Preface.

...purified of sins. Others have thought to attain this through detachment original: "Abgescheidenheit," a central concept in German mysticism referring to a state of being "cut off" from worldly distractions and self-will to be open to God and solitude, by fleeing the company of other people, in the hope of thus preserving their heart in peace, so that they would be hindered by no one, nor be a hindrance to anyone themselves. Many have hoped to obtain it through the renunciation original: "Verzeyhung," here used in the sense of surrendering or releasing one's hold on the self of themselves and of their own will, and have even submitted themselves to the obedience of a superior, or to the compulsion of another. Not a few have sought it through rules and statutes, or through the three vows of the Holy Orders The traditional monastic vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience: likewise through external service to their neighbor, by attending to his necessities and lending a hand in poverty, sickness, or weakness: others through various other paths and ways