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Wisdom and teachings of
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J ust as any knowledge of the taste of something we have never actually tasted is quite empty until we do taste it, so the taste of this wisdom cannot be acquired by hearsay but by one's actually touching it with his internal sense, and then he will bear witness not of what he has heard but what he has experientially tasted in himself. To know of the many descriptions of love which the saints have left us without knowing the taste of love is nothing other than a certain emptiness. Thus it is that it is not enough for him who seeks after eternal wisdom to merely read about these things, but it is absolutely necessary that once he discovers where it is by his understanding he make it his very own.

quote 3839 | Nicholas of Cusa
De sapientia; Dolan, 1962; pp. 111-112

F or a persistent and continued ascent to [the Principle and Source of] life is the constituent element of increased happiness.

quote 3838 | Nicholas of Cusa
De sapientia; Dolan, 1962; p. 107

I am a -living shadow and Thou the Truth... Therefore, my God, Thou art alike shadow and Truth; Thou art alike the image and the Exemplar of myself and all men.

quote 3837 | Nicholas of Cusa
De visio Dei, XV; Salter, 1960, p. 73

H ence, in Thee, who art Love, the lover -is not one thing and the loved another, and the bond between them a third, but they are one and the same-Thou, Thyself, my God. Since, then, in Thee the loved is one with the lover, and being loved [is one] with loving, this bond of coincidence is an essential bond. For there is nothing in Thee that is not Thy very Essence. (1)

I see, Lord, through Thine infinite mercy, that Thou art Infinity encompassing all things. Nothing exists outside Thee, and all things -in Thee are not other than Thee. (2)

quote 3836 | Nicholas of Cusa
(1) De visio Dei, XVII; Salter, 1960, p. 81-82 : (2) De visio Dei, XIV; Salter, 1960, p. 66

T hus the Essence is triune, and yet there are not three essences therein, since It is most simple. The plurality of these three is both plurality and unity, and their unity is both unity and plurality.

quote 3835 | Nicholas of Cusa
De visio Dei, XVII; Salter, 1960, p. 82

H e is God the Father whom we might also call "One" or "Unity," because He necessitates being out of what did not exist (through His omnipotence) ... This [omnipotent Power of His] is the Word, the Wisdom, the Son of the Father; and we may regard Him as co-equal to the One or Unity.

quote 3834 | Nicholas of Cusa
De sapientia; Dolan, 1962; p. 113

O God, ... [Thou dost] seem subject to mutability, since Thou dost never desert Thy creatures, which are subject to mutability; ... but, because Thou art the absolute Good, Thou art not changeable, and dost not follow what is mutable. 0 the unplumbed depths of Thee, my God, who art not separate from Thy creatures, and art nonetheless beyond them!

quote 3833 | Nicholas of Cusa
De visio Dei, XV; Salter, 1960, p. 74

I behold Thee, 0 Lord my God, in a kind of mental trance, ... (1)
- Thus, while I am borne to loftiest heights, I behold Thee as Infinity... (2)
- And when I behold Thee as absolute Infinity, to whom is befitting neither the name of creating Creator nor of creatable Creator-then indeed I begin to behold Thee unveiled, and to enter into the garden of delights! (3)
... [In that vision] nothing is seen other than Thyself, [for Thou] art Thyself the object of Thyself (for Thou seest, and art That which is seen, and art the sight as well) . (4)

quote 3832 | Nicholas of Cusa
(1) De visio Dei, XVI; Salter, 1960, p. 78 ; (2) De visio Dei, XIII; Salter, 1960, p. 59 ; (3) De visio Dei, XII; Salter, 1960, p. 57 ; (4) De visio Dei, XII; Salter, 1960, p. 56

O Lord, my God, ... I see Thee to be 'infinity Itself, wherefore nothing is alien to Thee, nothing differing from Thee, nothing opposed to Thee. For the Infinite allows no otherness from Itself, since, being Infinity, -nothing exists outside It: absolute Infinity includes and contains all things.

quote 3831 | Nicholas of Cusa
De visio Dei, XIII; Salter, 1960, p. 62

T hose who think that wisdom is nothing other than that which is comprehensible by the understanding, that happiness is nothing else than what they can attain, are quite far from the true eternal and infinite wisdom.

The highest wisdom consists in this, to know ...how That which is unattainable [by the intellect] may be reached or attained in a manner beyond [intellectual] attainment.

quote 3830 | Nicholas of Cusa
De sapientia; Dolan, 1962; pp. 108 and 105

T hat wisdom (which all men by their very nature desire to know and consequently seek after with such great affection of mind) is known in no other way than that it is higher than all knowledge and utterly unknowable and unspeakable in all language. It is unintelligible to all understanding, immeasurable by all measure, improportionable by every proportion, incomparable by all comparison, infigurable by all figuration, unformable by all. formation, ... imimaginable by all imagination, ... inapprehensible in all apprehension and unaffirmable in all affirmation, undeniable in all negation, indoubtable in ail doubt, inopinionable in all opinion; and because in all speech it is inexpressible, there can be no limit to the means of expressing it, being incognitable in all cognition…

quote 3829 | Nicholas of Cusa
De sapientia; Dolan, 1962; pp. 105-106

R eason strives for knowledge and yet this natural striving is not adequate to the knowledge of the Essence of God, but only to the knowledge that God ... is beyond all conception and knowledge.

quote 3828 | Nicholas of Cusa
De venatione sapientiae, Ch. xii; Beek, 1969; p. 64

L ove is ... devout and thankful to God; trusting and always hoping in Him, and that even when he has but little devotion or little savor in him, for without some sorrow or pain no man may live in love.

quote 3827 | Thomas a Kempis
History of Myticism, Abhayananda, 1998; pp. 294

H e who is thus a spiritual lover knows well what his voice means which says: "Thou, Lord God, art my whole love and my desire! Thou art all mine and I all Thine! Spread my heart into Thy love that I may know how sweet it is to serve Thee, and to be as though I were entirely melted into Thy love." 0 I am immersed in love and go far above myself for the great fervor that I feel of Thy unspeakable goodness! I shall sing to Thee the song of love; and my soul shall never be weary to praise Thee with the joyful song of love that I shall sing to Thee. I shall love Thee more than myself, and not myself but for Thee. And I shall love all others in Thee and for Thee, as the law of love commands which is given by Thee.

quote 3826 | Thomas a Kempis
History of Myticism, Abhayananda, 1998; pp. 294

T he noble love of God perfectly printed in man's soul makes a man to do great things and stirs him always to desire perfection and to grow more and more in grace and goodness.

Love will always have his mind upward to God and will not be occupied with things of the world. Love will also be free from all worldly affections, that the inward sight of the soul may not be darkened of lost, and that his affection to heavenly things may not be diminished by an inordinate winning or losing of worldly things. Nothing, therefore, is sweeter than love, nothing higher, nothing stronger, nothing larger, nothing more joyful, nothing fuller, and nothing better in heaven nor in earth; for love descends from God and may not rest finally in anything lower than God.

quote 3825 | Thomas a Kempis
History of Myticism, Abhayananda, 1998; pp. 293

O my Lord God, most faithful lover, when Thou comest into my heart, all that is within me doth joy! Thou art my glory and the joy of my heart, my hope and my whole refuge in all my troubles. But -inasmuch as I am yet feeble in love and imperfect in virtue, therefore I have need to have more comfort and more help from Thee. Consent, therefore, oftentimes to visit me and to instruct me with Thy holy teachings. Deliver me from all evil passions and heal my sick heart from all earthly pleasure, that I may be inwardly healed and purged from all inordinate affections and vices, and be made ready and able to love Thee, strong to suffer for Thee, and stable to persevere in Thee.

quote 3824 | Thomas a Kempis
History of Myticism, Abhayananda, 1998; pp. 293

G rant me, Lord, special grace to rest in Thee above all creatures, above all health and fairness, above all glory and honor, above all dignity and power, above all wisdom and policy, above all riches and crafts, above all gladness of body and of soul, above all fame and praising, above all sweetness and consolation, above all hope and promise, above all merit and desire, above all gifts and rewards that Thou mayst give or send besides Thyself, and above all joy and mirth that man's heart or mind may feel. And also above all angels and all the company of heavenly spirits, above all things that are not Thyself.

For Thou, Lord God, art most good, most high, most mighty, most sufficient and most full of goodness; most sweet, most comfortable, most fair, most loving, most noble, and most glorious above all things; in whom all goodness and perfection is, has been, and ever shall be. And therefore whatsoever Thou givest me besides Thyself, it is little and insufficient to me; for my heart may not rest nor fully be pacified so that it ascend above all gifts and above all manner of things that are created, unless in Thee :

0 my Lord, most loving spouse, most pure I-over and governor of every creature! Who shall give me wings of perfect liberty that I may fly high and rest in Thee! 0 when shall I gather myself together in Thee so perfectly that I shall -not, for Thy love, feel myself, but Thee alone, above myself and above all bodily things, and that Thou shalt visit me in such a way as Thou dost visit Thy faithful lovers? ...

quote 3823 | Thomas a Kempis
History of Myticism, Abhayananda, 1998; p. 292

W hy have many saints been so perfectly contemplative? Because they always studied to mortify themselves from worldly desires, that they might freely, with all the power of their heart, tend to our Lord.

quote 3822 | Thomas a Kempis
History of Myticism, Abhayananda, 1998; pp. 290

A ll that is in this world is vanity, but to love God and to serve only Him.

quote 3821 | Thomas a Kempis
History of Myticism, Abhayananda, 1998; pp. 290

F or if things are to go well with a man, one of two things must always happen to him. Either he must find and learn to possess God in works, or he must abandon all works. But since a man cannot in this life be without works, which are proper to humans and are of so many kinds, therefore he must learn to possess his God in all things and to remain unimpeded, whatever he may be doing, wherever he may be. And therefore if a man who is beginning must do something with other people, he ought first to make a powerful petition to God for His help, and put Him immovably in his heart, and unite all his intentions, thoughts, will and power to God, so that nothing else than God can take shape in that man.

quote 3820 | Meister Eckhart
Treatise C.7, Colledge & McGinn, 1982, p. 255

S o a man must be pervaded with the divine presence, and be shaped through and through with the form of the God he loves, and be present in Him, so that God's presence may shine out to him without any effort. What is more, in all things let him acquire nakedness [detachment], and let him always remain free of things. But at the beginning there must be attentiveness and a careful formation within himself, like a schoolboy setting himself to learn.

quote 3819 | Meister Eckhart
Treatise C.6, Colledge & McGinn, 1982, p. 252-254

A man cannot learn this by running away, by shunning things and shutting himself up in an external solitude; but he must practice a solitude of the spirit, wherever or with whomever he is. He must learn to break through things and to grasp his God in them and to form Him in himself powerfully in an essential manner. This is like someone who wants to learn to write. If he is to acquire the art, he must certainly practice it hard and long, however disagreeable and difficult this may be for him and however impossible it may seem. If he will practice it industriously and assiduously, he learns it and masters the art.

quote 3818 | Meister Eckhart
Treatise C.6, Colledge & McGinn, 1982, p. 252-254

T he man who has 'God essentially present to him grasps God divinely, and to him God shines in all things; for everything tastes to him of God, and God forms Himself for the man out of all things. God always shines out in him; in him there is a detachment and a turning away, and a forming of his God whom. he loves and who is present to him. It is like a man [who is] consumed with a real and burning thirst, [but] who may well not drink and may turn his mind to other things. But whatever he may do, in whatever company he may be, whatever he may be intending or thinking of or working at, still the idea of drinking does not leave him, so long as he is thirsty. The more his thirst grows, the more the idea of drinking grows and intrudes [on him], and possesses him and will not leave him.

Or if a man loves something ardently and with all his heart, so that nothing else has savor for him or touches his heart but that, and that and nothing but that is his whole object: truly, wherever he is, whomever he is with, whatever he may undertake, whatever he does, what he so loves never passes from his mind, and he finds the image of what he loves in everything, and it is the more present to him the more his love grows and grows. He does not seek rest, because no unrest hinders him.

quote 3817 | Meister Eckhart
Treatise C.6, Colledge & McGinn, 1982, p. 252-254

O n what does this true possession of God depend, so that we may truly have Him? This true possession of God depends on ... an inward directing of the reason and intention toward God, not on a constant contemplation in an unchanging manner, for it would be impossible to nature to preserve such an intention, and very laborious, and not the best thing either.

quote 3816 | Meister Eckhart
Treatise C.6, Colledge & McGinn, 1982, p. 252-254

A man should accept God in all things, and should accustom himself to having God present always in his disposition and his intention and his love. Take heed how you can have God as the object of your thoughts whether you are in church or in your cell. Preserve and carry with you that same disposition when you are in crowds and in uproar and dissimilitude. And, as I have said before, when one speaks of similitude, one does not mean that we should pay a similar attention to all works or all places or all people. That would be quite wrong, because praying is better than spinning, and the church is a better place than the street. But you ought in all your works to have a similar disposition and a similar confidence and a similar love for your God and a similar seriousness. Believe me, if you were constant in this way, no one could come between you and the God who is present to you.

quote 3815 | Meister Eckhart
Treatise C.6, Colledge & McGinn, 1982, p. 252-254

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