From The Cloud upon the Sanctuary by Karl von Eckartshausen – Selection from Letter I, Part 1 of 3

Karl von Eckartshausen was a 16th-century German Catholic mystic, philosopher, and prolific author, interested in alchemy, metaphysics, natural sciences, and theosophy. His most recognizable work is titled “The Cloud upon the Sanctuary,” a book on Christian mysticism. Today we’ll read a passage from Karl von Eckartshausen’s book “The Cloud upon the Sanctuary,” Letter Ⅰ, on the importance of developing our interior spiritual faculty in order to really recognize our unity with God. “If only natural man, that is, sensuous man, would only learn to see that the source of his intelligence and the incentive of his will are only his individuality, he would then seek interiorly for a higher source, and he would thereby approach that which alone can give this true element, because it is wisdom in its essential substance. Jesus Christ is that Wisdom, Truth and Love. He, as Wisdom, is the Principle of reason, and the Source of the purest intelligence. As love, He is the Principle of morality, the true and pure incentive of the will. Love and Wisdom beget the Spirit of Truth, interior Light; this Light illuminates us and makes supernatural things objective to us.”