Docta Ignorantia

Portrait of a Carthusian (1446) by Petrus Christus

DOCTA IGNORANTIA

“Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.”—Matthew 5:8

What does it mean to see God? In the present mortal life, God is seen in darkness and in love. This is the vision of God given to the clean of heart.

It is not the perfection of the beatific vision. “At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully as I am fully known.” (1)

The light of God appears as darkness to the soul because the soul in its existential imperfection is unable to see God in His utter perfection. “That which is light in God and of the loftiest clarity is dense darkness for the soul.” (2)

Yet this vision of God, however imperfect, is already knowledge of God, powerfully drawing the love of the heart. Cardinal Nicolas of Cusa uses the expression “learned ignorance” or “docta ignorantia” to describe this knowledge of God in darkness. “There is, therefore, in all such love, by which one is carried into God, a cognition, even though one remains unaware of what it is one loves. Thus there is a coincidence of knowledge and of ignorance, or a learned ignorance.” (3)

Notes

(1) 1 Corinthians 13:12.

(2) St. John of the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul, II, 16.

(3) Edmond Vansteenberghe, Autour de la Docte Ignorance: Une Controverse sur la Theologie Mystique au Xve Siecle (Munster: Aschendorff, 1915), 112, in Christian Spirituality: High Middle Ages and Reformation, edited by Jill Raitt in collaboration with Bernard McGinn and John Meyendorff (New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1987), pages 171-72.

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A DIFFICULT QUESTION: WHETHER THE SOUL IN HER AFFECTUS CAN, BY ASPIRATION AND YEARNING, BE MOVED INTO GOD WITHOUT ANY OF THE INTELLECT’S COGITATION LEADING THE WAY OR KEEPING HER COMPANY

To bring into the open the truth of the hidden and mystical matters already being discussed, a difficult question is posed, a question through which the truth of this wisdom will shine forth most clearly to anyone with understanding. We ask whether the soul in her affectus can, by aspiration, or yearning, be moved to God without any of the intellect’s cogitation leading the way or keeping her company.

 ...Now there are two ways of apprehending, corresponding to the twofold natural human faculty for reaching God. Every soul has a power of understanding, which is the faculty of the intellect, and a power of loving, which is called the affectus. With these we apprehend God, who is supreme Truth and supreme Good. With the intellect we grasp Truth, with the affectus we attain Good. A dual path of excellence fits these two. One path is called contemplation and is symbolized by Rachel, whose name means “charming to look at.” On this path the human spirit, infused with divine light from on high, has what it takes to contemplate celestial things by meditation and cogitation. The other path is in the affectus and is called the love’s ardor. It takes place in the fire of the Holy Spirit sent down from on high, as the soul aspires in flaming affections to God alone, yearning only to be more intimately united to him with tighter cords of love. This second path is called the “best part,” the one chosen by Mary, who ardently yearned, as the gospel of John says.

Hence, just as the New Testament stands out in comparison to the Old Testament, so too the way of love, or perfection, which is found in ardent love and is designated by Mary, is nobler than all meditation or intellectual contemplation, which is designated by Rachel.

—In Hugh of Balma, The Roads to Zion Mourn, in Carthusian Spirituality: The Writings of Hugh of Balma and Guigo de Ponte, translated and introduced by Dennis D. Martin, preface by John Van Engen (New York: Paulist Press, 1997), pages 155-162

True knowledge of God consists in virtue and resides in the will.