The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage

if one does not know his psychology In this context, "psychology" refers to the internal spiritual and emotional states of the soul as understood in mystical theology and has not delved deeply enough into Catholic dogmatics. A
translation that can be placed as an equal alongside
the original usually only emerges gradually.
Every new translator provides new building blocks for this.
Huebner did that too, and one must be grateful to him for
it. If Father Ruysbroeck The author affectionately refers to the 14th-century mystic Jan van Ruysbroeck as "Father" could read my translation,
he would probably also shake his head at times. ☽
In comparing the texts, I often had the opportunity to
appreciate Maeterlinck’s translation. He took every pain
to translate the text literally, and he often renders
Ruysbroeck’s thoughts more clearly and concisely.
However, I always missed the intimacy of the language of
the Blessed one original: "des Seligen"; referring to Ruysbroeck, who was beatified by the Church in 1908. French is clear but cold. I
know of no French writer who equals Ruysbroeck
in intimacy and warmth, unless it be
Saint Francis de Sales A 17th-century Saint and Doctor of the Church known for his "Introduction to the Devout Life", whose language is strongly
influenced by Italian. ☽ But how foolish
is Maeterlinck’s preface to his translation! How
wrongly he judges our Blessed one! He, a "drunken eagle,"
a "babbling child," a writer who knows no order
and no architectural structure? And Maeterlinck says
this after having translated The Adornment of the Spiritual
Marriage? The exact opposite is the case.
Who looks into the brightest light with steadier
eyes? Who else finds words where Ruysbroeck
clearly describes the deepest and most hidden things? Which
work is more beautifully structured than The Adornment of the Spiritual
Marriage? Lambert rightly compares the organization—