Nine Points for Contemplatives

How, at the request of Reason, Love Makes This Soul Known To Contemplatives, Explaining Nine Points Already Mentioned - Chapter XI by Marguerite Porete

REASON: Now Love, in the name of contemplatives, of all that desire to grow continuously in divine knowledge and who are and abide in desire for Love, I beg you, out of your courtesy, to explain the nine points of which you have already spoken. I mean the nine points already possessed by the soul pursuing Fine amour, the soul in whom Charity has a fixed abode thanks to the annihilated life in which Pure Love allows the Soul to be abandoned.

LOVE: Name them then, Reason!

REASON: The first point of which you spoke, is that such a soul cannot be found.

LOVE: That is true. I mean that this Soul knows only one thing within her: namely, the root of all her ills and the abundance of her countless sins, without weight and without measure. But sin is nought and this Soul is quite crushed and terrified by her horrible faults that are less than naught: and by understanding this, she herself becomes less than naught as far as it depends on her. From this one can conclude that such a Soul cannot be found. For she is so annihilated by humility that in her righteous judgment, if God should wish to take vengance for the thousandth part of one single fault of hers, no creature who had sinned would ever deserve such great torments and such infinite confusion that she considers she merits. This humility, and none other, is true perfect humility in the annihilated soul.

LOVE: The second point is that this Soul is saved by faith without works.

REASON: Eh! In God's name, what do you mean by that?

LOVE: I mean that this annihilated soul has within her such great knowledge, by virtue of faith, that she is occupied within herself sustaining what faith imparts to her of the power of the Father, the wisdom of the Son, and the goodness of the Holy Spirit, that nothing created can remain in her memory but swiftly passes away, because this other occupation has taken complete possession of her understanding. This Soul can no longer do works, and there is no doubt that she is amply excused and exonerated, without doing works, believing that God is good and incomprehensible. This Soul is saved by faith without works, for faith surpasses all works, as testified by Love Herself.

LOVE: The third point is that she is alone in Love.

REASON: In God's name, Lady Love, what does that mean?

LOVE: It means that this Soul finds neither comfort, nor affection, nor hope in any of the creatures God has made, neither in Heaven nor upon earth, but only in God's goodness. Such a Soul neither begs, nor asks, anything of creatures. She is the phoenix, who is alone, for this Soul, feeding on herself, is alone in Love.

LOVE: The fourth point is that this Soul does nothing for God.

REASON: Hey, for God's sake, what are you saying?

LOVE: I mean that God has no use for what she does, and this Soul has no use for anything, except for what God does. She does not care about herself; let God care about her, He Who loves her more than she loves herself. This soul has such great faith in God that she is not afraid of being poor, as her Beloved is so rich. In fact, faith teaches her that she will find God in the measure of her hopes, and as, through her faith, she hopes that He is infinitely rich, she cannot be poor.

LOVE: The fifth point is that this Soul does not leave aside, for God, anything that she is able to do.

REASON: In God's name Love, what can this mean?

LOVE: It means that she can do nothing other than the will of God, and so she can not even wish for anything else, and therefore she leaves aside no action, for God. In fact, she lets nothing enter her thoughts which would be against God, and so she does not leave aside any of her actions, for God.

LOVE: The sixth point is that she can be taught nothing.

REASON: In God's name, that means?

LOVE: It means that this Soul is of such great constancy that if she had all the knowledge of all the creatures who ever were, are and shall be, this would seem nothing to her compared to the one that she loves, Who was never known and never will be. This Soul loves better what is in God, which has never been given and never will be, than what she has and what she would have if she were to possess all the knowledge of all creatures who are and shall be.

SOUL: And this is nothing to what is, really...but one can say nothing about it.

LOVE: The seventh point is that nothing can be taken away from her.

REASON: In God's name, Love, tell me the significance of that!

LOVE: The significance? But what could be taken away from her? There is no doubt nothing could be taken away from her, for if one should take from this Soul her honor, her riches, her life, her friends, her heart, her body, and her very life, one would be taking nothing from her, if God still remains hers; and so it is clear that one can take nothing from her, no matter what effort he makes.

LOVE: The eighth point is that one can give her nothing.

REASON: For God's sake Love, what is this, that one can give her nothing?

LOVE: What is this? But what could one give her? If she were given everything that ever was and ever shall be given, it would be nothing compared to what she loves and will love...that is, God Himself.

SOUL: Lady love loves and will love in me.

LOVE: We shall say that God loves better the 'more' of this Soul which is in Him than the 'less' that she is by herself.

SOUL: There is no 'less', there is only all; this I can tell you and this is the truth.

LOVE: I can say even more. If that Soul possessed all the knowledge, all the love and all the praise that ever were and ever will be given, of the Divine Trinity, this would still be nothing compared to what she loves and will love; but she will never reach that love through knowledge.

SOUL: Oh, truly, Sweet Love, by knowledge I won't reach even the smallest point of my love, for there is no other God save He of Whom nothing can be known perfectly. In fact, he alone is my God, of Whom one can say not a single word and of Whom none of those in Paradise can reach one single point, no matter how much knowledge they have of him. And in this 'more' is contained the greatest mortification of love of my spirit, and in this lies all my soul's glory of love, an endless glory, like that of all those who ever understood this. This is a small point to listen to, compared to the greater of which nobody speaks!......

For whenever on my own, I question Love on something concerning Her, then I am living the life of the spirit, in the shadow of the sun, where one can see the subtle images of the attractions of divine Love and of the divine generation.

But what am I saying? Even if I possessed all that has been said, it would certainly be nothing compared to what I love of Him and which He will give to nobody else but Himself and that which He must withhold according to his divine righteousness. And so it is true when I say that men can give me nothing, whatever it may be. But this complaint which you hear me utter, Reason, is my all and my best, if one understands it well. Ah, how sweet it is to understand this! For the Love of God, understand it fully, for Paradise is nothing other than this very comprehension.

LOVE: The ninth point, Reason, is that this soul has no will.

REASON: Eh, what are you saying? That the Soul has no will?

LOVE: Oh, she most certainly hasn't, for all this Soul wants and consents to is what God wants her to will, and she wants this in order to accomplish God's will and not her own will; and she cannot want this by herself but it is the will of God willing it within her; from which it results that this Soul has no will apart from God's will that makes her will all that she ought to will.



Translation taken from: Zum Brunn, Emilie, Epiney-Burgard, Georgette, Hughes, Sheila. 'Marguerite Porete', Women Mystics in Medieval Europe, Paragon House, 1989, pg 168-172.