Chapter X
THE MYSTICAL ARK
have mentioned.
Therefore, the above-mentioned cherubim are rightly said to cover both sides of our propitiatory because nothing at all is found in us that is not either foreign in quality or incomparable in quantity to supreme and divine things.
Note that just as the ark is covered by the propitiatory, so the propitiatory itself is also commanded to be covered by the spreading of the above-mentioned wings. Without doubt, just as love and approval of the world are covered over by contemplation of the spiritual creature and its eminence, so love and approval of self are moderated in everyone by contemplation of the creative essence and its supereminence.
Chapter X With how much eagerness of soul spiritual men ought or should be accustomed to be eager for these last kinds of contemplation
But if the afore-mentioned cherubim continually and sufficiently spread their wings, then certainly they adequately cover the sides of the propitiatory. What does it mean to spread your wings by a continual stretching out except to be eager for divine contemplation in every place, at every time, and to pursue it everywhere with such zeal and longing? When birds want to fly they spread out their wings. So, we surely ought to spread the wings of our heart by longing and wait for the time of divine showing at every hour— nay, rather at every moment, so that at whatever hour the breath of divine inspiration drives away the clouds of our mind and discloses the rays of the true sun after having removed every cloud of darkness, then the mind, immediately shaking the wings of its contemplation, can raise itself to the heights and fly away. Having fixed its eyes on that light of eternity which shines from above, it can fly through all the clouds of earthly changeableness and transcend them with the force of a soaring eagle.
I would say that a person fulfills the command and example of the Lord and stands erect with outspread wings, as it were, when, after receiving grace in these last kinds of contemplations, he always strives zealously, as much as he can, to show himself ready and prepared for such a
RICHARD OF ST. VICTOR
flight. The resuh is that when the time of divine good pleasure comes and the breath of aspiring grace blows, he is found fit to be admitted to that manifestation of divine secrets.
However, we ought to suspend our souls and strive with vigorous longing in such an expectation not only for that which we are able to have in this life but even for that manifestation of divine contemplation which we hope for in the future life. Certainly such a grace is given to us for this; I say, the understanding of eternal things is poured into us for this: that we may know what we ought tirelessly to seek for by means of effort or sigh for by longing. But the richness of divine knowledge increases in us in vain, unless it increases the flame of divine love in us. And so longing always ought to grow in us on account of knowledge and also knowledge on account of longing; and by mutual increases they ought to minister for mutual increases, and by mutual enlargement they are able to grow with mutual enlargement. At every hour the soul that is perfect and continually dedicated to the contemplation of supreme things ought to await with supreme longing the end of its wandering and the exit from this workhouse, in order that it may deserve to see that face to face which it now sees by a mirror and in an enigma. For this reason
Abraham sat in the doorway of his tent (Gen.
18:1). For this reason Elijah stood in the entrance of his cave (3 Kings 19:13). Both were prepared to go forth, and both were in suspense at the coming of the Lx)rd. Each one waited: one in a cave, the other in a tent.
Nevertheless, both were in a doorway; but one stood, the other sat.
You have observed, I think, that one of these considers the trouble of this life a misery; the other thinks it a battle. The same wanderings of time are judged a prison by Elijah and a military expedition by Abraham. There are those who see themselves in a cave, as it were, and consider their flesh to be a workhouse while they endure with difficulty the trouble of this life. Others make a tent, as it were, from their bodies, gird themselves for the warfare of the Lord, and patiently endure their life so that they may be devoted to the Lord's gains. And so one lives impatiently, the other lives patiently; while one is anxious about himself, the other exerts himself for the Lord's gains. One stands and labors very much; the other sits, feels labor scarcely at all, and reckons it as nothing as he waits for the coming of the Lord. Both are found in the doorway and in