The inner vision: some notes on mysticism

...and so joyful that no other color can equal it. Thus, in a holy vision, it has filled and fed the eyes of those who have prepared themselves to perceive it. Nothing is more lovely and more pleasant to the eye than the emerald when it has been cut and polished; everything that it reflects may be recognized and seen as if in a mirror. So, if we examine in detail the divine being of Him who took our nature through His love for us, we must admire it and cannot sufficiently praise its sublimity. When we consider how He became man, we must be ashamed of ourselves, remembering His humility, and we cannot humble ourselves deeply enough. And when we remember what His motive was in becoming man, we cannot rejoice enough or love Him as He deserves.

"In these three ways, we shall behold with eager desire, and we shall polish and lovingly examine Christ, our noble emerald. In doing so, we shall find nothing more pleasant to the eyes of our reason, nothing more attractive, for we shall find Him reflected in us, and we shall find ourselves echoed in Him through His grace and a virtuous life. Thus, we shall turn away from earthly things and keep this mirror ever before our eyes.

"In another article, we compare Christ to the noble jasper, which has a green color that is very pleasant to the eye; it almost equals the emerald in its greenness. So, we compare it to the ascension of our Lord, who was green and beautiful in the eyes of the Apostles, and so pleasant that they could never forget Him during their whole lives. We shall rightly have the same experience; we shall consider that the noble emerald, the eternal Word, descended into our nature because of His love for us with an overflowing greenness, and we shall rejoice in this above all, for this vision is full of grace. We shall further consider that the glorious jasper—by which I mean our Lord Jesus—ascended to Heaven wearing our nature, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and has prepared for us the state of glory—Amen."

Although he was, of course, influenced by his environment in the choice of his words and images, the simple Flemish monk—from whom I would gladly quote at greater length if time allowed—is in touch with all who have gone before: with the unknown author of that beautiful poem, the Bhagavad Gita; with the Gnostics, with Plotinus, with Porphyry, with Plato in the Timaeus, with Novalis, with Swedenborg, with Jacob Boehme, with Al-Ghazali the great Persian Sufi, with St. Denis the Areopagite, and with the Neo-Platonists of Alexandria. Through the ages, we see this recording of the joy that comes to the person who seeks union with God—whether it be through physical postures and breathing, or through contemplation and meditation, or by helping one's fellow humans. It is a very wonderful influence, this truth of mysticism, which yet cannot be given as evidence to...