It's been a while since I've read Julian of Norwich, but again I'm generally convinced that much of this text can be boiled to do this phrase: "Synne is behovabil, but al shal be wel, and al shal be wel, and al manner of thyng shal be wele" (938-939). In other words, be cool guys. Julian's text follows many of the characteristics of late medieval mystics, including the personal connection to Christ. This in particular stood out to me in this reading, with Julian's extended description of Christ's suffering and how this ties directly to her personal revelations. Furthermore, the language of love and protection from God and Christ takes on the language of physical proximity. In her metaphor of God's love physically surrounding us, for example, God's love ends up going deeper than clothing, skin, flesh, or even bone. God's love embraces us, Julian included, deeper than any mere physical presence, emphasizing an amazingly close connection to the mystic herself.
I find Julian, as she depicts herself in this text, to be an interesting figure. Her wish for sickness and wounds in order to better understand Christ are interesting, as is the manner in which she interprets her miraculous recovery. Of course, the bordering universal salvation components here are also intriguing. Julian's metaphor of the hazelnut stood out to me on this read through, as a single item of creation that, while small and seemingly insignificant, holds its own share of God's love. As God loves this hazelnut, according to Julian's logic, so too will he keep and not destroy that nut, suggesting a general sense that regardless of anything else God will look after even the smallest part of his creation, including us.
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