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CLASSICAL ESSAY |
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by Nicholas of Cusa
Apart from Thee, Lord, naught can exist. If, then. Thine essence pervade all things, so also doth Thy sight, which is Thine essence. For even as no created thing can escape from its own proper essence, so neither can it from Thine essence, which giveth essential being to all beings. Wherefore, neither can it from Thy sight. Accordingly, Thou, Lord, seest all things and each thing at one and the same time, and movest with all that move, and standest with them that stand. And because there be some that move while others stand, Thou, Lord, dost stand and move at the same time, at the same time Thou dost proceed and rest. For if both motion and rest be individuated at the same time in divers beings, and if naught can exist apart from Thee, and no motion be apart from Thee, nor any rest; then Thou, Lord, art wholly present to all these things, and to each, at one and the same time. And yet Thou dost not move nor rest, since Thou art exalted above all, and freed from all that can be conceived or named. Wherefore, Thou standest and proceedest, and yet at the same time dost not stand or proceed, and that this painted face showeth me. For, if I move, its glance seemeth to move because it quitteth me not; if, while I am moving, another look on the face while standing still, its glance in like manner quitteth not him, but standeth still as he doth. Howbeit, the condition of motion or standing cannot rightly suit with a face that is freed from such conditions, for it is above all standing or motion, in simplest and absolute infinity; and 'tis on the hither side of this infinity that are found motion, and rest, and their opposition, and whatever may he uttered or conceived. Hence I observe how needful it is for me to enter into the darkness, and to admit the coincidence of opposites, beyond all the grasp of reason, and there to seek the truth where impossibility meeteth me. And beyond that, beyond even the highest ascent of intellect, where I shall have attained unto that which is unknown to every intellect, and which every intellect judgeth to be most far removed from truth, there, my God, art Thou, who art Absolute Necessity. And the more that dark impossibility is recognised as dark I and impossible, the more truly doth His Necessity shine forth n and is more unveiledly present, and draweth nigh. Wherefore I give Thee thanks, my God, because Thou n makest plain to me that there is none other way of approaching Thee than that which to all men, even the most learned philosophers, seemeth utterly inaccessible and impossible. For Thou hast shown me that Thou canst not be seen elsewhere than where impossibility meeteth and faceth me. Thou hast inspired me. Lord, who art the Food of the strong, to do violence to myself, because impossibility coincideth with necessity, and I have learnt that the place wherein Thou art found unveiled is girt round with the coincidence of contradictories, and this is the wall of Paradise wherein Thou dost abide. The door whereof is guarded by the most proud spirit of Reason, and, unless he be vanquished, the way in will not lie open. Thus 'tis beyond the coincidence of contradictories that Thou mayest be seen, and nowhere this side thereof. If, then, in Thy sight. Lord, impossibility be necessity, there is naught that Thy sight seeth not.
Excerpted from The Vision of God, by Nicholas of Cusa |
The Vision of God, by Nicholas of Cusa
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