# VIII: The Second Form of Contemplation explained — Practical Mysticism > Chapter companion for Practical Mysticism by Evelyn Underhill. ## What happens This chapter explores the second form of contemplation, where the soul, having achieved union with the flux of life, now experiences an insatiable hunger and thirst for a transcendent reality beyond the natural world. It describes the progression from immersion in the world of becoming to a yearning for the eternal and absolute, emphasizing that deeper union with nature leads to a craving for something more. The chapter discusses the necessity of surrendering selfhood, controlling attention, and moving beyond intellectual and sensory images to achieve 'Naked Contemplation' or union with the Divine Dark. It highlights the role of love over thought in attaining this union, and notes that while fleeting, this experience transforms the soul and prepares it for further transfiguration. ## Themes in this chapter ### Contemplation and Action The chapter contrasts the active striving of the contemplative with the passive surrender required for deeper union, emphasizing the balance between effort and receptivity. ### Perception and Illusion Discusses how the mind's conceptual scraps and images shatter the White Light of Reality, and the need to move beyond sensory and intellectual illusions to perceive the Divine. ### Transformation and Growth Describes the soul's progression from union with the flux of life to a hunger for the transcendent, culminating in a transformative experience that changes the proportions of life. ## Character check-ins ### Jan van Ruysbroeck Quoted at the beginning of the chapter describing the hunger and thirst that begins at this stage of contemplation. ### St. Thomas Aquinas Referenced regarding the necessity of turning to bodily images and the hindrance to the vision of the Divine Essence. ### The Practical Man Mentioned as one who suppresses and disguises the innate craving for the Infinite. ## Key lines > And here, says Ruysbroeck of the self which has reached this point, there begins a hunger and a thirst which shall never more be stilled. Ruysbroeck observes that once the self reaches this stage, it develops an unquenchable longing. _Introduces the central theme of the chapter: the insatiable desire for the transcendent._ > Lovers put out the candle and draw the curtains, says Patmore, when they wish to see the God and the Goddess: and in the higher communion, the night of thought is the light of perception. Patmore suggests that lovers dim the lights to see the divine, and similarly, in deep contemplation, the absence of thought brings true insight. _Illustrates the paradox of knowing through unknowing, a key mystical concept._ > For of all other creatures and their works, yea, and of the works of God's self, may a man through grace have full-head of knowing, and well he can think of them: but of God Himself can no man think. And therefore I would leave all that thing that I can think, and choose to my love that thing that I cannot think. For why; He may well be loved, but not thought. By love may He be gotten and holden; but by thought never. The author of The Cloud of Unknowing says that while we can know creatures and God's works through grace, we cannot think of God Himself; thus we should abandon what we can think and love what we cannot think, for God is attained through love, not thought. _Emphasizes the primacy of love over intellect in mystical union._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/practical_mysticism_se/chapters/viii-the-second-form-of-contemplation - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/practical_mysticism_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/practical_mysticism_se/chapters