The ''Book of the Nine Rocks'' is an anonymous 14th century German mystical text.

The ''Book of the Nine Rocks'' uses the metaphor of jumping from rock to rock to illustrate the

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

’s journey to

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

. Each rock represents a higher level of

spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...

and each is more difficult to reach. While most men do not escape

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...

’s snares and fall back into worldliness, the few who attain the highest rock transcend desire and self-will to realize their divine nature and become

one with God 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

Authorship

Uncertainly attributed to

Rulman Merswin Rulman Merswin (c. 1307 - 1382) was a German mystic, leader for a time of the Friends of God. Life Born into an important family in Strasbourg, at the time a free city of the Holy Roman Empire, Rulman Merswin became a banker and amassed a large fo ...

,Mystical Writings of Rulman Merswin: The Four Beginning Years and the Book of the Nine Rocks, Whitefish, MT, USA:Kessinger Publishing, 2004 who was associated with the

Friends of God The Friends of God (German: Gottesfreunde; or gotesvriunde) was a medieval mystical group of both ecclesiastical and lay persons within the Catholic Church (though it nearly became a separate sect) and a center of German mysticism. It was founde ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Book Of The Nine Rocks 14th-century Christian texts Visionary literature Mystics Christian mystics History of Christianity in Germany History of mystic traditions

Contents

Authorship

See also

References