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Christian : Catholic
17th Century

About Angelus Silesius

Timeline (1624 - 1677)

Angelus Silesius, Angelus Silesius poetry, Christian, Christian poetry, Catholic poetry, [TRADITION SUB2] poetry,  poetry

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English version by
Stephen Mitchell

Original Language
German

God, whose love and joy

Commentary by
Ivan M. Granger

Themes
  Bliss
  Lover and Beloved
  Smile
 
 

 

Recommended Books

The Angelic Verses: From the Book of Angelus Silesius, Translated by Frederick Frank
Angelus Silesius, by Jeffrey L. Sammons
Angelus Silesius: The Cherubinic Wanderer (Classics of Western Spirituality), by Angelus Silesius / Translated by Maria Shrady
Angelus Silesius' Cherubinischer Wandersmann: A Modern Reading With Selected Translations (Renaissance and Baroque Studies and Texts), by Maria M. Bohm
The Book of Angelus Silesius, Translated by Frederick Frank

More >>

God, whose love and joy
     are present everywhere,
can't come to visit you
     unless you aren't there.

 

 

-- from The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, by Stephen Mitchell

Amazon.com

 

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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

This is a great koan-like couplet by Angelus Silesius.

This couplet has two statements of God's presence that cause the logical mind to do summersaults. First, God "can't come to visit you/ unless you aren't there." And, the second, we have to ask, how can God "whose love and joy / are present everywhere," "visit" anywhere since a visit implies God isn't already there?

Think for a moment what Angelus Silesius is saying in these few words. God "can't come to visit" unless "you," the ego, the me-self is no longer present. The ego identity, though normally assumed to be the fundamental sense of oneself, can, through spiritual practice and deep surrender, fall away. When there is no longer any "you" there, the radiant, loving, blissful presence of the Divine is perceived everywhere, even where "you" once were. This is what it means for God to "come to visit you"... but it won't happen "unless you aren't there"!


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Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.