Ruysbroeck and the Mystics: with selections from Ruysbroeck

by Maurice Maeterlinck · audio summary, about 13 min

Maurice Maeterlinck examines the life and contemplative theology of the fourteenth-century Flemish mystic Jean von Ruysbroeck, illustrating how the soul transcends reason to achieve union with God. Through allegories of nature and the spirit, the text outlines the path of inward purification, where divine love simultaneously labours in active virtue and rests in stillness.

Key ideas

• Direct mystical contemplation transcends intellectual dialectic and sensory images to perceive God through naked spiritual intuition.
• The inward life requires a deliberate governance of the soul, where free will acts as king guided by knowledge, discretion, and justice.
• True spiritual maturity balances outward labour in virtuous service with inward repose in divine communion.
• Because a created being cannot fully contain the uncreated good, the soul experiences an eternal and fruitful hunger for God.

This summary and its voice are made with AI from the public-domain book. They can be wrong.

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