In this tract Ruysbroeck inveighs against the chief errors and abuses of
his own times. The first, says Ruysbroeck, is love of ease and comfort,
indolence, the source of sensuality, and luxury, an abuse very prevalent
in monasteries and among the clergy. The second is hypocrisy, which,
under the cloak of a seeming austerity, claiming even visions and
ecstasies, conceals a corrupt interior and depraved morals. The third is
the desire to understand everything, to attain to the contemplation of
the divine nature by the sheer force of the intellect, without the
assistance of God's grace. The fourth and the most formidable is the
so-called _liberty of spirit_, the error and heresy of those who, casting
aside all interior effort, pretend to acquire contemplation by ludicrous
mortifications, by extravagant bodily posturing, and by a senseless
quietism. The third error is that of Eckart, and the fourth was proper to
the Brothers and Sisters of the Free Spirit. Ruysbroeck concludes his
tract with a discussion of the ways and means of avoiding these snares,
viz. by holiness of life, the practice of all the virtues, obedience to
superiors and the authority of the Church, and imitation of Jesus Christ.