Something of What You Are
“Where are You, Lord, where are You? And where, Lord, are You not? This much at least I know, and that most certainly, that You, in whom we move and have our being, are in a manner present here with me, and that from that most health-giving presence comes the longing and fainting of my soul for Your salvation. I know in truth, I am aware most healthfully, that You are with me. I know, I feel, I worship, and I render thanks. But, if You are with me, why am I not with You? What hinders me? What is the obstacle? What gets in the way? If You are with me, working for my good, why am I not in the same way with You, enjoying You, the supreme God of all?
How does perception come into all this? Of what avail are mental images? Can reason, or rational understanding, effect anything? No. For although reason sends us to You, O God, it cannot of itself attain to You. Neither does that understanding which, as a product of reason, has lower matters for its sphere of exercise, go any farther than does reason itself; it is powerless to attain to You.
But, when and how and as far as the Holy Spirit wills, He controls the believing mind, so that something of what You are may be seen by those who in their prayer and contemplation have passed all that You are not, although they do not see You as You are. Nevertheless, this understanding serves to soothe the loving spirit, for there is clearly nothing in it of that which You are not, and although it is not wholly what You are, it is not different from that Reality.”
~William of St. Thierry
How does perception come into all this? Of what avail are mental images? Can reason, or rational understanding, effect anything? No. For although reason sends us to You, O God, it cannot of itself attain to You. Neither does that understanding which, as a product of reason, has lower matters for its sphere of exercise, go any farther than does reason itself; it is powerless to attain to You.
But, when and how and as far as the Holy Spirit wills, He controls the believing mind, so that something of what You are may be seen by those who in their prayer and contemplation have passed all that You are not, although they do not see You as You are. Nevertheless, this understanding serves to soothe the loving spirit, for there is clearly nothing in it of that which You are not, and although it is not wholly what You are, it is not different from that Reality.”
~William of St. Thierry
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