1.

In the Cherubinic Wanderer, Angelus Silesius recounts the following verse:

God is an utter Nothingness
Beyond the touch of now and here:
The more you grasp after Him
The more he ees your embrace.

Here, he emphasizes that one cannot attain God as an Other. God is not some particular thing to which
we can direct our intellect. But his philosophy is not one in which God is utterly beyond; rather he claims
implicitly that God is so close, even so that he is not even outside of us but rather our wills merge,
whatever God is, so are you and me. His way of reaching God is not one that commands us to move
outside of us, rather it is in our core that we will nd God.
Then if it so, what makes him posit two different things that is God as the creator, who wills to create,
and the created; whose existence grants God his own existence? According to Silesius, can we reduce
one of these notions to the other. Given that God and beings are in one sense essentially connected and
mutually dependent on one another, explain why we still make a distinction between the two

2. Angelus Silesius asks you to “annul yourself”, in order to have more of the divine shine forth through
you (II.140). If one is able to free from its particularity, one will be more like God. It is as if he talks
about the duality present in every being: one part belonging to the contingencies and its particular
characteristics while the other part bearing the essence of God. Can you give other examples from the
text Cherubinic Wanderer, where he explains his way of union with God in which we melt what pertains
to us and become more Light-like? What is the way in which this is attained?

3. In the Iblis as Tragic Lover, after Iblis’ denial to bow down to rst human, Hallaj vocalizes Ibis with the
following remark: “… he unveiled me because of my union, made me one with him because of my
separation, cut me off because of the preclusion of my fate.” An alternative reading of the text is that it is
as if Iblis had to disobey God’s command, because his love was so genuine that what was required of
him was this speci c act, even if Iblis knew that it would cause their separation. Later, Hallaj praises
Iblis by his commitment to his proclamation and tells that he is one of his masters. Given that Iblis tells
later that even this choice is the choice of God (pg.278) what do you think Hallaj learns from Iblis? And
furthermore, how does this prior con ict (or the con ict like situation) affect the position of man and his
responsibilities to God and other creatures?


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