Wisdom. Of thyself thou hast nothing except faults and defects. Therefore that about which thou askest is I Myself, and this is the play of love. Servitor. What is the play of love? Wisdom. So long as the loved one is present with the lover, the lover knoweth not how dear the loved one is to him; it is only separation which can teach him that. Servitor. It is a very grievous game. But tell me, Lord, are there any who in this life no longer experience these vicissitudes of Thy presence? Wisdom. You will find very few indeed. For never to be deprived of My presence belongs not to temporal but to eternal life. APHORISMS AND MAXIMS ACT according to the truth in simplicity; and, whatever happens, do not help thyself; for he who helps himself too much will not be helped by the Truth. God wishes not to deprive us of pleasure; but He wishes to give us pleasure in its totality--that is, all pleasure. Wilt thou be of use to all creatures? Then turn thyself away from all creatures. If a man cannot comprehend a thing, let him remain quiet, and it will comprehend him. Say to the creatures, I will not be to thee what thou art to me. The power of abstaining from things gives us more power than the possession of them would. Some men one meets who have been inwardly drawn by God, but have not followed Him. The inner man and the outer man in these cases are widely at variance, and in this way many fail. He who has attained to the purgation of his senses in God performs all the operations of the senses all the better. He who finds the inward in the outward goes deeper than he who only finds the inward in the inward. He is on the right road who contemplates under the forms of things their eternal essence. It is well with a man who has died to self and begun to live in Christ. RUYSBROEK THE ADORNMENT OF THE SPIRITUAL NUPTIALS BOOK I PREFACE