Reason serves as the initial guide; then love takes the soul into the bridal chamber; but once there the soul can only await her lover in hope. What Hadewijch is describing has much in common with Neoplatonic theories of knowledge, especially those of a Christian variety, which tended to depict God coming to the soul rather than the soul ascending under its own power. Hadewijch also has a metaphysical theory to back up this theory of knowledge. She believes that our souls were created eternally in God as divine exemplars and that mystical vision (or part of it) is coming to behold one’s true,
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