like to a fiery flame, for the fiery love of the Eternal Word has filled the whole world with love and wills that all loving spirits be burned up to nothingness in love.”
Christ is not only radiant, but consuming. The divine love is fire-purifying, transforming, and annihilating selfhood in divine union. Here, the mystic path is expressed in paradox: the goal is to be burned up to nothingness, losing oneself completely in divine love.
“He made Himself so small in time that the Jews trod Him under their feet. But they felt Him not.”
The stone’s smallness symbolizes Christ’s humility and hiddenness in the Incarnation. Though divine, He made Himself so lowly that He could be disregarded and despised. This is the paradox of divine majesty veiled in human weakness-a central theme in Ruysbroeck’s Christology.
“That the stone is round teaches us that the Divine Truth has neither beginning nor end… that it is smooth and even… that the Divine Truth shall weigh all things evenly.”
The physical properties of the stone are layered with symbolic meaning: roundness signifies eternity; smoothness, divine justice. The mystic sees in every aspect of Christ’s being not just abstract doctrine but direct, experiential revelation of God’s character.
“This noble stone… is particularly light; for the Eternal Word of the Father has no weight… yet bears heaven and earth by Its strength.”
This lightness suggests spiritual sublimity and omnipresence. Christ bears all creation not by force, but by divine buoyancy. In a mystical paradox, the Light that supports all is itself weightless-transcending even space and time.
“Behold, this is the sparkling stone which is given to the God-seeing man, and in this stone a new name is written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.”
The “new name” symbolizes the unique, intimate knowledge and identity conferred by God in union. It is hidden, ineffable, and personal-known only to the soul and God. This name denotes both a new essence and a secret communion.
“All spirits in their return towards God receive names… according to the nobleness of its service and the loftiness of its love.”
Ruysbroeck teaches that spiritual ascent is marked by interior transformation. The “name” is a sign of one’s vocation, purified essence, and place in the divine order-bestowed not by merit alone but by grace and divine love.
“When we have lost this name of innocence through sin… we are baptized once more in the Holy Ghost. And thereby we receive a new name which shall remain with us throughout eternity.”
The loss of innocence is not final; repentance opens the soul to new depths of grace. Through spiritual rebirth in the Holy Spirit, a new name-a new identity in God-is granted. This name, rooted in the gifts of Christ, endures forever.
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1. What is the “sparkling stone” given to those who overcome, and what does it symbolize?
The “sparkling stone” refers to Christ Himself, given to those who overcome themselves and the world through spiritual victory. Symbolically, it represents the divine presence of Christ as radiant light, inner truth, and eternal life. It is described as white and red like fire (symbolizing purity and divine love), small and light (indicating humility), and round and smooth (signifying God’s eternity and justice). The stone also points to the hidden and often unrecognized reality of Christ’s humility in the Incarnation, being so small that He is trodden underfoot yet not perceived.
2. How does Ruysbroeck describe the humility of Christ in relation to the sparkling stone?
Ruysbroeck emphasizes that Christ, the Eternal Word, humbled Himself to such a degree that He became “a worm, and no man,” despised and rejected. The stone is called calculus, meaning “treadling,” because Christ made Himself so small that He was trampled underfoot by men, particularly by those who did not recognize Him. His humility was such that He became weightless in the eyes of the world, yet He bore heaven and earth by His divine strength.
3. What is the spiritual significance of the stone being round, smooth, and light?
Each quality of the stone carries spiritual meaning:
Roundness: Symbolizes the Divine Truth as eternal-without beginning or end.
Smoothness and evenness: Represents the impartial and perfect justice of God, who rewards each according to his merits.
Lightness: Indicates the spiritual sublimity of the Eternal Word, who, though bearing all things, remains transcendent, gentle, and accessible. Christ’s lightness also allows human nature, through union with Him, to ascend above the heavens.
4. What is the “new name” written in the stone, and who receives it?
The “new name” is a mystical name given to the soul that has overcome self and been transformed through union with God. It symbolizes a unique and secret identity granted by God, known only to the recipient. This name is not merely a label, but a participation in divine mystery-bestowed through grace and love. It reflects the soul’s eternal destiny and place in God’s glory, corresponding to the soul’s service and love.
5. How does Ruysbroeck connect the concept of “names” to spiritual transformation and eternal identity?
Ruysbroeck teaches that every spirit receives a name upon returning to God. This name reflects the dignity of the soul’s love and service. The original name of innocence given at baptism is lost through sin, but can be replaced through a new baptism in the Holy Ghost. This new name is eternal, signifying the soul’s rebirth, transformation, and glorification in Christ. The naming expresses the uniqueness and mystery of each soul’s path in God.
6. What three works does God wish to accomplish in us, according to Ruysbroeck, in order to bestow this new name?
While the specific three works are not detailed in this chapter, Ruysbroeck refers generally to God’s desire to effect interior transformation through self-overcoming, loving union, and the grace-filled activity of the Holy Spirit. Those who cooperate with these divine operations-especially by overcoming sin, being reborn in love, and living a life of service and contemplation-are granted this new name that endures eternally.
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Chapter 5. Ruysbroeck teaches that God, in His universal love, calls all human beings to union with Himself as the foundational work of grace, but this call requires a free and willing response from the soul. He distinguishes five types of sinners-those who are spiritually negligent, those who sin mortally yet do good, unbelievers, hardened godless individuals, and hypocrites-all of whom resist this divine invitation in different ways. Yet, all may be saved if they awaken, repent, and submit to grace. Ruysbroeck emphasizes that grace is always at work, tailored to each person’s capacity, enabling them to renounce sin, grow in virtue, and even reach perfection, provided they surrender entirely to God’s initiative. He concludes that even worldly gifts, though lesser and morally neutral, can either aid sanctity or fuel sin depending on how they are received and used.
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“The first work which God works in all men in common consists in His calling and inviting them all, without exception, to union with Himself.”
God’s universal call to union is the foundational act of grace offered to every person. This divine invitation precedes any merit or disposition in the soul and demonstrates God’s unconditional love and desire for communion with all humanity. It is the basis upon which further spiritual progress depends; without responding to this call, no further grace or sanctification is possible.
“Now I have observed that all sinners may be divided into five kinds.”
Ruysbroeck introduces a typology of sinners, each failing to respond rightly to God’s call, though all are still recipients of it. This classification is not meant to judge, but to help souls examine their state and the barriers preventing union with God.
“To the first kind belong all those who are careless of good works… prefer to live in worldly employments and in multiplicity of heart.”
These are the lukewarm and distracted, whose attachment to comfort and earthly concerns makes them spiritually unfit. Their fragmentation of heart keeps them from receiving or retaining grace.
“To the second kind belong those who have willingly and wittingly fallen into mortal sin, yet also do good works…”
This group lives in contradiction: they perform external good while clinging to grave sin. Their inner division renders their good works ineffective for union with God, as love for sin overpowers love for God.
“The third kind of sinners consists in all unbelievers, and those who err in faith…”
For Ruysbroeck, true faith is foundational. Regardless of virtuous living, without the right orientation to God through faith, no one can attain true holiness or union with Him.
“To the fourth kind belong those who abide in mortal sin without fear and without shame…”
These are hardened sinners, rejecting even the basic knowledge of God. They deny spiritual reality and virtue entirely, making conversion difficult though not impossible. Their state borders on blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.
“The fifth kind of sinners are those hypocrites who do outward good works… to acquire a name for holiness…”
These souls are outwardly pious but inwardly corrupt. Their intentions are self-serving, and thus they are furthest from God, though perhaps appearing closest to others. Their hypocrisy blocks grace.
“Whenever a sinner enters into himself… he draws near to God.”
Despite the darkness of sin, the door to repentance remains open. Self-examination and true contrition are the beginnings of return. The call of grace remains active and persistent.
“He must of his own free will resolve to leave sin and to do penance. And so he becomes one aim and one will with God.”
Human freedom is crucial in the spiritual journey. Cooperation with grace-through willful renunciation of sin and penance-enables the soul to be unified with God’s will, leading to the restoration of grace and spiritual life.
“We should all conceive of God in this way: First… He calls and invites all men… Secondly… He through grace flows forth… Thirdly… we can become one life and one spirit with God…”
Ruysbroeck summarizes his theology of grace in three acts: (1) the universal call, (2) the outpouring of grace to those who respond, and (3) the transformation of the soul into unity with God. This process reveals God’s initiative and human response as co-essential.
“For all that we are, and all that we have received… are all the free gifts of God.”
Everything-natural and supernatural-is a gift. Recognizing this calls for gratitude, humility, and the dedication of all gifts back to God in service. Even natural goods like beauty or wealth become spiritual occasions depending on their use.
“There are many gifts… which are for the good an aid to virtue; but for the wicked an aid to sin…”
Temporal blessings are morally neutral but can become occasions of sin or virtue depending on the heart’s orientation. The good use them for God’s glory; the wicked, for selfish gain. This underscores the need for purity of intention in all things.
This chapter thus moves from a universal doctrine of grace to a discerning examination of the ways sin obstructs its fruitfulness, always holding out the hope of transformation through repentance and cooperation with grace.
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1. What is the first and universal work that God performs in all human beings?
The first and universal work of God in all people is His invitation to union with Himself. This call is extended to every person without exception-both the good and the wicked. It is the necessary first step, and no one can receive further gifts or graces from God unless they respond to this initial divine call. Without this turning toward God, the soul remains closed to spiritual progress.
2. Who are the five kinds of sinners Ruysbroeck describes, and what characterizes each type?
Ruysbroeck distinguishes five kinds of sinners:
First kind: Those who are careless of good works, absorbed in worldly comfort and sensual pleasures, and distracted in heart. They are incapable of receiving or preserving grace due to their spiritual negligence.
Second kind: Those who commit mortal sin knowingly, yet perform good works, fear God, and admire the just. However, their love of sin still outweighs their love of God, rendering them unworthy of grace.
Third kind: Unbelievers and heretics-those who err in faith. Regardless of their good actions, without true faith (which is the foundation of all holiness), they cannot please God.
Fourth kind: Hardened sinners who live in mortal sin without shame or fear. They scoff at virtue, consider religion deceitful, and live as though God does not exist. They sin against the Holy Ghost and are rarely converted.
Fifth kind: Hypocrites, who perform good works outwardly but for selfish motives (e.g., reputation or gain). They appear holy externally but are inwardly false, cut off from God and true virtue.
3. Can any of these five kinds of sinners be saved? If so, how?
Yes, any sinner can be saved if he enters into himself, becomes displeased with his sins, and freely chooses to renounce sin and do penance. God continually calls all sinners to union with Him. Through sincere self-examination and cooperation with grace, a sinner can align his will with God’s, receive His grace, and begin the path of transformation.
4. What three truths should we understand about God’s relationship with souls, according to Ruysbroeck?
God calls all people-good and bad-to union with Himself, freely and without distinction.
God’s grace flows into those who are obedient to this call and willing to receive it.
Union with God becomes possible when a soul surrenders completely to grace, renouncing self and becoming one will and one spirit with God.
These three truths reveal the dynamism of grace: God’s initiative, man’s response, and the resulting unity.
5. How does God’s grace operate differently in each person?
Grace works in each person according to their capacity to receive it. It follows divine order, adapting itself to the soul’s readiness, disposition, and openness. Some receive the grace to leave sin; others, to grow in virtue; and still others, to persevere in the highest perfection. The key is submissiveness to grace, which enables the soul to be transformed and empowered for the spiritual life.
6. What role does free will play in responding to God’s grace?
Free will is essential in responding to God’s grace. Although God initiates the call and offers His gifts freely, the soul must voluntarily choose to renounce sin and cooperate with grace. Without this free and willing response, the effects of grace remain dormant. Union with God is not imposed but entered into through freedom and love.
7. How are worldly goods like health, beauty, and wealth to be understood in this framework?
Worldly goods are lesser gifts of God and are morally neutral. They are given to both the good and the wicked. For the virtuous, they become aids to holiness when used in service of God and others. For the wicked, they become occasions of sin, leading to pride, indulgence, and selfishness. Thus, the spiritual value of these goods depends entirely on the disposition and intention of the person who possesses them.
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Chapter 6. Ruysbroeck distinguishes sharply between hirelings and faithful servants of God, emphasizing the inner motivation behind one’s spiritual life. Hirelings serve God not out of love, but for personal gain-seeking either temporal goods or eternal life for their own benefit-and thus remain trapped in self-love, fear, and spiritual misery. Though their actions may conform externally to religious law, they lack the transforming power of divine love. In contrast, faithful servants have surrendered self-interest and entrusted their needs entirely to God; through this detachment, they receive divine grace, which births true love in the soul. This love casts out fear, brings confidence and peace, and unites the soul with God’s will. Thus, the core difference lies in whether one serves from self-love or divine love, the latter being the mark of true spiritual fidelity.
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“Some men receive the gifts of God as hirelings, but others as faithful servants of God; and these differ one from another in all inward works, that is, in love and intention, in feeling and in every exercise of the inward life.”
Ruysbroeck introduces a crucial spiritual distinction: not all who receive divine gifts relate to them equally. The interior disposition-especially love and intention-determines whether one is merely a hireling (acting for reward) or a faithful servant (acting from love). This difference penetrates to the deepest levels of the inner life.
“All those who love themselves so inordinately that they will not serve God, save for their own profit and because of their own reward, these separate themselves from God, and dwell in bondage and in their own selfhood.”
Self-love, when disordered, becomes the root of spiritual bondage. The hireling serves God not out of devotion, but for self-interest-temporal or eternal. This turns the soul inward upon itself and estranges it from divine communion.
“Although these men seem to keep within the law and the commandments of God and of Holy Church, they do not keep within the law of love.”
Outward conformity to religious norms does not guarantee union with God. Ruysbroeck insists on love as the core of authentic obedience; without love, even the observance of law remains spiritually barren.
“Their whole inward life is doubt and fear, travail and misery. For they see on the right hand eternal life, and this they are afraid of losing; and they see on the left hand the eternal pains of hell, and these they are afraid of gaining.”
The hireling is tormented by fear-caught between the desire for heaven and the dread of hell. This fear arises not from reverence, but from clinging to self-preservation. The soul becomes trapped in anxiety, never tasting the freedom of divine love.
“Their fear of hell springs from self-love, which seeks its own.”
This diagnosis is severe: even religious fear can be corrupt if rooted in selfishness. True spirituality must transcend self-interest, even the self-interest that longs for salvation.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; but by this is meant that fear which is exercised upon the right side, where one considers the loss of eternal blessedness…”
Ruysbroeck nuances fear: the “fear of the Lord” can be salvific if it awakens the soul to its deepest longing for God. This preparatory fear leads to virtue and opens the soul to grace.
“From that very hour in which, with God’s help, he can overcome his selfhood… God bestows upon him His grace.”
The turning point is detachment from self. The soul, no longer centered on its own needs, entrusts everything to God. This self-emptying prepares it to receive divine grace freely.
“Through grace, he feels true love: and love casts out doubt and fear, and fills the man with hope and trust, and thus he becomes a faithful servant…”
Grace births love, and love drives out fear. The faithful servant trusts in God and acts out of love, not obligation. This transformation marks the soul’s entry into true spiritual freedom.
“Behold, this is the difference between the faithful servant and the hireling.”
The chapter culminates in a contrast: the hireling remains in fear, ruled by self-love and self-interest, while the faithful servant, freed by grace, lives in love, trust, and union with God’s will.
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1. What fundamental distinction does Ruysbroeck make between different types of recipients of God’s gifts?
Ruysbroeck distinguishes between hirelings and faithful servants. Hirelings serve God for their own benefit-seeking temporal rewards or even eternal life for self-interest. Faithful servants, by contrast, serve God out of pure love, seeking not their own gain but God’s glory. This distinction touches every aspect of the interior life: intention, love, feeling, and practice.
2. How does self-love affect the spiritual life of the hireling?
Inordinate self-love traps the hireling in spiritual bondage and alienates him from God. He does good works not out of love, but from a desire for reward or fear of punishment. This focus on self causes all his spiritual activities-prayer, virtue, obedience-to be rooted in anxiety and self-interest, rather than in true union with God.
3. Why are the works of hirelings spiritually ineffective, even when they appear religious?
Their works lack the law of love. Though they follow the external commandments of God and the Church, they do so out of necessity or fear rather than devotion. Because their intention is self-centered, their actions remain spiritually barren. Their religious life is marked by fear, doubt, and inner misery.
4. What kind of fear is considered the “beginning of wisdom” according to Ruysbroeck?
The fear that is the beginning of wisdom is the reverent fear of losing blessedness-of being separated from God. This fear arises from humanity’s innate desire for beatitude and can prompt the soul to leave sin and seek virtue. While it is still imperfect (since it stems from self-interest), it plays a preparatory role in spiritual growth.
5. How does a person transition from a hireling to a faithful servant of God?
The transition occurs when a person, with God’s help, overcomes selfhood and entrusts everything to God’s will. This detachment makes the soul receptive to divine grace. Once grace is received, it produces true love, which casts out fear and fills the soul with hope and trust. The person then acts from love, becoming a faithful servant.
6. What are the signs of a faithful servant as opposed to a hireling?
A faithful servant acts from love, trusts God fully, and is united with His will. He serves not for reward or out of fear, but because he loves God for His own sake. His interior life is marked by peace, confidence, and charity. The hireling, on the other hand, is anxious, fearful, and self-centered, never fully trusting or surrendering to God.
7. How does Ruysbroeck describe the effect of divine love on the soul?
Divine love, once received through grace, dispels fear and doubt. It brings hope, trust, and inner freedom. Love transforms the soul’s motivations, making it act not for self-preservation but out of joyful union with God. It is love that finally unites the servant to God in fidelity and truth.
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Chapter 7. This chapter distinguishes between the faithful servants of God, who obey His commandments through outward works and active virtue, and the secret friends of God, who go beyond obedience to embrace an interior life of love and spiritual union with Him. While faithful servants serve God visibly through the Church and good deeds, the secret friends are drawn inward by grace to a deeper, contemplative relationship, forsaking all attachments for God alone. Though both vocations are valid and grounded in divine love, the contemplative life is the “better part,” praised by Christ in Mary over Martha’s busy service. Yet Ruysbroeck cautions that true contemplatives must also serve when love demands it, and those who avoid both action and contemplation are deceived. Ultimately, divine love is the one thing needful, whether expressed outwardly in service or inwardly in union.
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“We must now observe the great difference which there is between the faithful servants and the inward friends of God.”
Ruysbroeck sets the stage by clearly distinguishing two categories within the spiritual life. This foundational contrast introduces the chapter’s central theme: not all who serve God do so at the same depth of union or intimacy.
“The faithful servants have chosen to keep the commandments of God…this is called the outward or active life.”
Faithful servants are those who obey God and the Church through visible good works and virtues. They are commendable in their obedience and moral life, but their focus is external-rooted in action and service rather than inner contemplation.
“But the inward friends of God choose to follow, besides the commandments, the quickening counsels of God…with a willing abandonment of all that one may possess outside God with lust and love.”
The secret friends go further-they live a life of inward devotion, renouncing all worldly attachments for the sake of pure union with God. This deeper path includes the “counsels” (not merely commandments), pointing to a voluntary, love-driven surrender beyond obligation.
“But He sends His servants outwards…but He calls and invites His friends inwards.”
God’s grace works in both vocations, but in distinct ways: the servants are sent into the world for works of service, while the friends are drawn inward for union and contemplation. This reflects the classic distinction between the active and contemplative lives.
“As long as a man is divided of heart…he is unstable of mind.”
Interior unity is a prerequisite for contemplative grace. Those who remain inwardly distracted or attached to the temporal cannot enter into the deeper interior exercises of divine friendship. The contemplative path requires interior stillness and undivided attention to God.
“Though he may live according to the commandments of God, inwardly he abides in darkness…he knows not what inward exercises may be.”
Even the outwardly virtuous may remain spiritually immature if they lack inner recollection. This is not a moral failing, but a limitation in spiritual depth; the inward path is hidden from them because they have not turned fully toward God within.
“For his exercise is more outward than inward, more of the senses than of the spirit.”
Ruysbroeck critiques those whose devotion remains sensory and active without becoming spiritual and contemplative. Even good external works can become distractions if they overshadow the love of God which should animate them.
“Certain gross and outward men always condemn and blame the inward and contemplative men, because they have in mind that these are idle.”
This reflects the perennial misunderstanding between active and contemplative lives. Those immersed in external service may wrongly judge contemplatives as lazy, not recognizing the hidden fruit and intensity of interior union.
“But our Lord gave His judgment…Mary hath chosen the better part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
Ruysbroeck appeals to the Gospel account of Mary and Martha as divine affirmation of the contemplative life’s superiority. Mary represents the secret friends of God, whose love-centered interiority is eternal and unshakable.
“That One Thing which is needful for all men is Divine love.”
All spiritual distinctions ultimately converge in this essential truth: divine love is the foundation of both lives. Love is what makes outward service meaningful and inward contemplation fruitful. Without love, neither path is complete.
“But there are found some foolish men who would be so inward that they would neither act nor serve…”
Ruysbroeck rejects false quietism-those who feign contemplative depth but neglect active charity are deceived. True divine friendship includes a readiness to serve when love demands it. The authentic contemplative is also obedient to the call of charity.
“All secret friends of God are also at the same time faithful servants…but all the faithful servants are not secret friends.”
This concluding distinction clarifies the hierarchy: the contemplative contains within it the active (as in Mary, who can also serve), but the active does not necessarily contain the contemplative. The highest form of life is to be both-loving God within and serving Him without.
This chapter emphasizes both the dignity of active service and the superiority of contemplative union, while warning against false forms of both. True love of God is the key that unites and elevates every vocation.
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1. What distinguishes the faithful servants of God from the secret friends of God?
Faithful servants follow God’s commandments and lead outwardly virtuous lives in obedience to God and the Church. Their spiritual path is characterized by active service, good works, and moral conduct-this is the “outward” or “active” life. In contrast, the secret friends of God go beyond mere obedience and follow God’s counsels with interior love. They practice an inward cleaving to God, abandoning all attachments not grounded in divine love. Their life is contemplative and marked by a deep, interior communion with God.
2. How does God direct His faithful servants versus His secret friends?
God sends His faithful servants outward to perform external good works, being active in the world and the Church’s service. Secret friends, however, are called inward by God and instructed in the hidden ways of the spiritual life. They are led into deeper interior exercises and drawn into intimate union with Him. Each is guided according to their disposition-those more attuned to external action serve actively, while those capable of deeper love and detachment are led to contemplation.
3. Why can’t a divided heart enter the contemplative life?
A divided heart-one that clings to temporal things or is swayed by external joys and sorrows-cannot focus wholly on God. This instability prevents a person from being recollected and spiritually still, which are necessary conditions for receiving the grace of inner contemplation. Only when the heart is wholly turned inward, detached from the senses, and steadfast in desire for God can the person engage in the secret exercises of divine friendship.
4. Why do some outwardly faithful people remain unaware of the contemplative life?
Even though they obey God’s commandments and perform good works, their attention remains fixed on their actions rather than on God Himself. They may be sincere and without hypocrisy, but their focus on outward tasks prevents them from discovering the deeper exercises of love and contemplation. They prioritize what is seen and done rather than inward union, and thus the contemplative dimension remains hidden from them.
5. What example does Ruysbroeck use to illustrate the tension between active and contemplative life, and what is its meaning?
He uses the Gospel story of Martha and Mary. Martha, who represents the active life, complains to Jesus that Mary is not helping with service. Jesus acknowledges Martha’s diligence but praises Mary, who represents the contemplative life, for choosing the “better part.” This illustrates that while active service is good and necessary, interior union with God is better and eternal. It confirms the superiority of the contemplative life when done in love.
6. What is the “One Thing” that is needful for all men, and how is it expressed differently in servants and friends?
The “One Thing” is Divine love, which is essential to both vocations. The faithful servants express this love in obedience and external works, while the secret friends live this love through inward cleaving to God. Love is the root of both paths, but the contemplative expression of it is more perfect, as it unites the soul more intimately with God.
7. How does Ruysbroeck respond to those who avoid both action and genuine contemplation?
He strongly criticizes those who claim to be so inward that they refuse to act, even when their neighbor is in need. These are not true contemplatives but self-deceived. Authentic secret friends of God also become faithful servants when necessary. No one can be rightly called a friend of God who does not also keep His commandments and serve when love requires it.
8. Are all faithful servants also secret friends of God? Why or why not?
No, not all faithful servants are secret friends. While the faithful servants live morally good and obedient lives, they may not be called into the deeper contemplative experience due to their orientation toward external works. However, all secret friends are also faithful servants, for true contemplatives also serve when needed, uniting interior love with active charity.
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Chapter 8. In this chapter, Ruysbroeck draws a subtle but vital distinction between the secret friends and the hidden sons of God. While both live in God’s presence and love Him inwardly, the friends still relate to God through their own spiritual activity and retain a sense of selfhood in their union. Their journey is upward, guided by reason and deliberate adherence, but they do not transcend all forms and images to enter the imageless “Nudity” of pure divine union. In contrast, the hidden sons die entirely to self and to all inward striving, passing beyond reason, images, and even the sweetness of grace into the formless depths of God, led solely by His Spirit. This total abandonment allows them to live not by their own efforts but by a God-formed life, in full conformity with divine love. Yet Ruysbroeck affirms that all faithful people-servants, friends, and sons-are children of God according to their capacity and obedience, provided they persevere. True mysticism, he insists, is never contrary to ecclesial obedience or moral vigilance, and the highest union demands radical self-renunciation and fidelity.
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“But the friends possess their inwardness as an attribute, for they choose the loving adherence to God as best and highest of all that they ever can and will reach: and that is why they cannot with themselves and their own activity penetrate to the imageless Nudity.”
Secret friends of God attain a high degree of interiority, choosing loving adherence to God as their greatest good. Yet their union is mediated through their own being and spiritual activity. Their love and vision, though deep, do not pass into the “imageless Nudity”-the radical simplicity and undifferentiated oneness of God beyond all forms and activities.
“For the simple passing into the Bare and Wayless, they do not know and love… their highest inward life ever remains in Reason and in Ways.”
These friends are still tethered to the structures of reason, method, and personal striving. They do not enter the utter abandonment required for union in “bare and wayless love”-a mystical state transcending all human frameworks. Their spiritual path is noble, but it is not yet the most radical surrender of self.
“And though they feel themselves uplifted to God in a mighty fire of love, yet they keep something of their own selfhood, and are not consumed and burnt to nothingness in the unity of love.”
Even in intense love and union, they retain a sense of self. They have not been wholly annihilated in the fire of divine unity. This distinguishes them from the hidden sons, who are utterly consumed in God and live only from His life, not their own.
“The inward life of the friends of our Lord is an upward-striving exercise of love… but how one possesses God through bare love above every exercise, in freedom from one’s self, this they do not feel.”
The friends live in a continual ascent, yet always through effort and self-awareness. They have not passed into the effortless divine life of the hidden sons, who possess God not through striving but through selfless being and divine indwelling.
“But could we renounce ourselves, and all selfhood in our works, we should, with our bare and imageless spirit, transcend all things… And then we should feel the certainty that we are indeed the sons of God.”
To become a hidden son of God requires a complete renunciation of all self-reference-even in our good works and intentions. In this total death to self, the soul enters into the imageless life of God, receiving a divine mode of being and knowing itself as truly God’s child-not by image, but by participation.
“Nevertheless, you should know that all good and faithful men are the sons of God… But because of the inequality of their adherence and their exercises, I call some the faithful servants of God and others I call His secret friends, and others again His hidden sons.”
Ruysbroeck affirms that all the just are sons of God in a general sense through grace and virtue. However, he distinguishes between them according to the depth and purity of their spiritual life. The faithful servants, secret friends, and hidden sons are on the same path, but they differ greatly in how deeply they have renounced themselves and become transparent to God.
“And so no one is disobedient or contrary to God save he who does not keep His commandments… And therefore such failings [venial sins] do not make us disobedient, for they do not drive out the grace of God nor our inward peace.”
Despite the lofty spiritual distinctions, Ruysbroeck grounds his teaching firmly in obedience to God’s commandments, the Church, and conscience. Even the most hidden sons are still subject to the ordinary moral and ecclesial life. Minor faults, while lamentable, do not remove one from grace unless they breach obedience.
“And by these words I have explained to you what I said at the beginning: namely, that every man must needs be obedient in all things to God and to Holy Church and to his own conscience…”
He ends with a pastoral note of humility and clarity: his mystical distinctions are not meant to dismiss the obligations of Christian life. All authentic mysticism is rooted in obedience, humility, and the Church. The higher one rises, the deeper must be one’s fidelity.
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1. What is the fundamental difference between the secret friends and the hidden sons of God?
The secret friends of God adhere to Him with intense love and interior devotion, yet they do so through their own spiritual activity and awareness. Their union with God remains mediated by their sense of self and deliberate striving. In contrast, the hidden sons of God go beyond this: they undergo a total death to selfhood and enter into a state of imageless, wayless love. This is a complete union where nothing of the self remains, and the soul lives only by the Spirit of God, not by its own powers.
2. How do the secret friends relate to God, and what limitations remain in their union?
Secret friends love God fervently and are raised in a fire of love toward Him. However, they still retain a subtle selfhood-they value their own spiritual activity, their gifts, and the sweetness they receive from God. Their love is exercised through reason, discernment, and upward striving. As a result, their union with God is real but not total; they cannot enter the “bare and wayless” love, because their own being and effort stand as intermediaries between them and God.
3. What characterizes the hidden sons of God, and how is their state different from that of the friends?
The hidden sons have transcended not only outward attachments but even inward ones-they have abandoned all self-reliance and self-reference. They have died to their own spiritual striving and activity, and thus their union with God is not mediated by self, image, or method. They are led purely by the Spirit of God into the “Nudity” or divine simplicity. In this death-like passing into God, they become inwardly certain of their divine sonship, living from God rather than toward Him.
4. Why can the secret friends not attain the highest beatitude according to Ruysbroeck?
Because they do not completely renounce their selfhood. They still find meaning and rest in their inner works, in the sweetness of God’s presence, and in spiritual consolation. Although they turn away from external pleasures, they still “rest upon the way,” meaning they do not fully pass into the imageless and formless union that characterizes the highest mystical state. Thus, they do not attain the full blessedness that comes from total self-emptying.
5. What is the “bare and imageless spirit,” and how does it relate to mystical union?
The “bare and imageless spirit” is the soul stripped of all concepts, images, methods, and even self-awareness. It refers to a state of pure receptivity to God where the soul no longer acts from itself but is led wholly by God. Only in this state can the soul be united with God beyond mediation. This is the state of the hidden sons, who transcend all that is created-even in themselves-to enter into the divine life directly.
6. How does Ruysbroeck affirm that all faithful people are still sons of God?
He states that all faithful and virtuous people are sons of God in a general sense because they are born of the Spirit and moved by it according to their capacity. Whether as servants, friends, or hidden sons, all live by God’s grace and love Him sincerely. The distinctions lie not in worth but in degree of surrender, receptivity, and spiritual elevation.
7. What warning does Ruysbroeck give regarding the erasure of names from the Book of Life?
He warns that even those once righteous-whose names were written in God’s Book-can fall away if they turn inwardly toward sin and do not persevere to the end. Perseverance in one’s chosen turning toward God is necessary. Failure to endure in grace leads to the loss of participation in God and the fruit of virtue, regardless of one’s earlier state.
8. What balance does Ruysbroeck strike between mystical theology and ecclesial obedience?
Despite the depth of his mystical teaching, Ruysbroeck firmly maintains that all must obey the commandments of God, Holy Church, and the dictates of conscience. No spiritual experience or interiority exempts one from obedience. Even venial sins, while not destroying grace, must be lamented and guarded against. His vision is not antinomian but thoroughly orthodox and rooted in Catholic discipline.
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Chapter 9. Ruysbroeck explores the path by which a soul becomes not merely a servant or friend of God, but a hidden son-a soul so transformed that it lives entirely in God and not in itself. This transformation requires more than moral virtue or spiritual experience; it demands an eternal death to self, in which the soul forsakes even its own spiritual works, virtues, and understanding, to pass into the imageless, wayless simplicity of God’s own life. True divine sonship is attained when the soul, moved by the Holy Spirit and purified of all selfhood, surrenders entirely in love and is led into union with God through the Eternal Word. There, beyond all reason, image, or desire for self, the soul becomes radiant with divine light, living no longer by its own power but by God’s own being, in a ceaseless hunger for the Infinite.
Ruysbroeck continues that the soul’s ultimate blessedness lies in a simple, abyssal immersion in God-a state beyond reason, knowledge, and activity-where the soul is swallowed up into the unmoved Quiet of the Godhead. In this union, the soul lives simultaneously in God and in itself: contemplatively resting in God while actively exercising love. Though this immersion transcends all virtue and understanding, it does not dissolve the soul’s created being but fulfills it in its proper end. This state is marked by an eternal, self-emptying love, likened to a river pouring irreversibly into the sea, which neither increases merit nor alters the soul’s nature, but confirms and sustains the soul’s possession of God. Yet conscious knowledge remains essential; for to be united with God without knowing it would be meaningless. Thus, the soul’s eternal life is defined not only by union, but by discerning love and awareness, sustained in the darkness of divine mystery and the bright simplicity of God’s transforming light.
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“But I still longed to know how we may become hidden sons of God, and may attain to the God-seeing life.”
This longing introduces the central concern of the chapter: how to move beyond the states of servant and friend to the deeper union of being a hidden son of God-a state marked by transformation and the vision of God.
“We must always live and be watchful in all virtues, and beyond all virtues must forsake this life and die in God…”
The path begins with a foundation in virtue but does not end there. True transformation involves a mystical death-a complete surrender of self into God-transcending even the virtuous life.
“If we are born of the Spirit of God, we are the sons of grace… nevertheless, they do not feel established nor possessed of God, nor assured of eternal life…”
Being born of the Spirit grants one grace and the capacity for virtue, but this alone does not confer the assurance or possession of God that comes with the deeper transformation into divine sonship.
“…when we transcend ourselves… then we cease, and we and all our selfhood die in God. And in this death we become hidden sons of God, and find a new life within us: and that is eternal life.”
True sonship is not achieved by doing, but by ceasing-by surrendering every part of self into God, allowing His divine life to be born within us. This death of the self is the gateway to eternal life.
“In the Presence of God, we must forsake ourselves and all our works… there we shall possess God in an eternal death to ourselves.”
Even our works, though good, must be relinquished. Possession of God comes not by offering, but by self-forgetting. Eternal death to self leads to eternal union.
“When we go towards God by means of the virtues, God dwells in us; but when we go out from ourselves and from all else, then we dwell in God.”
This sharp distinction contrasts indwelling grace with full immersion in the Divine. In the first, God comes to us; in the second, we go to God-entirely and without mediation.
“…if above all things we would taste God… we must go forth into God with our feeling, above reason… into the simple bareness of our intelligence.”
To experience God directly, we must rise above discursive thought and rational understanding into a state of pure, imageless contemplation-a loving, intelligent emptiness.
“…we are wrought and transformed through the Eternal Word, Who is the Image of the Father… This Light is nothing else than a fathomless staring and seeing.”
Union is effected by the Eternal Word-Christ-who draws us into divine likeness. The seeing here is not intellectual but ontological: we become what we behold, and behold what we become.
“In this simple staring we are one life and one spirit with God: and this I call a contemplative life.”
The essence of contemplative life is not effort or striving, but simplicity and stillness. In the gaze of love, the soul becomes one spirit with God, sharing His life.
“With this contemplation, there is bound up an exercise which is wayless… there shines perpetually the simple ray of the Splendour of God…”
The contemplative path is “wayless”-beyond method, structure, or goal. God’s light shines perpetually, but it is only perceived when the soul stops navigating and simply rests.
“…love cannot be lazy… this is a hunger which cannot be appeased… a perpetual striving after the unattainable… neither be silent on it nor speak of it…”
Love, even in stillness, is active. It is a ceaseless yearning for the Infinite-an unattainable that paradoxically possesses and consumes the soul. It eludes language and intellect.
“…the Spirit of God is driving us and enkindling us in this restlessness of love… burning us to nothingness in His Selfhood…”
This divine love is both a compulsion and a consummation. It burns away selfhood, not in violence, but in union-drawing the soul into the very life and essence of God.
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“This possession is a simple and abysmal tasting of all good and of eternal life; and in this tasting we are swallowed up above reason and without reason, in the deep Quiet of the Godhead, which is never moved.”
The author begins by describing union with God as a “tasting” beyond all rational comprehension. This is not a conceptual knowledge but an experiential immersion-utterly simple, wordless, and passive. The “deep Quiet” of the unmoved Godhead evokes the ultimate stillness and peace, inaccessible to any self-directed effort or understanding.
“We are poor in ourselves, but rich in God; hungry and thirsty in ourselves, drunken and fulfilled in God; busy in ourselves, idle in God.”
Here, the paradoxical nature of mystical union is highlighted. The soul lives a dual life: emptiness and striving in its creaturely self, but fullness and rest in God. This tension is not a contradiction but a necessary dynamic of spiritual transformation-holding both poles while anchored in love.
“And thus we live wholly in God, where we possess our blessedness; and we live wholly in ourselves, where we exercise ourselves in love towards God. And though we live wholly in God and wholly in ourselves, yet it is but one life…”
The mystical life is simultaneously fully divine and fully human. The soul lives “wholly in God” through union, and “wholly in itself” through love’s active practice. This twofold reality expresses the mystery of grace and cooperation-God’s gift and our loving response.
“For we cannot wholly become God and lose our created being, this is impossible.”
This is a critical clarification. While the soul is deeply united to God, it does not become God in essence. There remains an ontological distinction-maintaining the soul’s created nature even in the depths of mystical immersion.
“If we follow this brightness without pause, back into that Source from whence it comes forth, there we feel nothing but a quenching of our spirit and an irretrievable down-sinking into simple and fathomless love.”
The mystical path involves a complete surrender into God, described as “quenching” and “down-sinking.” The “brightness” is divine illumination, and following it leads to utter self-loss in love-no longer self-aware, but immersed in God’s own being.
“This down-sinking is like a river, which without pause or turning back ever pours into the sea…”
This vivid image captures the soul’s continual movement toward God. Just as a river flows without return into the sea, the soul pours itself into God in a constant, irreversible surrender. The river’s resting place is the sea; the soul’s is God.
“Now this immersion is above all virtues, and above every exercise of love…”
The author places the immersion into God above all spiritual acts or virtues. This “being in God” is not an action but a state of transformation and rest that transcends all movement of the soul-pure receptivity.
“Our reason abides here with open eyes in the darkness, that is, in an abysmal ignorance…”
This is a key apophatic insight. Even enlightened reason is “blinded” in the divine depths. Yet this ignorance is not a lack but a surpassing-a knowing beyond knowing, where God’s incomprehensible splendor enfolds and transforms the soul.
“Without our own knowledge, we cannot possess God; and without the practice of love, we cannot be united with God…”
Despite the emphasis on passivity and immersion, the author insists that knowledge and love remain essential. Awareness and will are engaged: we must know that we possess God, and we must actively love. This guards against a quietism that denies human responsibility.
“This is life eternal, that they should know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent.”
The chapter closes with Christ’s own words affirming that eternal life is rooted in knowing God. This knowledge is not intellectual but experiential, grounded in union, love, and a continual returning into God through the Spirit.
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1. What initial desire sets the stage for this chapter?
The author expresses a deep longing to understand how one may become a hidden son of God and attain the God-seeing life. This inquiry leads into a distinction between merely being born of the Spirit and being transformed through a total death to self in God.
2. How does the author describe the path beyond virtue to divine sonship?
While the virtues are necessary, they are not the end. The soul must move beyond them-through spiritual watchfulness and self-renunciation-into a mystical death in God. This death to self, including the abandonment of even one’s own works, leads to new life in God, which is eternal life.
3. Why are those who are born of the Spirit not necessarily hidden sons of God?
Though those born of the Spirit possess grace and can perform good works, they are not assured of eternal life because they still retain some measure of selfhood. True sonship demands a complete death to self and surrender into God’s being.
4. What is meant by “eternal death to ourselves,” and how is it linked to possessing God?
“Eternal death to ourselves” means a continual, interior surrender of all that is not God-including self-will, self-awareness, and even spiritual accomplishments. This radical relinquishment is the only way to truly possess God in His fullness, without mediation.
5. How does the author contrast two movements: God dwelling in us vs. us dwelling in God?
When we live virtuously, God dwells in us through grace. However, when we transcend ourselves completely, we go forth and dwell in God. This latter state is superior because it implies a full union with God beyond all works or self-reference.
6. What does it mean to go “above reason” into the “simple bareness of intelligence”?
It means that to truly taste and experience God, the soul must move beyond discursive thought and intellectual reasoning into a pure, imageless awareness. This bareness is not ignorance but a luminous simplicity that opens the soul to God as He is.
7. What role does the Eternal Word play in this transformation?
The Eternal Word (Christ) is the divine image through which we are wrought and transformed. Contemplation of this Word draws the soul into divine likeness. In beholding this Light, we participate in God’s life and become one spirit with Him.
8. How is contemplative life described in its essence?
It is a life of “simple staring” or loving awareness in which the soul is unified with God in stillness and love. This is not passive, but an active state of being where no method or distinction remains-only union.
9. Why is the contemplative path called “wayless”?
Because it transcends all techniques, forms, and structured exercises. It is not a path in the usual sense but a resting in God where the soul is drawn and illumined by the unmediated Splendour of God’s presence.
10. How does love operate in this stage of contemplation?
Love becomes a “restless hunger” for the Infinite-unceasing, unsatisfied, yet consuming. It compels the soul onward even in the stillness of contemplation. This love surpasses speech and silence, expressing itself as a divine yearning.
11. What is the effect of the Spirit of God in this contemplative soul?
The Spirit enkindles and propels the soul into this divine hunger, ultimately burning away all that is not God. The self is reduced to nothingness-not in despair but in divine union-leaving only God’s own life and identity in the soul.
12. What is the nature of the possession of God described in this passage?
The possession of God is described as a “simple and abysmal tasting of all good and of eternal life”-a mystical experience that swallows the soul above and without reason. It takes place in the “deep Quiet of the Godhead,” a state of perfect stillness beyond intellectual comprehension. The soul cannot access this reality through reason or ascetic practice alone; it is a gift experienced in the depths of contemplative union.
13. How does the soul experience a twofold life in God and in itself?
The soul lives “wholly in God” where it possesses blessedness, and “wholly in itself” where it actively exercises love toward God. These two aspects-contemplative union and active devotion-form one single life that is twofold in feeling. The soul is both poor and rich, hungry and full, active and still. This paradoxical tension reflects the soul’s ongoing transformation in God without the loss of its created nature.
14. Why does the author say we can never become God in essence?
Although the soul is united to God in love, it cannot lose its created being or become God in essence. The ontological distinction between Creator and creature remains. This affirms the orthodox view that even the deepest union with God preserves the integrity and limits of the human person, avoiding pantheism or absorption.
15. What is the significance of the metaphor of the river and the sea?
The metaphor of the river flowing into the sea expresses the soul’s irreversible surrender into God. Just as the river’s natural destination is the sea, the soul’s true resting place is in the infinite depth of God. This “down-sinking” is an eternal, uninterrupted movement of love that carries the soul out of itself and into God’s possession.
16. How does this immersion in God compare to the exercise of virtues and love?
This immersion is described as being above all virtues and above every exercise of love. It is not a work or act but a passive state of being-a total surrender into God. While virtues and exercises help prepare the soul, the immersion is their fulfillment and surpassing, marked by simplicity and self-loss.
17. What role does knowledge play in this state of union with God?
Despite the surpassing of reason, the soul must still know that it possesses God. Knowledge and discernment are essential to truly possessing and enjoying union. The author uses the analogy: just as it is useless to be a lord of all the world without knowing it, so it would be meaningless to possess God without awareness. Knowledge with discernment confirms and stabilizes the experience of eternal life.
18. How is eternal life defined in this section, and what scriptural support is given?
Eternal life is defined as knowing and loving God with discernment. The soul must not only be immersed in God but also be conscious of that immersion. The author cites Christ’s words from John 17:3: “This is life eternal, that they should know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent.” This affirms that contemplative knowledge and relational love form the heart of eternal life.
19. How does the soul relate to the divine brightness that shines into it?
The brightness from God teaches truth and stirs the soul to virtue and love. If the soul follows this brightness back to its Source with unbroken gaze, it experiences a quenching of self and a descent into simple, fathomless love. This movement is likened to being transformed and re-formed in God’s own selfhood, beyond all conceptual understanding.
20. What does the author mean by the “abysmal ignorance” in which reason remains?
Even at its highest, reason stands “with open eyes in the darkness”-an “abysmal ignorance.” This is not a deficiency but a recognition of God’s overwhelming mystery. The divine splendor is so great it blinds reason and remains hidden. Nevertheless, this darkness is filled with the light and simplicity of God that transforms the soul from within.
21. Why does this immersion not earn any new reward, and what is its lasting significance?
This immersion in God is not a meritorious act, so it does not gain further reward. Instead, it sustains the soul in the possession of God and the good already received. Like a river always flowing to its end, the soul’s immersion is continual and defines its resting-place. It is the ultimate fulfillment, not a means to another end.
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Chapter 10. Ruysbroeck teaches that although the soul is truly one with God in love, it must eternally remain distinct from Him in essence, and this paradox is essential to authentic spiritual life. The soul experiences God in four ascending ways: first, through His grace, which stirs devotion and virtue; second, by living in God through a brightness that enlightens reason; third, by being transformed and immersed in God beyond all distinctions; and fourth, by feeling the yearning hunger of love that longs for the infinite God yet can never be satisfied. This unfulfilled craving arises not from lack, but from the overwhelming abundance of divine goodness, which inflames the soul’s desire beyond all bounds. The spiritual life, then, is marked by a ceaseless interplay of union and distinction, of divine touches that both draw the soul into surrender and awaken it to freedom, in a love that is at once stormy and sweet, ever active, yet ever resting in God.
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“Though I have said before that we are one with God and this is taught us by Holy Writ, yet now I will say that we must eternally remain other than God, and distinct from Him… And we must understand and feel both within us, if all is to be right with us.”
Ruysbroeck affirms the paradox that grounds his mystical theology: the soul is truly united with God, yet remains eternally distinct as a creature. Both realities-union and distinction-must be held together in spiritual awareness, or the soul will fall into error, either of self-exaltation (pantheism) or despair (separation). This duality underpins all that follows in the chapter.
“From the Face of God… a brightness shines upon the face of our inward being… especially are we taught in this brightness to feel God and ourselves in four ways.”
This “brightness” refers to the interior illumination that flows from divine presence. It teaches the soul four forms of spiritual awareness, progressively deeper, each describing how we experience both God’s nearness and our own distinct being.
“First, we feel God in His grace… like as the sun, by its splendour and its heat… He enlightens and gladdens and makes fruitful all men who desire to obey Him.”
The first mode of feeling is ethical and ascetical. God’s grace is like sunlight, giving warmth and vitality. Yet this grace requires our cooperation in four forms: inward recollection, fraternal charity, penitential humility, and elevation of heart in prayer. Through these, God remains with us, and this forms the foundation of all spiritual life.
“Secondly: when we possess the God-seeing life, we feel ourselves to be living in God… there we experience the transformation of our whole selves in God.”
The second mode is contemplative: an inner awareness that we live in God, and a surrender to divine brightness that leads to transformation. The soul no longer lives merely from God’s grace, but within His very life. Yet even here, reason operates as an intermediary, unable to reach beyond itself unless the soul “leans out” into pure contemplation.
“Third… we feel ourselves to be one with God… swallowed up in the fathomless abyss of our eternal blessedness… we cannot experience in any other way than in the immersion in love.”
In this deepest union, all faculties fall silent in essential fruition, a passive but luminous state beyond activity. However, any return to reflection breaks the experience and reinstates the sense of difference. This is not loss of selfhood, but rather a foretaste of eternal unity without absorption.
“Fourth… we feel God and ourselves… there arises within us a gaping and eager craving… even though God gave all that He could give, if he gave not Himself, we should not be appeased.”
Here, Ruysbroeck articulates the paradox of spiritual hunger at the height of union. Even while God pours out His sweetness, the soul, still other than God, burns with insatiable longing. This “wildness of love” arises from God’s touch-both drawing inward into unity and pouring outward into desire. Love becomes a storm, a lightning-flash, as the soul is stretched by its own yearning.
“For everything that we can conceive… we find in Him without measure… and the more we taste of them, the more we long to taste… and the more the flood of His sweetness flows through us and over us…”
This climactic vision returns to the theme of divine sweetness and its incomprehensibility. The soul tastes God’s gifts, and through them, God Himself. But the more it receives, the more it thirsts-because the divine is infinite and the soul finite. Scripture supports this with references to the Song of Songs and the Psalms, confirming the overwhelming, unspeakable joy that cannot be exhausted.
Summary Insight:
Ruysbroeck’s purpose in this chapter is to hold the soul in a delicate balance: total union with God in love, and yet eternal distinction in being. The four “feelings” or stages progress from grace to participation, transformation, unity, and finally the burning love that arises from this paradox. The soul cannot rest in God apart from its own active longing. In fact, it is the very distinction between God and the soul that allows love-wild, yearning, and storm-like-to exist eternally. Thus, perfect unity does not annihilate the soul’s otherness, but rather intensifies its desire and consummates its blessedness.
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1. Why does Ruysbroeck insist that we must feel both our oneness with God and our distinction from Him?
Ruysbroeck emphasizes that both truths-our unity with God and our eternal distinction from Him-must be experienced simultaneously because they safeguard the soul from spiritual error. Unity without distinction leads to pantheism, while distinction without unity leads to despair. True mystical life lives from both realities: a deep union in love, and a humble acknowledgment of creaturehood. Holy Scripture, he says, affirms both, and only in holding both can we be “right.”
2. What is the first way we feel God within us, and what practices does it require?
The first way is feeling God’s presence through His grace, which acts like sunlight-enlightening, warming, and making fruitful the soul. This grace stirs the soul to action and cannot be passively received. Ruysbroeck describes four required practices:
Inward recollection, to remain in contact with the fire of love;
Charity, going out toward others in brotherly love;
Penance, humbling oneself and resisting lust;
Praise and prayer, lifting the heart above itself to God.
These practices engage the whole person-mind, heart, and will-and constitute the total exercise of reason-based devotion.
3. How does Ruysbroeck describe the second way we experience God?
The second way is through the God-seeing life, where we perceive ourselves living in God. A divine brightness shines into our inner being and enlightens the reason. When we remain in this brightness, we experience how our created life flows into God’s eternal life. As we go beyond reason with “simple sight” and yearning, we undergo transformation and become enwrapped in God. This experience is contemplative and intuitive, not rationally grasped.
4. What characterizes the third way of experiencing God, and why can it not be sustained through reason?
The third way is the feeling of oneness with God, experienced when the soul is immersed in God through love. It is a state of essential fruition, in which all faculties stand idle-not lost, but inactive in restful union. However, this cannot be rationally comprehended. The moment the soul reflects on it or tries to understand it, it falls back into distinction and perceives God as other again. The union is thus real, but reason cannot contain it.
5. What causes the soul’s craving and restlessness in the fourth feeling of God?
In the fourth way, the soul feels both God and itself. From this arises a “gaping and eager craving”, because the soul senses God desires to give Himself entirely, yet it cannot receive Him fully. The more it tastes, the more it longs, because finite desire meets infinite goodness. This tension leads to the “wildness of love”-a burning yearning that flares like lightning, driven by divine touches that both draw the soul into union and leave it free to seek more. The soul is caught in a storm of love: active, unfulfilled, and yet overflowing with grace.
6. How does Ruysbroeck describe the dual divine touch in this chapter?
Ruysbroeck speaks of two divine touches:
The inward-drawing touch, which pulls the soul out of itself toward unity and requires self-renunciation and surrender.
The outpouring touch, which gives the soul freedom to seek, ask, and be filled with every spiritual delight.
Together, they form a rhythm of passive receptivity and active longing, drawing the soul deeper into God while preserving its desire and individuality.
7. Why is the soul’s desire never satisfied, even when God gives Himself?
Though God gives Himself in love, the soul remains a finite vessel receiving an infinite source. Every taste of God only awakens deeper longing. Ruysbroeck compares this to drinking from the sea-no matter how much is drunk, the sea remains. The more the soul receives, the more its capacity to desire expands. This insatiability is not a flaw but a sign of its spiritual vitality. The soul is made to be eternally hungry for the infinite God.
8. How does Ruysbroeck support his teaching using Scripture?
He cites Psalm 34:8 – “O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet,” to affirm the personal experience of divine sweetness. He also references the Song of Songs – “I sat down under his shadow… and his fruit was sweet to my taste” – to evoke the intimate, ecstatic delight of divine union. These scriptural images validate the soul’s desire and the endless depths of joy that God offers in mystical love.
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Chapter 11. Ruysbroeck emphasizes the profound difference between the full radiance of divine glory enjoyed by the saints in heaven and the limited, shadowed enlightenment possible in our earthly state. Though both derive from the same divine Sun, our mortal condition veils the clarity of divine vision, offering only a mediated experience through grace. Yet this shadow is already illuminated enough to guide us into virtue and contemplation. Through love and self-abandonment, the soul can be drawn into union with God even now, tasting the sweetness of Christ, the divine Fruit, who both absorbs and transforms the soul. This mystical union unfolds uniquely in each soul, marked by a “new name” inscribed in the Book of Life, revealed through Christ’s redemptive death. The soul’s journey is trinitarian: drawn inward by the Father, nourished by the Son, and taught by the Holy Spirit, as it anticipates the noonday glory where the saints eternally rejoice in God’s selfhood.
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“There is a great difference between the brightness of the saints and the highest brightness or enlightenment to which we may attain in this life.”
Ruysbroeck begins by affirming a key mystical distinction: even the most exalted contemplative experiences on earth fall short of the beatific vision of the saints in glory. The soul in this life is still veiled in the “shadow” of mortality and cannot receive the divine radiance directly.
“For it is only the shadow of God which enlightens our inward wilderness… But the state of the saints is transparent and shining, and therefore they receive the brightness without intermediary.”
Using metaphorical language, he contrasts earthly contemplation (a shadowed, mediated illumination) with the saints’ direct, unfiltered reception of divine light. The soul’s impurity in this life causes dimness; but the saints, fully purified, receive God’s light without obstruction.
“Now we see through a glass darkly, says St Paul… but if we would become one with the brightness of the Sun, we must follow love, and go out of ourselves into the Wayless…”
Echoing 1 Corinthians 13:12, Ruysbroeck underscores our current obscurity, yet offers a path forward: love. It is by love’s self-transcendence, by “going into the Wayless” (i.e., abandoning all methods and created forms), that we may be drawn into union with God’s brightness.
“The state of the Jews… was cold and in the night… but though our state in the Christian faith is but still in the cool and morning hour… the day has dawned.”
He offers a typological reading of salvation history: the Old Covenant as darkness, Christianity as dawn, and the life of the saints as full noon. Christians have begun to walk in the light, though not yet at its zenith.
“The state of the saints is warm and bright… they live and walk in the noon-tide… and each one according to the degree of his enlightenment, tastes and knows the fruits of all the virtues…”
The glorified saints fully experience the fruition of virtue, bathed in divine brightness. Their enlightenment is individualized by their personal measure of virtue and grace, but all participate in divine glory.
“The Fruit of God is the Son of God, Whom the Father brings forth in our spirit… It rather absorbs us into Itself and assimilates us with Itself.”
This is a profound mystical statement. Christ is the “Fruit” tasted in contemplation, but this fruit is not something the soul takes in; rather, it takes in the soul. Divine union transforms the soul more than the soul appropriates God.
“In this overcoming of all things, we taste of the hidden manna… we receive the sparkling stone… in which our new names were written before the beginning of the world.”
He alludes to Revelation 2:17, emphasizing that this mystical tasting corresponds to the soul’s eternal identity in God. The “new name” symbolizes the unique grace and vocation known only in God.
“Whosoever feels himself to be forever united with God, he possesses his name according to the measure of his virtues… and of his union.”
Union with God is personal and variable: each soul possesses its “name”-its divine identity-according to its degree of virtue, recollection, and transformation.
“The Lamb of God… has opened for us the Book of Life… And these names cannot be blotted out, for they are one with the Living Book, which is the Son of God.”
Christ’s death gives us access to the “Book of Life,” where the elect are inscribed. This metaphor underscores the unchangeable nature of God’s salvific knowledge and our incorporation into Christ.
“In the measure in which each man can overcome himself… he tastes the sweetness of the Inborn Fruit… and the Holy Ghost teaches him that he is the heir of God.”
The soul’s spiritual inheritance is linked to its self-renunciation and openness to God’s inner touch. The Spirit confirms divine sonship through interior tasting and experiential knowledge.
“Each one has been named separately, and his name is continually made new through new graces and new works of virtue.”
Mystical identity is dynamic: the soul’s name unfolds through progressive sanctification. It is not fixed as a static label but grows with each new grace and act of love.
“And therefore every knee shall bow before the Name of Jesus… in His name we are called and chosen, and adorned with grace and with virtues, and look for the glory of God.”
All salvation centers on Christ. His name is above all others, and in Him, the elect are chosen, sanctified, and prepared for divine glory.
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1. What is the fundamental difference between the brightness the saints enjoy and the enlightenment attainable in this life?
The saints in glory enjoy a direct, unmediated vision of God’s brightness, for their state is transparent and spiritual, free from the grossness of the mortal condition. In contrast, the enlightenment we can attain in this life is only a “shadow” of God-it is mediated, dimmed by our corporeality and the limitations of our fallen nature. Though the same divine Sun enlightens both states, our perception remains veiled, as St. Paul says, “we see through a glass darkly.”
2. How does Ruysbroeck describe the contemplative path toward divine union despite these limitations?
Ruysbroeck teaches that even in this shadowed state, the soul can be drawn into union with the divine light by love. This requires going “out of ourselves into the Wayless,” abandoning self and method to be drawn by God’s initiative. In this self-emptying love, the soul can be lifted into a contemplative life suitable to our mortal state, wherein we perceive the truth necessary for salvation and are gradually united with God.
3. What distinction does the author make between the spiritual states of Jews under the Old Covenant and Christians under the New?
The Jews, in the Old Covenant, are described as walking in darkness, “in the land of the shadow of death,” lacking the fullness of divine presence due to original sin. Christians, by contrast, live in the “cool and morning hour”-still early and imperfect, but the day has dawned. Through Christ and grace, they begin to walk in the light, although not yet at its noonday intensity, as the saints do.
4. How does Ruysbroeck describe the noonday state of the saints, and what do they experience there?
The saints live in the noon-tide brightness of God’s glory. With enlightened and open eyes, they experience the overflow of divine light. They taste the fruits of all virtues and, most sublimely, the knowledge and union with the Trinity in Unity. This union is described as surpassing and intoxicating, causing them to rest entirely in God’s selfhood.
5. What is meant by “the Fruit of God” and how is it experienced by the contemplative soul?
The “Fruit of God” is Christ, the Son of God, whom the Father brings forth in the depths of the soul. This fruit is “infinitely sweet” but cannot be consumed or assimilated by the soul; rather, it absorbs and transforms the soul into itself. When the soul is drawn inward by this Fruit, it abandons all else and tastes the hidden manna-the spiritual nourishment that grants eternal life.
6. What role does the concept of the “new name” play in this mystical theology?
The “new name” signifies the unique identity and vocation of each soul in God, known only to the one who receives it. It is inscribed in the eternal Book of Life, united to the Son of God. This name unfolds over time through the reception of new graces and acts of virtue, symbolizing a dynamic and personal relationship with God, ever renewed in union and transformation.
7. How does the mystery of Christ’s death relate to the revelation of the Book of Life and the names within it?
Christ, the Lamb of God, by His death, opened the Book of Life, breaking its seals and making accessible the divine plan of salvation. In this book are written the names of the elect, eternally chosen and inseparable from the Son. Through Christ’s sacrifice, all the virtues are fulfilled, and the elect are empowered to live according to the divine will and receive their destined union with God.
8. What is the relationship between the Trinity and the soul’s experience of union, according to this chapter?
The soul, in overcoming itself and dying to all created things, is drawn inward by the Father, touched by the Son (the divine Fruit), and taught by the Holy Spirit. In this trinitarian movement, the soul becomes aware that it is an heir of God. Each divine Person contributes uniquely to the soul’s transformation, culminating in experiential union and the confirmation of its eternal name and identity.
9. Why is Christ’s name exalted above all other names, and how does this affect the elect?
Christ’s name is exalted because He has conquered sin and death on behalf of humanity, fulfilling all virtue in its highest form. In His name, the elect are called, chosen, sanctified, and adorned with grace and virtue. His victory enlightens human darkness and secures for the soul its path to divine glory. Hence, every knee shall bow to His name in adoration and gratitude.
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Chapter 12. Ruysbroeck presents the Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Thabor as a symbol of the soul’s ascent into divine union through contemplation. The mountain signifies the elevation of the soul’s “bare intelligence,” where, having become like Peter in truth, James in detachment, and John in grace, the soul is led by Christ into an interior solitude and illuminated with the light of Eternal Wisdom. Here, distinctions fall away in a unified experience of God-seeing, tasting, being, and knowing become one. Through the Father’s inward voice and the Spirit’s burning love, the soul is drawn into the embrace of the Trinity, becoming one being and one joy with God. This mystical union is rooted in Christ’s redemptive mission and reveals the soul’s eternal name and place within the divine good-pleasure. Ultimately, each soul becomes itself a fruition of love, wholly satisfied in God, with no desire beyond this intimate embrace.
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“And so, that the Name of Christ may be exalted and glorified in us, we should follow Him up the mountain of our bare intelligence, even as Peter, James and John followed Him on to mount Thabor.”
Ruysbroeck begins by urging the soul to imitate the apostles in their ascent of Mount Tabor, the site of Christ’s transfiguration. “The mountain of our bare intelligence” symbolizes the elevation of the mind stripped of images and distractions-a contemplative ascent into divine understanding. This is not just a psychological effort but a spiritual one: a climb in purity, truth, virtue, and love.
“So soon as we are like Peter in knowledge of truth, and like James in the overcoming of the world, and like John in fulness of grace possessing the virtues in righteousness…”
Each apostle represents a spiritual virtue required for this ascent: Peter symbolizes firm faith and doctrinal truth; James, asceticism and detachment from the world; and John, fullness of love and grace. Only when these three conditions are fulfilled in the soul does Christ lead it up the contemplative mountain.
“…Jesus brings us up on to the mountain of our bare intelligence to a hidden solitude, and reveals Himself to us in glory and in Divine brightness.”
At the summit of contemplation, Christ manifests His divine radiance to the soul in solitude. This hidden place is beyond the noise and clutter of the senses-it is an inner stillness where divine glory is disclosed, a foretaste of heaven.
“The Wisdom of God enfolds our bare vision and the simplicity of our spirit in a wayless, simple fruition of all good without distinction…”
Here Ruysbroeck describes the union of the soul with divine Wisdom as “wayless” and “without distinction”-terms characteristic of apophatic mysticism. The soul enjoys a simple, undivided taste of divine Goodness, no longer fragmented by created categories. This is pure fruition, the delight of God Himself.
“And therefore, if we ever remained with Jesus on mount Thabor… we should continually experience a growth of new light and new truth…”
The contemplative life is dynamic, not static. To remain “on the mountain” is to dwell continually in contemplative awareness, receiving ever-deepening illumination from the Father’s voice. The soul is gradually transformed as it listens and responds to this divine touch.
“Between our pleasure in God, and God’s pleasure in us, there arises the practice of true love.”
Contemplative union is mutual. God delights in the soul, and the soul delights in God. This mutual joy gives rise to “true love”-not a fleeting feeling, but a sustained state of being rooted in the divine will. Here, the soul finds its identity (“name and office”) and purpose in God.
“The outpouring touch of God quickens us… and teaches us to know truth and to discern the virtues…”
God’s grace outwardly strengthens the soul’s reason, discernment, and ability to live virtuously. This is the “outpouring” touch-a divine energizing and stabilizing in the spiritual life that makes the soul able to receive more without faltering.
“But the indrawing-touch of God demands of us, that we should be one with God, and go forth from ourselves, and die into blessedness…”
In contrast, the indrawing touch calls the soul to lose itself entirely in God-to “die into blessedness.” This death is not physical but mystical: the surrender of self-will and ego to be subsumed into the eternal love between Father and Son.
“Then we hear the voice of the Father… for He says: This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.”
Union with Christ draws the soul into the Trinitarian mystery, where it shares in the eternal delight of the Father in the Son. In this union, the Father’s voice is heard not externally, but within the soul, as the seal of divine adoption and intimacy.
“There all our powers fail us… and become all One and one All, in the loving embrace of the Threefold Unity.”
In the culmination of contemplation, even the soul’s highest faculties are overcome. The soul “falls from itself” and becomes absorbed in the Trinity-not losing its identity, but becoming fully what it was always meant to be: one with God in love.
“For then each one is himself a Fruition of Love, and he cannot and dare not seek for anything beyond his own.”
This final statement is striking: in the deepest union, each soul becomes not merely a recipient but a fruition of divine Love. So total is this satisfaction that the soul seeks nothing beyond what it already possesses in God. It rests, consumed in Love.
Summary Reflection:
Ruysbroeck uses the image of the Transfiguration to describe the mystical ascent of the soul into divine union. The contemplative life, when matured in faith, detachment, and love, becomes a Mount Tabor where Christ reveals His divine nature in radiant wisdom. The soul, drawn by the voice of the Father, is led into ever-deepening union, first by grace and then by surrender, until it is lost in the embrace of the Trinity, transformed into a living fruit of divine Love.
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1. What does the ascent of Mount Thabor symbolize in the spiritual life?
Mount Thabor symbolizes the ascent of the soul into contemplative union with God through the purification and elevation of the “bare intelligence”-the mind stripped of images and distractions. Just as Peter, James, and John ascended with Christ to witness His transfiguration, the soul ascends when it becomes like Peter in knowledge of truth, like James in detachment from the world, and like John in fullness of grace. This ascent leads to an encounter with the glory and divine brightness of Christ in a hidden, interior solitude.
2. What are the spiritual qualities represented by Peter, James, and John?
Peter represents the knowledge of truth and firm faith; James signifies overcoming the world and detachment; and John embodies fullness of grace and the possession of virtues in righteousness. These three together form the necessary spiritual foundation for the soul to be led by Christ up the mountain of contemplation.
3. What happens to the soul when Christ reveals Himself on this spiritual mountain?
When Christ reveals Himself, the soul enters into a state of divine illumination where the “living book” of Eternal Wisdom is opened. The soul is enfolded in God’s Wisdom and enters a simple, undivided fruition of all good, transcending distinctions like seeing, knowing, tasting, and being. This is a foretaste of union with God, where the soul receives light, truth, and the inward touch of the Father drawing it deeper into unity.
4. What is meant by the “bare vision” and “simplicity of spirit” in this context?
“Bare vision” refers to the soul’s capacity to see God without the mediation of images or concepts-pure, simple awareness. “Simplicity of spirit” is the soul’s inward unity and freedom from distraction, which allows it to receive God directly and fully. Together, these dispositions enable the soul to enter into the “wayless” experience of divine fruition, where it is simply absorbed in God without multiplicity or conceptual barriers.
5. How does the voice of the Father play a role in this mystical experience?
The voice of the Father is heard by those who ascend with Christ, affirming their identity as “chosen sons” and expressing divine pleasure in them. This inward voice is both an act of divine self-communication and a confirmation of the soul’s union with Christ. It draws the soul further inward and strengthens it with grace, forming the basis for the reciprocal delight between God and the soul-out of which true love arises.
6. What is the difference between the outpouring and indrawing touches of God?
The outpouring touch vivifies and strengthens the soul, filling it with grace, illuminating reason, and enabling discernment of virtue and truth. It stabilizes the soul in God’s presence. The indrawing touch, however, draws the soul into complete union with God, calling it to go out of itself, die to self, and be immersed in eternal Love-the love that eternally unites the Father and the Son. This is the deepest mystical experience, demanding full surrender and resulting in deification.
7. What is the ultimate goal or fruit of this contemplative ascent?
The ultimate goal is union with the Threefold Unity of God-becoming one being, one life, and one blessedness with God. In this union, all distinctions vanish, and the soul becomes itself a Fruition of Love, fully satisfied in God and unable to seek anything beyond this intimate participation in divine life. It is a state of resting in God’s embrace, marked by joy, simplicity, and perfect contentment.
8. Why does the soul, once in this union, no longer seek the joy of others?
In the depth of union, each soul is so fully absorbed in its own unique experience of divine Love that it cannot be distracted by the joys of others. This is not selfishness, but the total saturation of the soul in God’s presence. Each soul becomes a “Fruition of Love,” meaning that it is both the receiver and expression of divine joy, utterly fulfilled and complete in God.
9. What theological truth is revealed about Christ’s mission through this mystical teaching?
Ruysbroeck underscores the eternal plan and pleasure of the Father and the Son: that the Son should take on human nature, die, and bring the elect back to their origin in God. The mystical union of the soul with the Trinity is made possible only through Christ’s redemptive work, and the soul participates in this mystery by being uplifted through the Son into its divine origin.
10. What is the significance of the “good pleasure of God” in this teaching?
The “good pleasure of God” refers to the divine delight in the Son and in the souls who are united with Him. It is both the origin and the end of the soul’s journey: the Father is pleased with the Son and with those united to Him. This divine delight draws the soul inward into contemplation and fulfills it with grace. The good pleasure of God is the environment in which love, transformation, and eternal fruition occur.
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Chapter 13. Ruysbroeck teaches that true fruition of God requires three foundational dispositions: a peaceful renunciation of all inordinate attachments for the glory of God, an inward silence free from all images and distractions, and a pure, loving adherence to God that is itself the enjoyment of Him. Beyond this, three higher states deepen this union: resting in bare Essential Love, a mystical “sleep” in which the spirit loses awareness of self, and a final beholding of a divine “Darkness” where the soul experiences oneness with God beyond all reason and distinction. In this ineffable union, the soul finds God as its total peace, joy, and rest-dying to itself in blessedness and living again in virtue at love’s prompting. Those who dwell in these states enter a mode of contemplative life so natural that divine union becomes as effortless and continuous as breathing, forming the basis for the common life to come.
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“If a man would have fruition of God, three things are needful thereto; these are, true peace, inward silence, and loving adherence.”
Ruysbroeck begins by outlining the essential conditions for enjoying union with God. These three dispositions-peace, silence, and love-are not merely preparatory but constitutive of fruition. True peace implies moral alignment with God’s will, silence indicates the stilling of all images and distractions, and loving adherence suggests a total and selfless attachment to God.
“Whosoever would find true peace between himself and God must love God in such a way that he can, with a free heart, renounce for the glory of God everything which he does or loves inordinately…”
True peace is founded on detachment. This renunciation is not negative but a joyful surrender of anything that interferes with God’s glory. It’s a practical asceticism rooted in love, indicating that inner peace is inseparable from purity of heart and intention.
“The second thing is an inward silence; that is, that a man should be empty and free from images of all things which he ever saw or of which he ever heard.”
Inward silence goes beyond the absence of noise-it is the interior emptiness from all sensory and mental distractions. This condition allows the soul to be receptive to God in simplicity. It is the undoing of all conceptual barriers to divine immediacy.
“The third thing is a loving adherence to God, and this adherence is itself fruition…”
Ruysbroeck defines fruition not as a reward after preparation, but as the very act of clinging to God in pure love. This love is mutual and experiential: the soul loves and feels loved. Fruition is thus a living relationship grounded in love rather than abstract contemplation.
“The first of these points is to rest in Him Whom one enjoys… in bare Essential Love. There love has fallen in love with the lover, and each is all to the other…”
In the higher stages of fruition, Ruysbroeck speaks of a mystical rest wherein love and the soul become indistinguishable. “Essential Love” implies a union beyond faculties and images, where mutual indwelling takes place-God rests in the soul and the soul in God.
“This is called a falling asleep in God; that is, when the spirit immerses itself, and knows not how, nor where, nor in what it is.”
The second higher stage is described with the language of mystical unknowing. Like sleep, it is a surrender of control. The soul is immersed in God’s mystery without understanding-a total yielding of consciousness, akin to ecstatic absorption.
“The spirit beholds a Darkness into which it cannot enter with the reason… and one with God without difference and without distinction.”
The final stage surpasses reason and distinction. This “Darkness” is not the absence of God but the overwhelming presence of divine mystery. The soul loses all sense of self and enters undifferentiated union-a state of death to self and life in God.
“And this is an unfathomable abyss wherein man must die to himself in blessedness, and must live again in virtues, whenever love and its stirring demand it.”
Union with God is not static. Even after being lost in God, the soul returns to action, compelled by love to live out the virtues. This expresses Ruysbroeck’s recurring theme: the rhythm of contemplation and active life, rooted in divine love.
“Lo! if you feel these six points within you, then you feel all that I have, or could have, said before.”
Ruysbroeck concludes by saying that these six stages encapsulate his entire teaching. Anyone who experiences them naturally understands contemplation, introversion, and union with God as intimately as they understand their own physical life. It’s a radical statement about the integration of divine life into the soul.
“And from these riches there comes that common life of which I promised to speak to you at the beginning.”
This final line signals a transition. The contemplative heights just described are not an escape from the world but the foundation for the “common life”-a sanctified, active life flowing from divine union. This prefaces the final theme of integrating contemplation into ordinary Christian life.
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1. What are the three basic conditions necessary for the soul to have fruition of God?
Ruysbroeck states that three things are necessary for a soul to have fruition of God:
(1) True peace, which requires loving God so deeply that one is able to freely renounce everything that is done or loved inordinately or contrary to God’s glory;
(2) Inward silence, which is a complete emptiness of mind and heart from all images or memories of created things;
(3) Loving adherence to God, which is itself the essence of fruition-clinging to God not for gain but out of pure love, in which the soul both loves and feels loved by God.
2. How does Ruysbroeck define “true peace” and how is it attained?
True peace is the harmonious relationship between the soul and God, which is only attained through the renunciation of all inordinate attachments. One must be willing to surrender all actions, desires, and possessions that do not glorify God. This peace is not mere passivity but a fruit of a disciplined love that seeks God’s will above all.
3. What is meant by “inward silence” and why is it important for union with God?
Inward silence refers to the soul’s emptiness and detachment from all sensory and mental images-anything it has seen or heard. It is a profound stillness and openness that allows the soul to be fully receptive to God. Without this silence, the clutter of created forms and concepts obstructs the direct experience of God.
4. What is “loving adherence,” and why does Ruysbroeck equate it with fruition?
Loving adherence is the soul’s firm and affectionate clinging to God, not for personal gain but out of pure, selfless love. Ruysbroeck says this is fruition because true enjoyment of God comes from this very act of union in love. It is an experience of mutual delight: the soul loves God and knows it is loved by Him in return.
5. What are the three higher mystical states that establish the soul more deeply in divine fruition?
Ruysbroeck identifies three advanced states that deepen and stabilize one’s capacity for enjoying God:
Resting in Him Whom one enjoys: A state in which love possesses the soul and the soul possesses love, so fully that both are one in essential love.
Falling asleep in God: The spirit enters a state of complete immersion in God, where it no longer knows itself or its surroundings-a kind of spiritual unconsciousness.
Beholding a Darkness: A state beyond reason and understanding, where the soul feels itself dead to self and indistinguishably one with God. This is the apex of mystical union, marked by peace, rest, and joy in the divine abyss.
6. What role does the “Darkness” play in the mystical life according to Ruysbroeck?
The “Darkness” symbolizes the divine mystery that surpasses all understanding and reason. In this state, the soul experiences itself as dead to its own identity and fully merged with God, without distinction or difference. It is not the darkness of absence, but the overwhelming presence of divine incomprehensibility. Here, God becomes the soul’s total rest, peace, and joy.
7. What happens to the soul after it experiences union with God in this “Darkness”?
After experiencing the abyss of divine union, the soul is not removed from action but is reawakened to live again in virtue, whenever love stirs it. The death to self is not final obliteration but a prelude to a new, love-driven life. The soul becomes so rooted in God that contemplation and union become as natural and accessible as ordinary life.
8. How does this chapter anticipate the “common life” mentioned at the end?
Ruysbroeck concludes by stating that anyone who experiences these six stages (three foundational, three higher) is so deeply united to God that contemplation, introversion, and fruition become second nature. From this rich inner life arises the “common life”-an active, outward life infused with divine love. This foreshadows the integration of contemplation and action in the final part of the book.
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Chapter 14. Ruysbroeck describes the “common life” as the mature and balanced life that emerges when a soul, having attained union with God through contemplation and fruition, is sent back into the world by God. Such a person lives not for himself but entirely for God’s glory, acting as a transparent instrument of divine love and power. He is rich in virtues, deeply rooted in God, and able to serve others without depletion, since he draws from the inexhaustible fountain of the Holy Spirit. This life is universal because it unites perfect contemplation with perfect action. But only those who have passed through the full purgation and elevation of the spirit-the six degrees of transformation outlined previously-can live it. Ruysbroeck warns against self-deception: no one can truly contemplate God unless they are stripped of self-love, images, and attachments. The soul must be open, truthful, and inwardly free to ascend from virtue to virtue, until it sees, enjoys, and becomes one with God.
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“The man who is sent down by God from these heights into the world is full of truth and rich in all virtues.”
Ruysbroeck begins by describing the contemplative who has reached union with God and is then “sent down” into the world. This soul carries divine truth and virtue, not from self-effort alone, but as an overflow of divine participation.
“And he seeks not his own but the glory of Him Who has sent him.”
The sign of true union is the death of self-interest. Such a person lives for God’s glory, not personal recognition, showing the radical humility that marks authentic contemplation.
“And hence he is just and truthful in all things, and he possesses a rich and a generous ground, which is set in the richness of God…”
The virtues of justice and truthfulness are not mere moral achievements, but expressions of a “ground” in God. The contemplative is fertile soil, rooted in divine abundance, from which all virtue flows.
“And therefore he must always spend himself on those who have need of him; for the living fount of the Holy Ghost, which is his wealth, can never be spent.”
The contemplative naturally overflows in service. He gives himself to others because the Spirit within him is inexhaustible. This challenges the false dichotomy between contemplation and action.
“And he is a living and willing instrument of God, with which God works whatsoever He wills and howsoever He wills…”
The contemplative becomes a docile instrument of God’s will-completely pliable, without resistance. God’s work through him is spontaneous and unselfconscious.
“And these works he reckons not as his own, but gives all the glory to God.”
Even when working in the world, the soul attributes nothing to itself. It is free from spiritual pride because it knows that everything is God’s.
“And so he remains ready and willing to do in the virtues all that God commands, and strong and courageous in suffering and enduring all that God allows to befall him.”
This person is wholly surrendered in both action and suffering. Obedience and endurance are united in love, making him spiritually invincible.
“And by this he possesses a universal life, for he is ready alike for contemplation and for action, and is perfect in both of them.”
Ruysbroeck presents the ideal of the “universal life,” which harmonizes contemplation and action in perfection. It is not withdrawal from the world but being fully available to God in all modes of life.
“And none can have this universal life save the God-seeing man; and none can contemplate and enjoy God save he who has within himself the six points…”
Only those who have passed through the six stages of purification, contemplation, and union can enter this mature, universal state. Superficial or premature claims to contemplation are illusions.
“And therefore, all those are deceived who fancy themselves to be contemplative, and yet inordinately love, practice, or possess, some creaturely thing…”
True contemplation demands radical detachment. Any disordered love or attachment disqualifies a person from the vision and enjoyment of God.
“…or who fancy that they enjoy God before they are empty of images, or that they rest before they enjoy. All such are deceived.”
Ruysbroeck warns against spiritual presumption. One must first be emptied of mental images and fully united in love before resting in God. There are clear stages and prerequisites.
“For we must make ourselves fit for God with an open heart, with a peaceful conscience, with naked contemplation, without hypocrisy, in sincerity and truth.”
The path to God requires honesty, openness, inner peace, and a stripped-down, image-free contemplation. Hypocrisy and false mysticism must be purged.
“And then we shall mount up from virtue unto virtue, and shall see God, and shall enjoy Him, and in Him shall become one with Him, in the way which I have shown to you.”
The soul is led progressively, virtue by virtue, into vision, enjoyment, and unity with God. This is the fruit of the true contemplative path Ruysbroeck has laid out in the preceding chapters.
“That this be done in all of us, so help us God. Amen.”
Ruysbroeck closes with a prayer of intercession: may this path to divine union and universal life be realized in all readers who sincerely seek it.
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1. What characterizes the person who is “sent down by God” from the heights of contemplation into the world?
The person sent down by God from the heights of contemplation is marked by fullness of truth and richness in all virtues. He no longer seeks his own interests but lives entirely for the glory of the One who sent him. His inner “ground” is immersed in God’s richness, making him just, generous, and constantly self-giving. Because he is rooted in the inexhaustible fountain of the Holy Spirit, he becomes a source of help for others and lives as a vessel through which God works freely and powerfully.
2. How does this person relate to his actions and to suffering?
He does not claim his works as his own, attributing everything to God and glorifying Him alone. He is equally ready for action or contemplation, depending on God’s will. In doing so, he is obedient and humble in action, and strong and courageous in suffering. He accepts all things as coming from God, responding with full surrender.
3. What does Ruysbroeck mean by “universal life”?
“Universal life” refers to a state in which a person is perfectly prepared for both contemplation and action. This is not an alternating balance but a simultaneous readiness and completeness in both dimensions. Only a “God-seeing man”-one who has passed through all the degrees of contemplation and union-is capable of living this life.
4. What are the six points Ruysbroeck refers to, which are prerequisites for this universal life?
These six points were outlined in the previous chapter and include:
True peace (detachment from inordinate attachments),
Inward silence (freedom from all images),
Loving adherence (pure love and union with God),
Rest in God (possession of God in essential love),
Falling asleep in God (a complete immersion in God beyond knowledge), and
The Darkness of unknowing (union beyond all reason and distinction).
Only those who have progressed through these points are capable of living in constant contemplation and action.
5. What false assumptions about contemplation does Ruysbroeck warn against?
Ruysbroeck warns against assuming one is contemplative while still loving or clinging to created things inordinately. He also rejects the idea that one can enjoy God before being emptied of images or that one can rest in God before genuine union. These missteps are self-deceptions that short-circuit the true path.
6. What inner dispositions are necessary for authentic contemplation?
An open heart, a peaceful conscience, image-free contemplation (“naked contemplation”), and total sincerity and truthfulness are essential. One must be emptied of all falsehood and hypocrisy to become a fitting vessel for divine union and contemplation.
7. What is the ultimate goal of the contemplative journey, according to this chapter?
The ultimate goal is union with God through vision, enjoyment, and transformation. As one climbs “from virtue unto virtue,” the soul sees God, delights in Him, and becomes one with Him in love. This union is not only personal fulfillment but leads to an active life of love and service in the world, grounded in the divine will.
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