Chapter VI
THE MYSTICAL ARK
dance of interior sweetness, it completely forgets what it is and what it has been. And it is carried over into an ecstasy of alienation by the excess of its dance and suddenly is transformed into a kind of supermundane affection subject to a kind of state of marvelous happiness.
Therefore, as long as we do not feel such ecstasy in ourselves, what ought we to feel about ourselves, other than what we have said above: except because we are loved less, save only that we love less? For whoever you are, if you love fully and perfectly, perhaps the excess of your love and the anxious care of your burning longing might carry you into an ecstasy of that sort which we partially described to you above. Surely if you were wholly worthy for divine longing, if you showed yourself worthy of so much honor, perhaps He would shine on the eyes of your understanding with so much brightness of His light and inebriate the longing of your heart with so much pleasantness of His intimate sweetness that He would snatch you up above yourself and elevate you to supernal things by ecstasy of mind.
I think we shall discover these three anagogic modes of ecstasy described mystically in the Song of Songs, in the same order in which we have placed them here. That is rightly understood with respect to the first in which it is said: "Who is she who comes up from the desert like a column of smoke from the spices of myrrh, incense, and all the powders of the perfumer?" (Song of Songs 3:6).
We rightly understand with respect to the second that which we read much later in the same Song: "Who is she who comes forth like the dawn rising?" (Song of Songs 6:9). That which we read in the last part is rightly associated with the third: "Who is she who comes up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved?" (Song of Songs
8:5).
Chapter VI That the first mode of ecstasy arises on account ofgreatness of devotion
Do you wish to know better how suitably we are able to match the first passage from the Song of Songs to the first mode of ec-
RICHARD OF ST. VICTOR
stasy? The first ecstasy of mind, as you have heard above, is by the anxious care of longing and greatness of devotion. Smoke always rises from fire. Who would deny that spiritual love is a fire? And so that elevation of the mind into supernal things which takes its origin from fervor of love, is likened to smoke, if I am not mistaken.
However, what do we understand by such smoke except the longing of a devoted mind? Therefore, the soul ascends like smoke into supernal regions when, being impelled to this very thing by a burning love, her longing carries her away above herself. As we all know, a thin column of smoke is both graceful and straight. Therefore, so that your ascent may draw to itself the similitude of smoke, let your longing be anxious and unified, arising from a right intention. Now if by myrrh we understand contrition of the flesh; by incense, devotion of the heart; and by all the powder of the perfumer, the consummation of all the virtues, consider how all these things, which can be understood easily by themselves, come together to the same conclusion. For it is sufficiently evident that anyone who is full of charity cannot be without other signs of the virtues. For if the Apostle is believed, the consummation of virtues is charity.
It surely ought to be noted that the holy soul truly rises up like smoke from the desert when from those things, either good or evil, which she discovers in herself, she kindles her affection in longing for the celestial bridegroom. However, as far as merit is concerned, that elevation of the mind which, when favored by grace, arises from intention, from its own intention, seems to me to be greater than that which arises from a showing alone or from some divine inspiration. Therefore, in order that the soul may be found worthy of other modes it is necessary for her to begin with an ascent of this kind and to rise up first of all from the desert, as it were. Nevertheless, in order that the soul herself may become a thin column of smoke, it is necessary that she rise up above the desert itself, although she must begin to become such in the desert. Yet the mind itself is not carried away into ecstasy of mind unless it is elevated above itself, unless it deserts itself in the lowest place, and makes itself a desert by deserting, so that after having deserted it goes upward in the manner of smoke more and more into sublime places.
THE MYSTICAL ARK
Chapter VII That the first mode of ecstasy sometimes comesfrom only the effervescence of burning desire Nevertheless this kind of ecstasy of mind is accustomed to come at one time from only the effervescence of burning desire, at another time from both effervescence of this sort and a divine showing added to it. For why should that spiritual and incorporeal fire of divine love not possess the same vigor in spiritual things as corporeal fire itself is accustomed to have in corporeal things? We know sufficiently how corporeal fire itself is accustomed to affect any small amount of liquid poured into a vessel. At first the fire begins to agitate the liquid itself from below; but later it continues to throw it now into this part, now into that, now upward, now downward; after a little while it begins to raise it upward and to fill the entire vase up to the brim from any small amount whatsoever.
Finally the fire manages to raise the liquid above itself and to empty it out from the inside of the vessel with a certain kind of violence and to pour it out and to expel it forcefully. So when the human soul has been kindled from below by divine fire, it often burns and rumbles in itself against itself, boils and froths up, is angry with itself, despises itself, is greatly displeased with itself, treats itself with great contempt, gazes at highest things with longing, and eagerly desires supermundane things. When it has been heated for a long time in this sort of boiling and thrown about a great deal, when it has been repelled from the lower part by contempt for inferior things and drawn to the higher part by longing for supernal things, it often happens that by the impulse of the Spirit it is completely carried away into higher things when longing impels it out of itself, since it has been thrown above itself, almost forgetting itself, and has been raised up into ecstasy. In this way the ardor of celestial longing rises above its burning self when it brings the human soul to a vigorous boiling by means of divine love. And just as we can show by the above example, when any aromatic powder of the perfumer is thrown into a fire, insofar as it is not consumed by the voracious flame, it is sent up into supernal places by means of the impetuosity of ardor and by a certain kind of thin smoking exhala-