A Christian Samadhi (13th century)

[Guest guest]

Sofia von Klingnau, Toess Convent, 13th century

 

Transl. from the German by Esther Cameron

[i have corrected a few mistakes in the translation - M.S.]

 

Excerpt

 

When she had lasted out the year with great bitterness, she told no one what

consolation she had received from God, until she was close to death and had

not much longer to live. Then a sister came to her with whom she had long

been on terms of intimate affection and who had often observed that she was

comforted by God. This sister begged her earnestly to tell her for the love

of God how the comfort was which she had received from God. Thereupon she

answered and said, "If I knew that it was God's will, I would tell you

something. However, I do not know it; therefore I cannot tell you anything

now. Come back soon; then I will tell you what is God's will." So the sister

went away and waited until the singing of the compline, when it was night,

and then came to her again and asked her what had been the result of her

consultation with God.

 

Then she said, "Lift me up and give me some water in my mouth so that I can

speak; then I will tell you what you will be glad to hear." When this had

been done, she began to speak and said, "In the second year after I had

taken the vow of obedience, at the feast of the Holy Nativity, I stayed

after midnight mass in the choir and went behind the altar and leaned

against a prayer stand and tried to say my prayer as I was accustomed to

doing. And while I was praying my former life came into my mind, how much

time and how long I had spent in the world in frivolous pursuits. And I

began especially to contemplate and consider the faithlessness I had thereby

shown to God, that I had cared so negligently for the noble and dignified

treasure of my noble soul, for which he had shed his holy blood on the cross

and which he had commended to me so faithfully; and I had defiled and

sullied it with so much sin and unvirtue, so that this soul which had once

pleased him well must now be ill-pleasing and loathsome to his divine eyes.

....

 

"And when I had said this, I bowed low and went to my bed in the dormitory;

there, so it seemed to me, I would be most hidden. And when I had reached my

bed, I was so very sick that I thought, 'You are ill again, you had better

rest a while.' And therefore I made the sign of the cross before me and

wanted to lie down to rest and said the verse In Manus Tuas.

 

"And when I had said it, I saw a light, beautiful and blissful beyond

measure, was coming from heaven, and it surrounded me and shone through me

and illumined me entirely, and my heart was transformed all of a sudden and

filled with an unspeakable and strange joy, so that I utterly and completely

forgot all the misery and torment that I had ever known until this time. And

in the light and in the joy, I saw and sensed that my soul was taken up from

my heart and out through my mouth and high into the air, and there it was

given me to see my soul clearly and particularly, with spiritual vision, as

I have never seen anything with physical eyes, and all its form and grace

and beauty was shown to me fully. And what marvels I saw and recognized in

it, all humans together could not put into words.

 

Then the sister adjured her by all fidelity and begged her in all

earnestness to tell her what the soul was like. Then she answered and said,

"The soul is so entirely spiritual a thing that one cannot really compare it

to any physical thing. But because you desire it so much, I will give you a

parable which may help you understand a little how its form and shape was.

It was a round, beautiful, and illuminating light, like the sun, and was of

a gold-colored red, and this light was so immeasurably beautiful and

blissful that I could not compare it with anything else. For if all the

stars in the sky were as big and beautiful as the sun, and if they were all

shining together, all their splendor could not compare with the beauty my

soul had.

 

"And it seemed to me that a splendor went out from me that illuminated the

whole world, and a blissful day dawned over the whole earth. And in this

light which was my soul, I saw God blissfully shining, as a beautiful light

shines out of a beautiful radiant lamp, and I saw that He nestled up to my

soul so lovingly and so kindly that He was wholly united with it and it with

Him.

 

"And in this union of love my soul acquired from God the certainty that all

my sins had been wholly forgiven me, and that it was as pure and clear and

wholly stainless as it was when I came out of the baptismal font. And from

this my soul became so blithesome and joyful that it felt as if it possessed

all bliss and all joy, and if it had the power of wishing it could not and

would not wish for anything more.

 

"And now, when I was in the best and highest joy, my soul began to sink down

again, as God willed, until it hovered over the body, which was lying beside

the bed like a corpse, and it was granted a delay, so that it did not have

to reenter the body immediately, but had to hover for a considerable time

over the body, until it had well seen how ugly and ill-formed the body was.

And when the soul had gotten a good look of the body, and had seen how

death-like and wretched it was, and how its head and hands and all its limbs

lay there like those of a dead person, it pleased it very ill, and seemed to

it most loathsome and horrible. And very soon the soul turned its gaze from

the body and gazed on itself. And when it saw itself again and found itself

so beautiful and noble and dignified, in contrast to the body, it hovered

over it, playing with such joy and delight that all hearts together could

not imagine it.

 

"And just as it was feeling happiest and enjoying itself and God, with Whom

it saw itself united, it went back into the body, without knowing how. And

when it had come back into the body, it was not deprived of this glad

contemplation, but even while dwelling in the body it saw itself and God in

it, as pure and essential as when it had been entranced out of the body.

 

"And this grace lasted in me for eight days, and when I came to myself again

and became aware that a living spirit was in me, I stood up and was the most

joyful person, so it seemed to me, on the whole earth. For all the joy that

all humans ever gained or may gain until the Judgment Day seemed as small to

me in comparison to my joy as the tiniest claw of a gnat in comparison to

the whole world. And from the abundance of the measureless joy my body had

grown so light and agile and so without any infirmity that for those eight

days I never felt whether I had a body, so that I was not aware of any

physical illness, small or great, and I had no hunger nor thirst nor desire

for sleep, and yet I went to table and to bed and to the choir and did as

the others did, so that my grace would be hidden and no one would notice it.

And when I had passed these eight days in such bliss, the grace was

withdrawn from me, so that I no longer had the contemplation of my soul and

of God in my soul, and then for the first time I felt that I had a body."

[Guest guest]

.....a beautiful story of awakening and the reconciliation of the spirit to

the body....so many of us as seekers are afflicted with a sick soul....

sometimes so sick that we cannot cherish the fragility of consciousness and

remain in denial of the ultimate reality of nature....the truth and beauty

of higher love refined by suffering....the blue rose that rests in stillness

at the deep heart's core of the material universe.....yet, through that

golden arch and beyond its rainbow gleams that untraveled realm whose margin

fades forever and ever even as i move into, through and beyond my

beloved.....what lies beyond......my beloved and with tender heart and

bright wings.....namaste......^^~~~~~

 

further up and further in,

 

white wolfe

 

 

-

<MikeSuesserott

<>

Monday, December 31, 2001 6:31 PM

A Christian Samadhi (13th century)

 

> Sofia von Klingnau, Toess Convent, 13th century

>

> Transl. from the German by Esther Cameron

> [i have corrected a few mistakes in the translation - M.S.]

>

> Excerpt

>

> When she had lasted out the year with great bitterness, she told no one

what

> consolation she had received from God, until she was close to death and

had

> not much longer to live. Then a sister came to her with whom she had long

> been on terms of intimate affection and who had often observed that she

was

> comforted by God. This sister begged her earnestly to tell her for the

love

> of God how the comfort was which she had received from God. Thereupon she

> answered and said, "If I knew that it was God's will, I would tell you

> something. However, I do not know it; therefore I cannot tell you anything

> now. Come back soon; then I will tell you what is God's will." So the

sister

> went away and waited until the singing of the compline, when it was night,

> and then came to her again and asked her what had been the result of her

> consultation with God.

>

> Then she said, "Lift me up and give me some water in my mouth so that I

can

> speak; then I will tell you what you will be glad to hear." When this had

> been done, she began to speak and said, "In the second year after I had

> taken the vow of obedience, at the feast of the Holy Nativity, I stayed

> after midnight mass in the choir and went behind the altar and leaned

> against a prayer stand and tried to say my prayer as I was accustomed to

> doing. And while I was praying my former life came into my mind, how much

> time and how long I had spent in the world in frivolous pursuits. And I

> began especially to contemplate and consider the faithlessness I had

thereby

> shown to God, that I had cared so negligently for the noble and dignified

> treasure of my noble soul, for which he had shed his holy blood on the

cross

> and which he had commended to me so faithfully; and I had defiled and

> sullied it with so much sin and unvirtue, so that this soul which had once

> pleased him well must now be ill-pleasing and loathsome to his divine

eyes.

> ...

>

> "And when I had said this, I bowed low and went to my bed in the

dormitory;

> there, so it seemed to me, I would be most hidden. And when I had reached

my

> bed, I was so very sick that I thought, 'You are ill again, you had better

> rest a while.' And therefore I made the sign of the cross before me and

> wanted to lie down to rest and said the verse In Manus Tuas.

>

> "And when I had said it, I saw a light, beautiful and blissful beyond

> measure, was coming from heaven, and it surrounded me and shone through me

> and illumined me entirely, and my heart was transformed all of a sudden

and

> filled with an unspeakable and strange joy, so that I utterly and

completely

> forgot all the misery and torment that I had ever known until this time.

And

> in the light and in the joy, I saw and sensed that my soul was taken up

from

> my heart and out through my mouth and high into the air, and there it was

> given me to see my soul clearly and particularly, with spiritual vision,

as

> I have never seen anything with physical eyes, and all its form and grace

> and beauty was shown to me fully. And what marvels I saw and recognized in

> it, all humans together could not put into words.

>

> Then the sister adjured her by all fidelity and begged her in all

> earnestness to tell her what the soul was like. Then she answered and

said,

> "The soul is so entirely spiritual a thing that one cannot really compare

it

> to any physical thing. But because you desire it so much, I will give you

a

> parable which may help you understand a little how its form and shape was.

> It was a round, beautiful, and illuminating light, like the sun, and was

of

> a gold-colored red, and this light was so immeasurably beautiful and

> blissful that I could not compare it with anything else. For if all the

> stars in the sky were as big and beautiful as the sun, and if they were

all

> shining together, all their splendor could not compare with the beauty my

> soul had.

>

> "And it seemed to me that a splendor went out from me that illuminated the

> whole world, and a blissful day dawned over the whole earth. And in this

> light which was my soul, I saw God blissfully shining, as a beautiful

light

> shines out of a beautiful radiant lamp, and I saw that He nestled up to my

> soul so lovingly and so kindly that He was wholly united with it and it

with

> Him.

>

> "And in this union of love my soul acquired from God the certainty that

all

> my sins had been wholly forgiven me, and that it was as pure and clear and

> wholly stainless as it was when I came out of the baptismal font. And from

> this my soul became so blithesome and joyful that it felt as if it

possessed

> all bliss and all joy, and if it had the power of wishing it could not and

> would not wish for anything more.

>

> "And now, when I was in the best and highest joy, my soul began to sink

down

> again, as God willed, until it hovered over the body, which was lying

beside

> the bed like a corpse, and it was granted a delay, so that it did not have

> to reenter the body immediately, but had to hover for a considerable time

> over the body, until it had well seen how ugly and ill-formed the body

was.

> And when the soul had gotten a good look of the body, and had seen how

> death-like and wretched it was, and how its head and hands and all its

limbs

> lay there like those of a dead person, it pleased it very ill, and seemed

to

> it most loathsome and horrible. And very soon the soul turned its gaze

from

> the body and gazed on itself. And when it saw itself again and found

itself

> so beautiful and noble and dignified, in contrast to the body, it hovered

> over it, playing with such joy and delight that all hearts together could

> not imagine it.

>

> "And just as it was feeling happiest and enjoying itself and God, with

Whom

> it saw itself united, it went back into the body, without knowing how. And

> when it had come back into the body, it was not deprived of this glad

> contemplation, but even while dwelling in the body it saw itself and God

in

> it, as pure and essential as when it had been entranced out of the body.

>

> "And this grace lasted in me for eight days, and when I came to myself

again

> and became aware that a living spirit was in me, I stood up and was the

most

> joyful person, so it seemed to me, on the whole earth. For all the joy

that

> all humans ever gained or may gain until the Judgment Day seemed as small

to

> me in comparison to my joy as the tiniest claw of a gnat in comparison to

> the whole world. And from the abundance of the measureless joy my body had

> grown so light and agile and so without any infirmity that for those eight

> days I never felt whether I had a body, so that I was not aware of any

> physical illness, small or great, and I had no hunger nor thirst nor

desire

> for sleep, and yet I went to table and to bed and to the choir and did as

> the others did, so that my grace would be hidden and no one would notice

it.

> And when I had passed these eight days in such bliss, the grace was

> withdrawn from me, so that I no longer had the contemplation of my soul

and

> of God in my soul, and then for the first time I felt that I had a body."

>

>

>

>

> /join

>

>

>

>

>

> All paths go somewhere. No path goes nowhere. Paths, places, sights,

perceptions, and indeed all experiences arise from and exist in and subside

back into the Space of Awareness. Like waves rising are not different than

the ocean, all things arising from Awareness are of the nature of Awareness.

Awareness does not come and go but is always Present. It is Home. Home is

where the Heart Is. Jnanis know the Heart to be the Finality of Eternal

Being. A true devotee relishes in the Truth of Self-Knowledge, spontaneously

arising from within into It Self. Welcome all to a.

>

>

>

> Your use of is subject to

>

>