Also in this He shewed a littil thing the quantitye of an hesil nutt [the quantity of a hazel nut] in the palme of my hand, and it was as round as a balle. I lokid there upon with eye of my understondyng and thowte [thought], What may this be? And it was generally answered thus: It is all that is made. I mervellid [marveled] how it might lesten [last], for methowte it might suddenly have fallen to nowte [naught] for littil [littleness] . And I was answered in my understondyng [understanding], It lesteth [lasts] and ever shall, for God loveth it; and so all thing hath the being be the love of God.In this littil thing I saw three properties: the first is that God made it, the second is that God loveth it, the third, that God kepith it.
Over the last few chapters I've pointed out how Julian's spirituality is connected to Christ's "dearworthy" Passion. And how this can be off putting to contemporary and progressive readers. But here in Chapter 5 we encounter one of those visions that has made Julian so famous and beloved.
In popular iconography of the vision, a literal hazel nut is depicted. But what Julian sees is something that is "the quantity of a hazel nut." This was a unit of measure at the time. So the object Julian sees is a bit unclear. One could imagine the earth shrunk down to the size of a hazel nut, like a blue-white marble, sitting in the palm of your hand. But the voice in the vision says, "It is all that is made." The entire cosmos. So perhaps we should imagine a black marble flecked with pinpricks of light from all the galaxies floating within it.
What strikes Julian is the littleness of the thing. A littleness that creates a sense of ontological precarity and existential panic. "Methought," Julian says, "it might suddenly have fallen into nothingness because of its littleness." How can such a little thing exist and continue in being? It's so small it teeters on the edge of nothingness.
The answer comes: "It lasts, and ever shall, for God loves it."
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