36. That the Gift of Wisdom Is Excellently Possessed, and What Things Hinder It, and What Forthwith They Eliminate

FURTHER, whosoever desires to possess in an excellent manner this chief and supreme gift of Wisdom, in order that boundless love might penetrate him within ; and that the taste or relish before mentioned might inundate him, he must needs regard the operation flowing even brightly and clearly out of the simplicity of the divine source. But thence is engendered an admiration of the multifarious gifts and incomprehensible riches of God. But admiration causes one to long and eagerly to strain after the loftiest fruition. But then he must needs intently press upon contemplation and renew and refresh affection or longing, above every action. And that very boundless love in the furnace of unity flames and burns in all the senses, and it causes a man wholly to melt, flow down, and be immersed in the delights of fruition. And thus imbued, a man, by flowing in the abyss of boundless divinity? loses himself in the darkness of divine solitude. For here nothing is given or received, or is free from the exercise of love, but there is a certain pure and simple unity. There are four certain things which hinder the tasting of wisdom. To contemplate apart from the consideration of action emanating from unity, hinders this taste. Those who are not elevated by admiration are less fervent from desire arising out of the upspiiiiging impatience of love, and the boundless love in the highest part of the kingdom of their soul burns less deeply within. And because they apply the acuteness of the mind to nakedness, nor are drawn and absorbed by reason of the tide of love, it in any case hinders the obtaining of the highest purity and offers an impediment. There are four other things which deprive a man of health and happiness. Men unstable and blind prowl and wander hither and thither for the obtaining of foreign and external delights. They take note of certain worthless and wretched things, and pay attention to gains, and repose in the lowest matters. Perverse and unrighteous love maddens their wretched senses, and blinds their reason. They seek and strive after a foreign taste or relish, and therefore are unable to reach the point whence eternal joys are flowing. Finally that which so greatly restrains from the gaining of eternal light is a life unclean and unchaste.