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Abstract
John of Ruusbroec’s analysis of the relationship of wesen and overwesen is decisive for his rethinking of the problem of the union with God, in a period in which mystical literature had become problematic as a result of the condemnation of a number of statements from Eckhart’s work. In his view, the overwesen is present in the wesen and the wesen is so completely in the overwesen—just as the air is in the light or the iron in the fire—that it appears to some mystics as though the simplicity of their being (sempelheit haers wesen) is God Himself. Nevertheless, wesen and overwesen are distinct (which implies that human autonomy is fully valorised in Ruusbroec’s conception), but this certainly need not lead to dualism. On the contrary, it concerns a mutual indwelling of love. And since it is an indwelling of love, it would be a highly unfortunate mistake to understand this to be a fusion. Thus, in Ruusbroec’s analysis, the union with God is neither dualism nor fusion.