Practical Mysticism · Chapter
IX: The Third Form of Contemplation explained
This chapter describes the transition from active to passive or infused contemplation, where the soul ceases its own striving and surrenders to a higher power.
What happens
This chapter describes the transition from active to passive or infused contemplation, where the soul ceases its own striving and surrenders to a higher power. It explores the shift from self-discipline to receptivity, the experience of the 'Night of the Spirit,' and the soul's passive yet profound union with the Divine, which is described as an experienced Fact beyond reason. The chapter emphasizes that this stage adds to, rather than replaces, earlier stages, enriching the personality and allowing the contemplative to move between intimate communion and vast self-loss in the Divine.
Themes in this chapter
Contemplation and Action
The chapter contrasts active contemplation (self-discipline, effort) with passive or infused contemplation (surrender, receptivity), showing how action leads to a state where the soul becomes passive to divine influence.
Union with Reality
Central to the chapter: the soul's union with the Divine Reality, described as an experienced Fact that transcends reason and involves both immanence and transcendence.
Transformation and Growth
The third form of contemplation is presented as a transformative stage that adds to previous stages, enriching the personality and allowing the soul to move between different modes of divine awareness.
Characters to notice
- St. John of the Cross
Referenced for his concept of the 'Night of the Spirit,' describing the soul's state of darkness and quietude in the third form of contemplation.
- Jan van Ruysbroeck
Quoted for the phrase 'He devours us and He feeds us!' illustrating the paradoxical nature of divine union.
- St. Thomas Aquinas
Quoted for his description of the soul seizing and being seized, devouring and being devoured in the knot of love with God.
- St. Augustine
Referenced for describing the supernal Country as 'no mere vision, but a home,' indicating the soul's transformation into an inhabitant of the divine realm.
Key passages
“Your state, then, should now be wisely passive; in order that the great influences which surround you may take and adjust your spirit, that the unaccustomed light, which now seems to you a darkness, may clarify your eyes, and that you may be transformed from a visitor into an inhabitant of that supernal Country which St. Augustine described as 'no mere vision, but a home.'”
You should now adopt a wise passivity, allowing the surrounding great influences to adjust your spirit, so that the unfamiliar light (which appears as darkness) can clarify your vision and transform you from a visitor into a permanent dweller of that heavenly realm Augustine called a home, not just a vision.
This passage encapsulates the shift from active striving to passive receptivity in the third form of contemplation.
“He devours us and He feeds us!”
God consumes us and nourishes us at the same time.
Ruysbroeck's paradoxical expression of the soul's experience of divine union.