I have always seen this light, in my spirit and not with external eyes, and I name it ‘the cloud of the living light.’ But sometimes I behold within this light another light which I name ‘the living light itself.’

Hildegard of Bingen

The Living Light

Topic: Immanence & Transcendence

From my infancy up to the present time, I now being over seventy years of age, I have always seen this light, in my spirit and not with external eyes, and I name it ‘the cloud of the living light.’ But 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.

Hildegard of Bingen

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was a Benedictine abbess and mystic of medieval Germany. She was born into a noble family in Bermersheim vor der Höhe, Germany, and entered religious life at the age of eight. She received a rudimentary education, but at the age of forty-two, she began to experience a series of visions that would shape her life and work.

Hildegard described these visions as "the living light," and they were often accompanied by physical sensations such as heat, cold, and pain. She believed that these visions were a gift from God, and she felt called to share them with the world. She began to write down her visions, and she also composed music and poetry to express her spiritual insights.

Hildegard was a prolific writer, and her works cover a wide range of topics, including theology, natural science, medicine, and music. She is best known for her three volumes of visionary theology: Scivias, Liber Vitae Meritorum, and Liber Divinorum Operum. These works are rich in symbolism and imagery, and they offer a unique perspective on the nature of God, the human soul, and the world.

In addition to her writings, Hildegard was also a gifted musician and composer. She wrote over 70 songs, including the Ordo Virtutum, an early example of liturgical drama. Her music is characterized by its simple melodies and its use of plainchant.

Hildegard was a complex and multifaceted figure, and her work continues to inspire and challenge people today. She was a visionary, a mystic, a writer, a composer, a scientist, and a healer. She was also a woman of great courage and determination, and she used her gifts to make a difference in the world.

Hildegard of Bingen was a remarkable woman who left a lasting legacy. She was a pioneer in the fields of theology, natural science, and music, and her work continues to be studied and appreciated today. She was also a powerful voice for women's rights, and she challenged the patriarchal structures of her time. Hildegard of Bingen was a true visionary, and she continues to inspire us with her courage, her intellect, and her creativity.

(1098-1179) Christianity

Bingen, Hildegard of. [Ford-Grabowsky, Mary. Prayers for All People. Hildegard of Bingen. Doubleday, 1995].

Hildegard of Bingen

Theme: God Within—God Above

About This Hildegard of Bingen Quotation [Commentary]

Hildegard of Bingen’s description of the “cloud of the living light” and “the living light itself” reveals her deep spiritual vision of divine reality. For over seventy years, she experienced this presence not with physical sight but within her spirit. By naming the initial vision “the cloud of the living light,” she conveys the dynamic and mysterious nature of divine illumination—a presence that both reveals and conceals. Within this light, she discerns a more immediate encounter with “the living light itself,” reflecting an intimate union with God that transcends ordinary perception. Her vision highlights the interplay of God within and God above, emphasizing divine presence both near and transcendent.

The context passage enriches this understanding by showing the transformative nature of her vision. Hildegard recounts how beholding “the living light itself” dispels sadness and pain, renewing her spirit and making her as open and lighthearted as a maiden, despite her age. This renewal illustrates the divine’s power to heal and restore, offering glimpses of eternity amid the challenges of human life. Hildegard’s experience aligns with the mystic’s journey of surrender to the divine within, bringing harmony to the soul and connecting it to the greater reality of God. Her vision is personal and relational, affirming the transformative power of such an encounter.

Hildegard’s words echo contemplative traditions where the human soul reflects divine reality. She perceived God’s light as both an inner guiding presence and a source of renewal beyond, bridging the finite and the infinite. This duality—God within, God above—offers a vision of faith that embraces personal transformation and the vastness of divine mystery. Her mysticism calls us to look beyond the physical world and recognize the inner resonance connecting humanity with God and creation. Through her vision, Hildegard offers hope, renewal, and union with the divine.

Eknath Easwaran, Hildegard of Bingen

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was a Benedictine abbess and mystic of medieval Germany. After entering religious life at age eight and receiving a rudimentary education, she lived quietly, confiding her visions to one or two close companions. Then, at forty-two, she experienced an overpowering revelation which illumined the meaning of spiritual texts and enjoined her to record and explain her inner experience. Inspired works of theology, poetry, musical composition, painting, natural science, and public service flowed from her from then on. In a rare personal comment, she described the light she experienced continually within:

“From my infancy up to the present time, I now being over seventy years of age, I have always seen this light, in my spirit and not with external eyes, and I name it ‘the cloud of the living light.’ But 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.”

—Hildegard of Bingen, Vita Hildegard II.2, 71

—Eknath Easwaran, God Makes the Rivers to Flow, Nilgiri Press. [Ford-Grabowsky, Mary. Prayers for All People. Hildegard of Bingen. Doubleday, 1995].

Richard Rohr, Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias [Excerpted from his commentary]

Throughout the ages, the mystics have kept alive the awareness of our union with God and thus with everything. What some now call creation spirituality, deep salvation, or the holistic Gospel was voiced long ago by the Desert Fathers and Mothers, some Eastern Fathers, in the spirituality of the ancient Celts, by many of the Rhineland mystics, and surely by Francis of Assisi. Many women mystics were not even noticed, I am sorry to say.
Julian of Norwich (c. 1343-c. 1416) and Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) would be two major exceptions (though even they have often been overlooked).

Hildegard of Bingen communicated creation spirituality through music, art, poetry, medicine, gardening, and reflections on nature. She wrote in her famous book, Scivias: “You understand so little of what is around you because you do not use what is within you.” This is key to understanding Hildegard and is very similar to Teresa of Ávila’s view of the soul. Without using the word, Hildegard recognized that the human person is a microcosm with a natural affinity for or resonance with the macrocosm, which many of us would call God. Our little world reflects the big world. The key word here is resonance. Contemplative prayer allows your mind to resonate with what is visible and right in front of you.

—Adapted from Richard Rohr with John Feister, Hope Against Darkness: The Transforming Vision of Saint Francis in an Age of Anxiety (Franciscan Media:2001), 135; and unpublished “Rhine” talks (2015) [the Center for Action and Contemplation].

Visionary theology [Excerpt]

Hildegard’s most significant works were her three volumes of visionary theology: Scivias (“Know the Ways”, composed 1142–1151), Liber Vitae Meritorum (“Book of Life’s Merits” or “Book of the Rewards of Life”, composed 1158–1163); and Liber Divinorum Operum (“Book of Divine Works”, also known as De operatione Dei, “On God’s Activity”, composed 1163/4–1172 or 1174). In these volumes, the last of which was completed when she was well into her seventies, Hildegard first describes each vision, whose details are often strange and enigmatic, and then interprets their theological contents in the words of the “voice of the Living Light.”

—Wikipedia [Hildegard of Bingen].

Additional Hildegard of Bingen Quotes

“Humanity, take a good look at yourself. Inside, you’ve got heaven and earth, and all of creation. You’re a world—everything is hidden in you.”

——Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias.

“Divinity is in its omniscience and omnipotence like a wheel, a circle, a whole, that can neither be understood, nor divided, nor begun nor ended.”

—Hildegard of Bingen

“All the arts serving human desires and needs are derived from the breath that God sent into the human body.”

—Hildegard of Bingen

The Living Light

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