Passages similar to: Cloud of Unknowing — Chapter 61: That all bodily thing is subject unto ghostly thing, and is ruled thereafter by the course of nature, and not contrariwise
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Christian Mysticism
Cloud of Unknowing
Chapter 61: That all bodily thing is subject unto ghostly thing, and is ruled thereafter by the course of nature, and not contrariwise (2)
Ensample hereof may be seen by the ascension of our Lord: for when the time appointed was come, that Him liked to wend to His Father bodily in His manhood, the which was never nor never may be absent in His Godhead, then mightily by the virtue of the Spirit God, the manhood with the body followed in onehead of person. The visibility of this was most seemly, and most according, to be upward.
Chapter 18: Of the promised Seed of the Woman, and Treader upon the Serpent. And of Adam 's and Eve 's going forth out of Paradise, or the Garden in Eden. Also of the Curse of God, how he cursed the Earth for the Sin of Man. (43)
Of the three Regions of the [Incarnation, or] becoming Man; the forming [or imaging] of the Lord Jesus Christ.
(43) And yet every Form has its own Height, Source, [or Quality,] and Perception; and [yet] the divine [Source] has not so mixed, that [thereby] it is the less; but what it was, that it continues to be; and that which it was not, that it is, without severing from the divine Substance; and the Word abode in the Father; and the natural Humanity, in this World, in the Bosom of the Virgin Mary. Of the three Regions of the [Incarnation, or] becoming Man; the forming [or imaging] of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Staying his body's every sense and every motion he stayeth still. And shining then all round his mond, It shines through his whole soul, and draws it ...
(6) For neither can he who perceiveth It, perceive aught else; nor he who gazeth on It, gaze on aught else; nor hear aught else, nor stir his body any way. Staying his body's every sense and every motion he stayeth still. And shining then all round his mond, It shines through his whole soul, and draws it out of body, transforming all of him to essence. For it is possible, my son, that a man's soul should be made like to God, e'en while it still is in a body, if it doth contemplate the Beauty of the Good.
Chapter 22: Of the New Regeneration in Christ [from] out of the old Adamical Man. The Blossom of the Holy Bud. The noble Gate of the right [and] true Christianity. (Of the New Regeneration in Christ [from] out of the old Adamical Man. The Blossom of the Holy Bud. The noble Gate of the right [and] true Christianity.:15-16)
Thus was Man an Image and Similitude before God, wherein God dwells, in which (through his eternal Wisdom) he would manifest his Wonders. (16) And now...
(15) But its Body (which is the true Image of God, which God created) stands before the clear Deity, and is in and out of the holy pure Element; and the Limbus of the Element (out of which the Essences generate) is the Paradise, an Habitation of God the Holy Trinity. Thus was Man an Image and Similitude before God, wherein God dwells, in which (through his eternal Wisdom) he would manifest his Wonders.
(16) And now as we understand, that Man (with the Similitude wherein God dwells) is not merely at Home in this World, much Hurts, or moves. less in the stinking Carcase, so it is manifest (in that we are so very blind as to Paradise) that our first Parents (with their Spirit) are gone out of the heavenly Paradise into the Spirit of this World, where then the Spirit of this World instantly captivated their Body, and made it earthly, so that Body and Soul are perished; and now we have the pure Element no more for our Body, but the Out-Birth, (viz. the four Elements, with the Dominion of the Stars) and the Sun only is the Light of the Body; also this Body does not belong to the Deity. God does not discover himself in the stinking Carcase [or Corpse,] but in the holy Man, in the pure Image which he created in the Beginning.
For the human flesh is and resembleth nature in the body of God, which is generated from the other six qualifying or fountain spirits, wherein the qua...
(49) For the human flesh is and resembleth nature in the body of God, which is generated from the other six qualifying or fountain spirits, wherein the qualifying or fountain spirits generate themselves again, and shew forth themselves infinitely, wherein forms and images rise up, and wherein the heart of God, or the holy clear Deity in the middle or central seat, generateth itself above nature, in that centre wherein the light of life riseth up.
Chapter 18: Of the promised Seed of the Woman, and Treader upon the Serpent. And of Adam 's and Eve 's going forth out of Paradise, or the Garden in Eden. Also of the Curse of God, how he cursed the Earth for the Sin of Man. (42)
The holy Spirit of God built the Formation in the Wisdom of the Virgin, in the [holy] Element, in its Center of the Heaven, even the highly worthy...
(42) The holy Spirit of God built the Formation in the Wisdom of the Virgin, in the [holy] Element, in its Center of the Heaven, even the highly worthy princely and angelical Formation; and Or with, the Regimen of the Stars and Elements of this World formed the outward Man wholly, with all Essences of our human Bodies, with a natural Body and Soul (wholly like us) in one only Person.
"AND those who are worthy of the mysteries which abide in the Ineffable, which are those which have not gone forth,--these exist before the First...
(1) "AND those who are worthy of the mysteries which abide in the Ineffable, which are those which have not gone forth,--these exist before the First Mystery, and to use a likeness and similitude, that ye may understand it, they are as the Limbs of the Ineffable. And every one existeth according to the dignity of its glory: the head according to the dignity of the head and the eye according to the dignity of the eyes and the ear according to the dignity of the ears and the rest of the Limbs [in like fashion]; so that the matter is manifest: There is a multitude of limbs but one only body. Of this indeed have I spoken in a pattern and similitude and likeness, but not in a form in truth; nor have I revealed the word in truth, but the mystery [only] of the Ineffable.
Chapter 25: The Suffering, Dying, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ the Son of God: Also of his Ascension into Heaven, and sitting at the Right-hand of God his Father. The Gate of our Misery; and also the strong Gate of the Divine Power in his Love. (67)
We know that the Body without the Spirit is a Thing that lies still; for though the Body of Christ (which the holy Element generated in the P Mercy)...
(67) We know that the Body without the Spirit is a Thing that lies still; for though the Body of Christ (which the holy Element generated in the P Mercy) is from God, yet the Mobility and Life stands only in the Deity; and in us Men in the Spirit of the Soul, and in the Spirit of the great World, which are unseparated in this Body upon Earth.
Chapter 16: Of the noble Mind of the Understanding, Senses and Thoughts. Of the threefold Spirit and Will, and of the Tincture of the Inclination, and what is inbred in a Child in the Mother's Body [or Womb.] Of the Image of God, and of the bestial Image, and of the Image of the Abyss of Hell, and Similitude of the Devil, to be searched for, and found out in a [any] one Man. The noble Gate of the noble Virgin. And also the Gate of the Woman of this World, highly to be considered. (19)
All this the Glimpse [or Discovery] of the Senses brings into the Will of the Mind [and sets it] before the King, before the Light of the Life, and...
(19) All this the Glimpse [or Discovery] of the Senses brings into the Will of the Mind [and sets it] before the King, before the Light of the Life, and there it is tried. And the King gives it first to the Eyes, which must see what God is among all these, and what pleases them. And here now begins the wonderful Form [or Framing] of Man, 1 out of the Complexions, where the Constellation has formed the Child in the Mother' Body [or Womb] so variously in its Regions. For according to what the Constellation, in the Time of the Incarnation of the Child, in the Wheel that stands therein, and has its Aspect, (when the Dwelling of the four Elements, and the House of the Stars in the Head, in the Brains, are built by the Fiat,) according to that is the Virtue also in the Brains, and so in the Heart, Gall, Lungs, and Liver; and according to that is the Inclination of the Region of the Air; and according to that also a Tincture springs up, to [be] a Dwelling of the Life, as may be seen in the wonderful [Variety in the] Senses and Forms [or Shapes] of Men.
These things we have learned from the Divine Oracles, and you will find all the sacred Hymnology, so to speak, of the Theologians arranging the...
(4) These things we have learned from the Divine Oracles, and you will find all the sacred Hymnology, so to speak, of the Theologians arranging the Names, of God with a view to make known and praise the beneficent progressions of the Godhead. Hence, we see in almost every theological treatise the Godhead religiously celebrated, both as Monad and unity, on account of the simplicity and oneness of Its supernatural indivisibility from which, as an unifying power, we are unified, and when our divided diversities have been folded together, in a manner supermundane, we are collected into a godlike unit and divinely-imitated union; but, also as Triad, on account of the tri-personal manifestation of the superessential productiveness, from which all paternity in heaven and on earth is, and is named; also, as cause of things existing, since all things were brought into being on account of Its creative goodness, both wise and good, because all things, whilst preserving the properties of their own nature unimpaired, are filled with every inspired harmony and holy comeliness, but pre-eminently, as loving towards man, because It truly and wholly shared, in one of Its Persons (subsistencies), in things belonging to us, recalling to Itself and replacing the human extremity, out of which, in a manner unutterable, the simplex Jesus was composed, and the Everlasting took a temporal duration, and He, Who is superessentially exalted above every rank throughout all nature, became within our nature, whilst retaining the unchangeable and unconfused steadfastness of His own properties. And whatever other divinely-wrought illuminations, conformable to the Oracles, the secret tradition of our inspired leaders bequeathed to us for our enlightenment, in these also we have been initiated; now indeed, according to our capacity, through the sacred veils of the loving-kindness towards man, made known in the Oracles and hierarchical traditions, which envelop things intellectual in things sensible, and things superessential in things that are; and place forms and shapes around the formless and shapeless, and multiply and fashion the supernatural and formless simplicity in the variedness of the divided symbols; but, then, when we have become incorruptible and immortal, and have reached the Christlike and most blessed repose, according to the Divine saying, we shall be "ever with the Lord," fulfilled, through all-pure contemplations, with the visible manifestation of God covering us with glory, in most brilliant splendours, as the disciples in the most Divine Transfiguration, and participating in His gift of spiritual light, with unimpassioned and immaterial mind; and, even in the union beyond conception, through the agnostic and most blessed efforts after rays of surpassing brilliancy, in a more Divine imitation of the supercelestial minds. For we shall be equal to the angels, as the truth of the Oracles affirms, and sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But now, to the best of our ability, we use symbols appropriate to things Divine, and from these again we elevate ourselves, according to our degree, to the simple and unified truth of the spiritual visions; and after our every conception of things godlike, laying aside our mental energies, we cast ourselves, to the best of our ability, towards the superessential ray, in which all the terms of every kind of knowledge pre-existed in a manner beyond expression, which it is neither possible to conceive nor express, nor entirely in any way to contemplate, on account of Its being pre-eminently above all things, and super-unknown, and Its having previously contained within Itself, superessentially, the whole perfections of all kinds of essential knowledge and power, and Its being firmly fixed by Its absolute power, above all, even the supercelestial minds. For, if all kinds of knowledge are of things existing, and are limited to things existing, that, beyond all essence, is also elevated above all knowledge.
Chapter 22: Of the Birth or Geniture of the Stars, and Creation of the Fourth Day. (31)
Man was so altogether dead in death, and so bolted up in the outermost birth or geniture in the dead palpability; or else they could have thought,...
(31) Man was so altogether dead in death, and so bolted up in the outermost birth or geniture in the dead palpability; or else they could have thought, that in this palpability there must needs be a divine power hidden in the centre, which had so created this palpability, and moreover preserveth, upholdeth and ruleth the same.
The one whom he raised up as a light for those who came from himself, the one from whom they take their name, he is the Son, who is full, complete...
(6) The one whom he raised up as a light for those who came from himself, the one from whom they take their name, he is the Son, who is full, complete and faultless. He brought him forth mingled with what came forth from him [...] partaking of the [...] the Totality, in accordance with [...] by which each one can receive him for himself, though such was not his greatness before he was received by it. Rather, he exists by himself. As for the parts in which he exists in his own manner and form and greatness, it is possible for to see him and speak about that which they know of him, since they wear him while he wears them, because it is possible for them to comprehend him. He, however, is as he is, incomparable. In order that the Father might receive honor from each one and reveal himself, even in his ineffability, hidden, and invisible, they marvel at him mentally. Therefore, the greatness of his loftiness consists in the fact that they speak about him and see him. He becomes manifest, so that he may be hymned because of the abundance of his sweetness, with the grace of . And just as the admirations of the silences are eternal generations and they are mental offspring, so too the dispositions of the word are spiritual emanations. Both of them admirations and dispositions, since they belong to a word, are seeds and thoughts of his offspring, and roots which live forever, appearing to be offspring which have come forth from themselves, being minds and spiritual offspring to the glory of the Father.
Chapter 24: Of the Incorporating or Compaction of the Stars. (56)
But now, from the austere and earnest birth or geniture of the qualifying or fountain spirits of the Father, wherein the zeal or jealousy and the wrat...
(56) But now, from the austere and earnest birth or geniture of the qualifying or fountain spirits of the Father, wherein the zeal or jealousy and the wrath stands, the body of nature always cometh to be, wherein the light of the Son, viz. of the Father's heart stands, incomprehensibly as to nature.
Chapter XI: Abstraction From Material Things Necessary in Order to Attain To the True Knowledge of God. (11)
If, then, abstracting all that belongs to bodies and things called incorporeal, we cast ourselves into the greatness of Christ, and thence advance...
(11) If, then, abstracting all that belongs to bodies and things called incorporeal, we cast ourselves into the greatness of Christ, and thence advance into immensity by holiness, we may reach somehow to the conception of the Almighty, knowing not what He is, but what He is not. And form and motion, or standing, or a throne, or place, or right hand or left, are not at all to be conceived as belonging to the Father of the universe, although it is so written.
Chapter 18: Of the Creation of Heaven and Earth; and of the first Day. (5)
And I would have the Reader faithfully admonished not to be offended at the simplicity of the author.
(5) But seeing through the divine grace in this high article this great mystery has been somewhat revealed to me, in my spirit, according to the inward man, (which qualifieth, mixeth and uniteth with the Deity), therefore I cannot forbear to describe it according to my gifts. And I would have the Reader faithfully admonished not to be offended at the simplicity of the author.
Chapter 22: Of the New Regeneration in Christ [from] out of the old Adamical Man. The Blossom of the Holy Bud. The noble Gate of the right [and] true Christianity. (42)
Therefore the Body of Christ is inferior to the Deity; and in these our human Essences he suffered Death, and his Deity of the holy Man in the pure El...
(42) Therefore the Body of Christ is inferior to the Deity; and in these our human Essences he suffered Death, and his Deity of the holy Man in the pure Element entered together also into Death, and bereaved Death of its Power, and separated the natural Soul (which Christ commended to his Father, when he died on the Cross) from the Kingdom of this World, also from Death, from the Devil, and from Hell, in the strong divine Might [or Power,] and opened a Gate for us all, who come to him and Or by. incline ourselves (with Mind and Thoughts) to him; then the Father draws our Soul (which is in him) into the pure Love of Christ; where then it puts its Imagination again through Christ P forward into the holy Trinity, and is fed again from the Verbum Domini [the Word of the Lord,] where then it is an Angel again, quite separated from the Kingdom of the Devil, and of this World, in the Death of Christ.
Chapter 22: Of the Birth or Geniture of the Stars, and Creation of the Fourth Day. (101)
And in this motion it grows unctuous or fat, and luscious or luxuriant; it increaseth and spreadeth itself, and the highest depth generateth itself ve...
(101) And in this motion it grows unctuous or fat, and luscious or luxuriant; it increaseth and spreadeth itself, and the highest depth generateth itself very joyfully out of or from the heart of the spirit, just as if it would begin an angelical triumph, and present or shew forth itself infinitely in divine power and form, according to the right of the Deity: and thereby the body getteth its greatest strength and power, and the body coloureth or tinctureth itself with the highest degree, and getteth its true beauty, excellency and virtue.
Chapter 19: Of the Entering of the Souls to God, and of the wicked Souls Entering into Perdition. Of the Gate of the Body's Breaking off [or Parting] from the Soul. (57)
It it here (in this Body) entered into the new Birth, and if itself was entered, with its noble Champion [Jesus Christ,] through the Princely Potentat...
(57) But that they have hitherto ascribed such acute Knowledge to the Soul, after the Departure of the Body, that thing is very various, according as the Soul is variously armed. It it here (in this Body) entered into the new Birth, and if itself was entered, with its noble Champion [Jesus Christ,] through the Princely Potentates, Gates of the Deep, to God, so that it has received the Crown of the high Wisdom from the noble Virgin, then indeed it has great Wisdom and Knowledge, even above the Heavens, for it is in the Bosom of the Virgin, through whom the eternal Wonders of God are opened. This [Soul] has also great Joy and Clarity, [Brightness or Luster,] above the Heavens of the Elements; for the Glance of the holy Trinity shines from it, and clarifies, [brightens, or glorifies] it.
Chapter 14: How Lucifer, who was the most beautiful Angel in Heaven, is become the most horrible Devil. The House of the murderous Den. (84)
When God had thus gently incorporated it, or compacted it together, then it found and felt itself to be mighty and powerful, and saw that it had or...
(84) When God had thus gently incorporated it, or compacted it together, then it found and felt itself to be mighty and powerful, and saw that it had or possessed a body more beautiful than the figures were, that were without, distinct from it; thereupon it became high minded, and elevated itself in its body, and would be more severe and eager than the Salitter was, which was without, distinct from its body.
Chapter 16: Of the Seventh Species, Kind, Form, or Manner of Sin's Beginning in Lucifer and his Angels. (44)
For they thought to elevate the natural body, (which was compacted together or incorporated out of the nature-spirit of God), up into the hidden birth...
(44) For they thought to elevate the natural body, (which was compacted together or incorporated out of the nature-spirit of God), up into the hidden birth or geniture of God, that their seven qualifying or fountain spirits might thus be as high, and as all-comprehensible as the animated or soulish spirit.