Gilbert of Hoyland
From Two Letters
Thinking about mass and energy
Wisdom herself says: 'Whoever eats me
will hunger for more, for my spirit is sweeter
than honey."
You, dear friend, have ample containers
for that honey: a sharp and well-trained intellect
and a wide knowledge of matters of great complexity. But these, in my opinion, are like
the cells of a honeycomb: capacious but still empty. Draw near, therefore, and receive
an inpouring; let your containers be filled! Their spate will come brimming over and pour
itself out again on us, who will rightly praise you in the words of the Canticle: 'Your lips
distil nectar.
' Ah! to hear you one day holding forth
in the Lord's house, expounding the veiled and
mystic meanings, attaining to and distilling for us with fine discernment something of the
essence of God's majesty, of his eternity, immensity, simplicity - simplicity in which is
nothing small, immensity that is not manifold, an essence wholly infinite, but not by being
dragged out in time nor by extension of its mass in space, but of its own intrinsic energy
and power. This essence is in its entirety both everywhere and in itself contained, there
being nothing in which the whole of its might, truth or will is expended or expressed.
There may be degrees we can discuss or distinctions that we name, but it itself is one
and indivisible. All things are to be wondered at, worthy of reverence, delightful to
explore. But at the last, as Scripture says, our eyes are not satisfied with seeing, nor our
ears with hearing.
Gladly will I listen to you prophesying
in this manner. And when, in your diligent search
for truth, you have plunged into the vast depths of this sea, I shall watch you sprinkle with
the refreshing dew of life-giving wisdom those inapt for a more generous wetting.
