III THE STILL WILDERNESS

p. 117

p. 118

54 (I. 7)
MAN MUST GO BEYOND GOD

Where is my hiding-place? Where there's nor I nor Thou. Where is my final goal towards which I needs must press? Where there is nothing. Whither shall I journey now? Still farther on than God—into a Wilderness.

55 (I. 199)
GOD BEYOND THE CREATURE

Go, where thou canst not go; see, where light never breaks; Hear, where no sound is heard: then art thou where God speaks.

56 (IV. 23)
DIVINE CONTEMPLATION

Who in this mortal life would see The Light that is beyond all light, Beholds it best by faring forth Into the darkness of the Night.

57 (II. 6)
NOTHING IS THE BEST CONSOLATION

Best Consolation is in Naught. If God should quench His shine, then dare In naked Nothingness to find Thy Consolation in despair.

p. 119

58 (I. 126)
DESIRE EXPECTS FULFILMENT

If thou hast still for God a yearning and desire, Then doth He not embrace thee yet, whole and entire.

59 (I. 76)
TO WILL NAUGHT IS TO BE LIKE GOD

Willing and seeking naught, God is eternal peace: Willest thou likewise naught, thy peace is even as His.

60 (II. 248)
STILLNESS IS LIKE UNTO THE ETERNAL NAUGHT

Stillness and Loneliness are liker naught than Naught: These willeth then my Will, if my Will willeth aught.

61 (I. 98)
THE DEAD WILL RULETH

God needs must do my Will, if Will in me is dead: I write for Him His Paradigm and Copy-head.

p. 120

62 (V. 207)
THE GREATEST DEED

The greatest Deed that thou canst do For God, is to be deedless—best, Suffering, to suffer unto God, And, resting, unto Him to rest.

63 (V. 195)
GOD IS FOUND IN IDLENESS

Who sits in utter Idleness Shall come much sooner to the goal Than he who runneth after God With sweat of body and of soul.

64 (IV. 31)
THE BLESSED IDLENESS

Both John upon the breast and Mary at the feet Do nought but pass the happy hours away in sweet Love-dalliance with God.—I would not stir at all, Could I be idle so, even though the sky should fall.

65 (I. 171)
GOD IS FOUND BY NOT SEEKING

God is not here nor there. Thou seekest where He may be found? Bound be thy hands and bound thy feet,   Body and soul be bound.

p. 121

66 (I. 240)
THE PRAYER OF SILENCE

So high above all things that be Is God uplifted, man can dare No utterance: he prayeth best When Silence is his sum of prayer.

67 (II. 63)
THE DEAF HEARETH THE WORD

Unto my hearing momently the Eternal Word doth come —Believe it, friend, or not—when I am deaf and dumb.

68 (I. 239)
GOD IS PRAISED IN SILENCE

Thinkest thou, foolish man, that with thy clapping tongue Praise of the silent Godhead fitly can be sung?

69 (V. 366)
GOD'S LUTE

A Heart, as God would have it, wholly still and mute. Loves to be played upon by Him—it is His lute.

p. 122

70 (II. 169)
SAMENESS BEHOLDETH GOD

Be naught as all and all as naught, then art thou proved Worthy to see the face of God, the Well-Beloved.

71 (I. 125)
SAMENESS HATH NO PAIN

To whom all things are one, to him all things are well, No matter though he lie deep in the pit of Hell.

72 (II. 134)
SAMENESS

The man who hath no fatherland, Who walks a stranger everywhere, Though he abide in Hell he'll find His darling country even there.

73 (II. 42)
NO HARM IN WHAT IS UNDERNEATH

Who sits above the mountain-tops And high above the clouds doth ride, Cares little when the lightnings flame And the loud-crashing thunders chide.

p. 123

74 (V. 136)
ALL IS ALIKE TO THE WISE MAN

All things are one to the Wise Man; He sitteth peacefully and still; Is his will thwarted, none the less All things befall as God doth will.

75 (V. 85)
WHO KNOWETH NAUGHT IS AT PEACE

Had Adam never plucked the Tree Of Knowledge and grown wise, He then had dwelt eternally At peace in Paradise.

76 (I. 85)
HOW GOD'S WORD IS HEARD

If thou wouldst hear the Eternal Word speak unto thee, First must thou wholly lose the hearing faculty.

77 (II. 8)
MAN LEARNETH BY BEING SILENT

Be silent, silent, dearest one, Only be silent utterly. Then far beyond thy farthest wish God will show goodness unto thee.

p. 124

78 (II. 19)
THE HIGHEST IS STILLNESS

Doing is good; far better prayer; But best of all if thou dost come Into the presence of the Lord With quiet footfall, still and dumb.

79 (V. 221)
THE DEAD HEAR NOT

The man who's dead unto himself Rests tranquil in his thought, Though all the world speak ill of him. How so?—Dead men hear naught.

80 (I. 134)
NOT PERFECTLY DEAD

If over this and that thou makest such a stir, Then art thou not yet laid with God in the sepulchre.

81 (II. 214)
WORKS HAVE LIKE WORTH

Have no distinctions. Angels would at God's behest As lief cart dung as play their harps or take their rest.

p. 125

82 (II. 152)
THE DIVINEST OF ALL

Naught more divine than this—whatever the event, In this world or the next, to be indifferent.

83 (VI. 191)
WORLD FORSAKEN, LITTLE FORSAKEN

The whole great World is naught. Little has thou resigned, Though thou hast banished all the World out of thy mind.

84 (VI. 142)
ON FORSAKING THE WORLD

Need oftentime determines deed; And thou dost leave the world, maybe, Thy heart foreboding that the world Which thou dost leave is leaving thee.