Chapter IX
RICHARD OF ST. VICTOR
whom he did not doubt ought to be worshipped by right. Perhaps if he had then directed his attention toward his household and had remained in the inner part of his tent, he might not have seen those persons who were to be worshipped, and if he had not seen them, at that time he probably would not have gone out. Therefore two things that offer the occasion for that going out come together in a unity: excess of heat and novelty of vision.
It often happens in the human mind, according to a similitude of these things, that while it is inflamed with an excessive fire of passion of celestial longing, it is deemed worthy to see something from divine showing, whereby ecstasy is sustained in those ecstatic contemplations.
Chapter IX That the second mode of ecstasy is accustomed to come from greatness of wonder Now that these things have been said concerning that ecstasy of mind which rises up from greatness of devotion, it seems necessary to speak concerning that which is accustomed to rise up from greatness of wonder. Who does not know that wonder takes its beginning when we discern something beyond hope and above expectation? And so when something begins to be seen that it is scarcely possible to believe, the newness of the vision and of a thing that is scarcely believable is accustomed to lead to wonder of mind.
Therefore pay attention to how suitably that ecstasy of mind which takes its origin from wonder is indicated in that place where it is said: "Who is she who comes forth like the dawn rising?" (Song of Songs 6:9). What is the dawn except new light mixed with darkness? And,
I ask, whence comes wonder, except from an unexpected and incredible manifestation? And so wonder itself has sudden light mixed with darkness, a light of vision together with remnants of incredulity and the darkness of uncertainty, so that in a marvelous manner the mind undoubtedly sees what it is scarcely able to believe. But the more greatly we marvel at the newness of a thing, the more carefully we pay attention to it. The more attentively we look, the more fully we come to know. And so attention
THE MYSTICAL ARK
increases on account of wonder and knowing increases on account of attention. The mind that, on account of the wonder of a vision, gradually advances to an increase of knowledge rises up like the dawn. Indeed, the dawn arises little by little—and as it is raised it is enlarged, and as it is enlarged it is brightened. But in a marvelous manner when at last the dawn ceases at the day, it comes to a fading away because of the increase of its advance.
So that it may be greater, it receives that whereby it comes near to day, and finally fades away so that it is nothing. So, in any event, when the human understanding has been irradiated by divine light, while it is suspended in the contemplation of intellectible things and stretched out in wonder at these things, the more it is always led to higher or more marvelous things; the more widely and fully it is enlarged.
The more remote it is from lower things, the purer it is found to be in itself and the more sublime with regard to sublime things. But in a raising up of this sort, while the human mind always makes progress towards higher things and by daily progressing finally goes beyond the bounds of human capacity at some time, at last it happens that it completely fails with respect to itself and, being transformed into a certain kind of supermundane affection, goes completely above itself. Indeed, the morning light ceases while it is increasing (it does not cease to be light, but it does cease to be morning light) so that the dawn itself is no longer the dawn. In like manner, human understanding increases from the greatness of its enlarging so that it is no longer itself (not that it is not understanding, but that it is no longer human) when in a marvelous manner and by an incomprehensible change it is made more than human, and "beholding the glory of the Lord it is transformed into the same image from splendor to splendor, as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2
Cor.
3:18). Therefore, from these things I think you can ponder how properly that ecstasy of mind which takes its origin from greatness of wonder is indicated by the mystical description in which it is said: "Who is she who comes forth like the dawn rising?"
(Song of Songs 6:9).
RICHARD OF ST. VICTOR
Chapter X That the second mode ofecstasy sometimes beginsfrom wonder alone and ends in most fervent longing of devotion Surely it ought to be noted that just as that first mode of ecstasy, concerning which we have spoken above, arises from devotion, so on the contrary the second, concerning which we now speak, does not so much begin from devotion as end in it. In the former mode the soul rises to the contemplation of truth by an excessive longing for truth; in the latter the soul is inflamed to devotion by a showing of truth and contemplation of it.
See if perhaps this is not mystically intimated to us by Scripture when it adds the following to the words we set out above. After having said,
"Who is she who comes forth like the dawn rising," it immediately adds: "As beautiful as the moon, as bright as the sun" (Song of Songs 6:9). Let no one expect or seek from me in this place a full exposition of these words or of any others that we have proposed or might be proposing, except as much as the reason of the present topic requires as testimony of truth. And so the dawn and the moon have light, but they do not have heat. However, the sun is very powerful in both. For what has more light than the sun? What has more heat than the sun? Therefore you see that the ascension of the mind that is indicated in this passage of Scripture, and the end of which is compared to the sun—you see, I say, that it ends at some time in not just any kind of devotion but in supreme devotion, even though it begins from only the brightness and vivid representation of truth. For just as in that first instance mentioned previously the soul is found worthy to be raised up often to the contemplation of supreme truth on account of excessive heat of devotion, so in the second instance the soul is advanced little by little and at last is inflamed with supreme devotion on account of a sort of marveling and awed contemplation. Therefore, let us consider the greatness of the brightness and heat in the orb of the sun. From that let us infer the advancement of ascension and the consummation of advancement in a raising up of the mind such as this that begins from the dawn, as it were, and at last draws to itself at some time the similitude of the sun.
THE MYSTICAL ARK
Chapter XI That the second mode of ecstasy sometimes begins from wonder alone and continues in the same We do not say that in this second ecstasy of mind the mode of human advancement always and everywhere has the same final consummation. We see in exterior things what we ought to think concerning interior things. For if you place a container of water in a ray of the sun, you soon will see that the water reflects the brightness of the light from itself into the heights and lifts the luminescence but not the heat into the heights. In this way many persons receive rays of divine showing. But from this, all do not advance equally to the same power of love. For in order that the Author of all goods might cornmend the gifts of His grace in us, He shows diverse effects from the same thing at diverse times and in diverse persons.
I beg whoever reads or hears this to ponder from the proposed example what that ray of divine showing and eternal light effects in us and how it raises human understanding above itself by enlightenment from its infusion. Pay attention how the formula of this example being proposed to you, concerning which we now speak here, represents ecstasy of mind from the similitude of its quality. What does water mean, except human thinking that always flows to a lower place unless it is confined by a barrier of great strength? Water that has been collected in a container represents thinking that is directed towards meditation and fixed by intention.
The gathering together of water represents meditation of the heart.
A ray of the sun directs itself onto such water when a divine showing meets with meditation. But when the water receives in itself the ray of light from above, it sends a flash of light to the very heights, as has been said, and in a marvelous manner assuredly raises a ray of light from itself to that place to which it is not able to ascend in any way by itself. And although there is so much difference between water and light, nevertheless when water reflects a ray of light from itself, it impresses something of its similitude on the light so that by trembling it makes the light tremble; by being quiet; quiet; by being purer, purer; by being wider, wider. According to this similitude, when a showing of that inaccessible and eternal