People should not worry as much about what they do but rather about what they are. If they and their ways are good, then their deeds are radiant. If you are righteous, then what you do will also be righteous. We should not think that holiness is based on what we do but rather on what we are, for it is not our works which sanctify us but we who sanctify our works.
It is a fair trade and an equal exchange: to the extent that you depart from things, thus far, no more and no less, God enters into you with all that is his, as far as you have stripped yourself of yourself in all things. It is here that you should begin, whatever the cost, for it is here that you will find true peace, and nowhere else.
A person should not be satisfied with the thought of God, for when the thought passes, God passes as well. Rather one should have a God as essential being who is far more sublime than the thoughts of humans and other creatures. Such a God does not vanish unless a person deliberately turns away from Him.
Johannes Eckhart (1260-1328) was one of the greatest of Christian mystics. He was born at Hochheim in Thuringen, Germany, in 1260, and entered the Dominican order when he was 15. Later he occupied several high posts in the order in Germany. Eckhart also taught theology at the Universities of Paris and Cologne. By the standards of medieval Christianity, Eckhart was considered a heretic and got in trouble with the Catholic Church. He stressed the unity of God and the capacity of the individual soul to become one with God during life. He taught that the divine is present in each of us and that we can become one with God. His descriptions of God or the Divine are strikingly similar to those in Buddhism, Taoism, and other spiritual teachings. It is obvious that Eckhart was talking from experience, having attained union with the Divine himself.
Kommentar schreiben