Synthesized answer
According to the text, worshiping God "stripped of all images" means approaching God "in spirit and in truth, in other words, by knowledge and love, that is, understanding and desire, stripped of all images" [1]. This requires a "mind free from imaginations, that is images, ideas and the representations of created things" [4]. One achieves this by entering one's "inner chamber" (the heart), closing the "door" of the senses, and being "disengaged and removed from everything else, and completely recollected within himself" [1]. The goal is for the mind to be "daily raised up from all bodily objects to spiritual things" until all mental activity becomes "one unbroken prayer" [5].
To illustrate this for a modern audience, one could use the metaphor of a cluttered desk. Normally, our minds are filled with "images, ideas and the representations of created things" [4]—like papers, photos, and gadgets on a desk. Worshiping "stripped of all images" is like clearing that desk completely, leaving only a single, focused intention toward God. Another metaphor is a radio receiver: mental constructs are like static or other stations interfering with a clear signal. By "excluding and wiping out"…
Synthesized from the book passages below. Chat with the book on Feynman for follow-up.
From the book
te a voluntary and counselled perfection by means of which one may arrive more quickly to the supreme goal which is God. The observation of these additional commitments excludes as well the things that hinder the working and fervour of love, and without which one can come to God, and these include the renunciation of all things, of both body and mind, exactly as one’s vow of profession entails. Since indeed the Lord God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth, in other words, by knowledge and love, that is, understanding and desire, stripped of all images.…
s can be done best when a man is disengaged and removed from everything else, and completely recollected within himself. There, in the presence of Jesus Christ, with everything, in general and individually, excluded and wiped out, the mind alone turns in security confidently to the Lord its God with its desire. In this way it pours itself forth into him in full sincerity with its whole heart and the yearning of its love, in the most inward part of all its faculties, and is plunged, enlarged, set on fire and dissolved into him.
and naked, shamefaced affection, with great yearning and determination, and in groaning of heart and sincerity of mind. Thus we commit and offer ourselves up to him freely, securely and nakedly, fully and in everything that is ours, holding nothing back to ourselves, in such a complete and final way, that the same is fulfilled in us as in our blessed father Isaac, who speaks of this very type of prayer, saying, Then we shall be one in God, and the Lord God will be all in all and alone in us when his own perfect love, with which he first loved us, will have become the disposition of our own…
← Chapter 9 On Cleaving to God by Albert the Great Chapter 10 Chapter 11 → 106255 On Cleaving to God — Chapter 10 Albert the Great That one should not be concerned about feeling tangible devotion so much as about cleaving to God with one’s will Furthermore you should not be much concerned about tangible devotion, the experience of sweetness or tears, but rather that you should be mentally united with God within yourself by a good will in your intellect. For what pleases God above everything is a mind free from imaginations, that is images, ideas and the representations of created things. It…
In other words we shall be united with him in such a way that whatever we hope, and whatever we say or pray will be God. This therefore should be the aim, this the concern and goal of a spiritual man - to be worthy to possess the image of future bliss in this corruptible body, and in a certain measure experience in advance how the foretaste of that heavenly bliss, eternal life and glory begins in this world. This, as I say, is the goal of all perfection, that his purified mind should be daily raised up from all bodily objects to spiritual things until all his mental activity and all his…
More questions about this book
- Albert the Great describes "cleaving freely, confidently, nakedly and firmly to God alone." How would you explain each of these adverbs, and what specific challenges or disciplines might be required to embody them in practice according to this text?
- The text presents two levels of commitment: observing commandments for salvation, and additional commitments for evangelical perfection in religious orders. How would you explain to someone unfamiliar with Christian theology the distinct purposes and practices of these two paths, and why one is described as leading "more quickly to the supreme goal"?
- The reference to Matthew 6:6, entering the "inner chamber" and "closing the door of your senses," is presented as a method for approaching God. How does this act of internal withdrawal facilitate the "abstraction from everything" and "recollection within himself" that Albert the Great emphasizes?
- The text suggests that "abstraction from everything" leads to "cleaving to God" with "yearning of love." How does detaching from worldly things, including renunciation of "both body and mind," paradoxically deepen one's capacity for love and sincerity towards the divine, rather than leading to an emptying of emotion?