‘The light which I see is not located, but yet is more brilliant than the sun, nor can I examine its height, length or breadth and I name it ”the cloud of the living light.” And as sun, moon, and stars are reflected in water, so the writings, sayings, virtues and works of men shine in it before me…
sometimes I behold within this light another light which I name ”the Living Light itself.” And when I look upon it every sadness and pain vanishes from my memory, so that I am again as a simple maid and not as an old woman.’
Invested with this sense of ecstasy, burning with profound theophorous and philosophical signficance, Hildegard’s visions were instrumental in directing her toward a life of holiness and mysticism. They provide a unique example of the manner in which a physiological event, banal, hateful, or meaninglesss to the vast majority of people, can become in a privileged consciousness, the substrate of a supreme ecstatic inspiration…
