15. Entering the Dark Cloud (The Life of Moses, 376 C-377
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GREGORY OF NYSSA
15. Entering the Dark Cloud (The Life of Moses, 376 C-377 A; ed. Danielou, ii. 162-164) But what now is the meaning of Moses' entry into the darkness and of the vision of God that he enjoyed in it ? The present text (Exod. 24.15) would seem to be somewhat con tradictory to the divine apparition he has seen before. There he saw God in the light, whereas here he sees Him in the darkness. But we should not therefore think that this con tradicts the entire sequence of spiritual lessons which we have been considering. For the sacred text is here teaching us that spiritual knowledge first occurs as an illumination in those who experience it. Indeed, all that is opposed to piety is conceived of as darkness; to shun the darkness is to share in the light. But as the soul makes progress, and by a greater and more perfect concentration comes to appreciate what the knowledge of truth is, the more it approaches this vision, and so much the more does it see that the divine nature is invisible. It thus leaves all surface appearances, not only those that can be grasped by the senses but also those which the mind itself seems to see, and it keeps on going deeper until by the operation of the spirit it penetrates the invisible and incomprehensible, and it is there that it sees God. The true vision and the true knowledge of what we seek consists precisely in not seeing, in an awareness that our goal transcends all knowledge and is everywhere cut off from us by the darkness of incomprehensibility. Thus that profound evangelist, John, who penetrated into this luminous darkness, tells us that no man hath seen God at any time
(John 1.18), teaching us by this negation that no man— indeed, no created intellect—can attain a knowledge of God.