German Theology

☞ Fifth: How one should understand that a person must become devoid of knowing original: "weißloß", devoid of willing, devoid of loving, devoid of desiring, devoid of perceiving original: "erkennloß", and the like. These terms refer to the mystical state of "Gelassenheit" or "releasement," where the individual soul empties itself of personal ego and earthly attachments to be filled by God.

¶ Sixth: How we should hold the best and the most noble as our most beloved, simply because it is the best.

☞ Seventh: Concerning the two spiritual eyes with which a person looks into eternity and into time, and how one is hindered by the other. In mystical tradition, the "eye of the soul" looks toward God, while the "eye of the senses" looks toward the world; the author argues they cannot both focus at once.

¶ Eighth: How the human soul, while it is still in the body, may receive a foretaste of eternal blessedness.

☞ Ninth: How it is more useful and better for a person to attend to what God is working within them, or for what purpose God wishes to use them, than if they knew all that God has ever worked—or ever will work—in all creatures; and how blessedness lies in God and His works alone, and not in the creature.

¶ Tenth: How perfect people desire nothing other than that they might belong to the Eternal Good just as a man’s hand belongs to the man; and how they have lost the fear of hell and the desire for the kingdom of heaven. This suggests a state of "pure love," where one serves God for His own sake rather than for the reward of heaven or fear of punishment.

☞ Eleventh: How the righteous person is placed into hell during this life and cannot find comfort there, and how they are then taken out of hell and placed into the kingdom of heaven and cannot find sorrow there.

¶ Twelfth: What the right and true inner peace is which Christ left to His disciples at the last; how a person sometimes dismisses mental images original: "bilden"; refers to the use of icons or visualizations in prayer too early; and concerning the three stages that lead a person to perfection.

☞ Thirteenth: How all people died in Adam and have become living again in Christ; and concerning true obedience and disobedience.

¶ Fourteenth: What the "Old Man" is, and also what the "New Man" is. These are biblical terms (from St. Paul) for the human nature before and after spiritual rebirth.

¶ Fifteenth: How one should not claim any good for oneself, and should acknowledge guilt for the evil one has committed.

☞ Sixteenth: How the life of Christ is the most noble and best.