The Quarterly Journal of Esoterics, Gnosis, Christian Mysticism and Philosophy is a peer-reviewed academic journal devoted to the transdisciplinary study of Western esoteric traditions, including alchemy, astrology, and Gnosticism. The journal features poems by Barry McDonald, who contributes “Gnosis” and “Kali” from his volume of poems, The Eagle’s Flight. The journal also discusses the Gnostic sects, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Judas, Mary Magdalene, heresy, the origins of Gnosticism, and the original teachings of Jesus.
Christian mysticism consists of Jesus’ teachings about the mystical nature of the person, the mystical process within the person, and the relationship of the personal. In academia today, historians and philosophers studying mysticism have almost universally abandoned the idea of any transcultural approach. The ESOTERICA Library provides a curated list of essential, accessible, scholarly, and fundamental texts for the study of Western Esoterica up to the present.
Esotericism and mysticism are two notoriously elusive concepts, both based on referential corpora of works that are so internally diverse as to defy any orthodox framings. Gnosticism is very different from orthodox Christianity, with a definition of mysticism needing to encompass a range of empirical cases that include medieval Christian visionaries, Sufis, and Hindu gurus.
The volume is broken down into three sections that correspond with different classifications of religion in the margins: gnosticism, with its roots in gnosis, and gnosis/Gnostic spirituality.
📹 Meister Eckhart & Christian Mysticism
Meister Eckhart is an influential, and often surprising, Christian theologian/philosopher/mystics whose writings & sermons have …
Are the Gnostics Christian?
Gnosticism and Christianity both espouse the belief in a supreme creator deity; however, the Gnostics additionally postulate the existence of multiple divine entities, including a benevolent, transcendent deity and an inferior creator deity who is responsible for the creation of the material universe.
Do Christian mystics believe in Jesus?
Christian mystics have traditionally viewed Christ, particularly the crucified Christ, as the model for the process of returning the soul to God. According to Theologia Germanica, Christ’s human nature was utterly bereft of self and separate from all creatures, making him nothing more than a “house and habitation of God”. Christian mysticism involves three stages: the gradual integration of the ego through prayer and asceticism, a transcendent revelation of God to the soul, often involving ecstatic contact or union, and a readjustment of the soul’s faculties, where it regains contact with creatures under the influence of God.
The mystics agree on the necessity of dying to the false self dominated by forgetfulness of God, which involves purifying the soul of all feelings, desires, and attitudes that separate it from God. This dying to the self implies the “dark night of the soul”, where God gradually and sometimes painfully purifies the soul to prepare it for divine manifestation.
Following Christ involves a dying to self, giving up oneself wholly to God, so that one may be possessed by divine Love. Some believe that purifying the self is more a matter of internal attitude than flight from the world and external penance. William Law emphasizes that the true way of dying to self is patience, humility, and resignation to God, rather than cells, monasteries, or pilgrimages.
Who are the most famous mystics?
Christian mysticism, a term used to describe the development of mystical practices and theories within Christianity, has been closely linked to mystical theology, particularly in Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions. It involves various practices, such as ecstatic visions of the soul’s mystical union with God and prayerful contemplation of Holy Scripture. Mystics’ experiences are often framed within theological approaches to God, such as Quietism and Pietism. This list includes philosophers, theologians, anonymous theological books, religious groups, and movements who have influenced Christian mystics and the Christian mystical experience.
Do Gnostic Christians still exist?
Since World War II, several Gnostic ecclesiastical bodies have been established or re-founded, including the Ecclesia Gnostica, Johannite Church, Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica, Ecclesia Gnostica Mysterioum, Thomasine Church, Alexandrian Gnostic Church, Ecclesia Gnostica Apostolica, Gnostic Catholic Union, Ecclesia Valentinaris Antiqua, and the North American College of Gnostic Bishops. Source materials for these bodies were discovered in the 18th century, with the Bruce Codex brought to England in 1769 and the Askew Codex purchased by the British Museum in 1785.
The Pistis Sophia text and Latin translation of the Askew Codex were published in 1851. The Coptic Berlin Codex, also known as the Akhmim Codex, was not rediscovered until the 20th century. Charles William King, a British writer and collector of ancient gemstones with magical inscriptions, sold his collection due to his failing eyesight and presented it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1881.
Is mystic in the Bible?
Christ-mysticism, a concept in Christian tradition, refers to the sense of contact with the divine or transcendent, often involving union with God. It has played a significant role in the history of Christian religion and continues to influence modern times. Mysticism has been studied from various perspectives, including psychological, comparativist, philosophical, and theological. Hermeneutical and deconstructionist philosophies in the 20th century have brought attention to the mystical text.
Theoretical questions have been debated, such as whether mysticism constitutes the core or essence of personal religion or whether it is better viewed as one element interacting with others in the formation of concrete religions. Philosophers like Walter T. Stace and Robert C. Zaehner have employed typologies of mysticism, often based on the contrast between introvertive and extrovertive mysticism developed by Rudolf Otto.
The cognitive status of mystical knowing and its clash with mystics’ claims about the ineffability of their experiences have also been topics of interest for modern students of mysticism. Notable investigations of mystical knowing include those of Belgian Jesuit Joseph Maréchal and French philosophers Henri Bergson and Jacques Maritain.
What are the three stages of Christian mysticism?
Two authors, contemporary mystics and scholars, delineate the three principal stages of mystical life: the purgative, the illuminative, and the unitive. For further information, please refer to Fr. Spitzer’s article on Christian mysticism, accessible via the following link.
Did Jesus practice mysticism?
Jesus was a teacher of teachers and a mystic of mystics, entering the mysteries of the Holy Life and ways of living. He invited others to join him in his journey. The term “mystic” can be associated with various mystics, such as Krisha, Buddha, yogi, Gandhi, Saint Teresa of Avila, and St. John of the Cross. Matthew Fox, a progressive theologian and Dominican priest, devotes an entire book, “The Coming of the Cosmic Christ”, to the mysticism of Jesus. Jesus’ teachings and teachings were deeply rooted in the teachings of his disciples, who were inspired by his teachings and the teachings of his disciples.
Do Gnostics believe Jesus is God?
Gnostic writings emerged among certain Christian groups in the Mediterranean world around the second century, but were denounced as heresy by the Fathers of the early Church. Early Gnostic teachers, such as Valentinus, saw their beliefs as aligned with Christianity, with Christ seen as a divine being who has taken human form to lead humanity back to recognition of its divine nature. Gnosticism is not a single standardized system, and its emphasis on direct experience allows for a wide variety of teachings, including distinct currents such as Valentinianism and Sethianism.
For centuries, most scholarly knowledge about Gnosticism was limited to the anti-heretical writings of early Christian figures such as Irenaeus of Lyons and Hippolytus of Rome. However, there was a renewed interest in Gnosticism after the 1945 discovery of Egypt’s Nag Hammadi library, a collection of rare early Christian and Gnostic texts, including the Gospel of Thomas and the Apocryphon of John. Elaine Pagels noted the influence of sources from Hellenistic Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and Platonism on the Nag Hammadi texts.
Since the 1990s, the category of “Gnosticism” has come under increasing scrutiny from scholars, questioning whether it should be considered one form of early Christianity, an interreligious phenomenon, or an independent religion. Gnosis, a feminine Greek noun meaning “knowledge” or “awareness”, is often used for personal knowledge compared to intellectual knowledge.
Is stoicism anti-Christian?
Stoicism and Christianity share many ethical teachings that can be harmoniously integrated, making it possible to draw inspiration from both and create a personal belief system that encompasses the values of each. Navigating the intersections of philosophy and faith can lead to intriguing intersections. However, it is challenging to truly walk the Stoic path of reflection and self-discipline while holding firm to the Christian faith. This question was answered by Ryan Holiday’s “The Daily Stoic” while practicing Christianity.
Is Gnosticism Christian mysticism?
Mysticism represents an advanced form of prayer that cannot be learned independently. It is a gift from God that draws one into union with the divine while still alive. Gnosticism, a heretical doctrine that originated prior to the advent of Christ, espoused the conviction that attaining “secret knowledge” would facilitate salvation.
What are the 4 aspects of mysticism?
The mystical phenomenology is distinguished by a set of characteristics, including ineffability, a mystical quality, transiency, and passivity. James posits that this latter quality represents the most challenging aspect to convey in verbal form.
📹 Mysticism – Hadewijch – The Theology and Writings of the Beguine Mystic of Loving the Divine Abyss
God is an Abyss of Love only ultimately discovered through Insanity, Abjection and Radical Un-Faith – This is the startling mystical …
Absolutely incredible thinking from Meister Eckhart, perhaps the greatest of the Christian mystics. I fear most Christians generally do have a very shallow understanding of Christianity themselves and Eckhart and Marguerite Porete offer a dimension of Christian experience most churches would shun. Richard Smoley’s book “Inner Christianity” is a great read on Christian mysticism. Indeed a lot of similarities to Śūnyatā and Vedānta, my Buddhism professor wrote his dissertation on Meister Eckhart! Thank you for this article Filip as we celebrate the birth of the Word in us. Merry Christmas!
Very interesting to recognize Eckhart’s orthodoxy despite all controversy. Reading his expositions on theology and the transcendent nature of reality is basically reading the Holy Fathers of the Church with a German taste; at the same time, when he talks about the birth of the Word in the soul, it is very similar to what Saint Bernard of Clairvaux had to about it in his sermons on Advent about a century earlier. When you mention what Eckhart says on detachment, for example, it is very similar to what Bernard says about the Holy Virgin, that (not only was she obviously detached from all things unholy and disgraceful, but also) despite being honoured above all saints and angels, she remains the most humble, making herself nothing but the handmaid of the Lord (being thus detached from all things joyful and honourable as well, as one should be, offering it all to God) (and there is nothing more Orthodox than the Fathers of the Church and Saint Bernard, one of the most revered saints ever). It is all also very similar to the Eastern Orthodox doctrines of hesychasm, and what we can find in the west in such works as the Cloud of Unknowing.
This is so refreshing. As a priest, I spend most of my time preaching this exact message. Trying to make people understand that most people’s understanding of Christianity today, is based on folk religion and not Christianity. Eckhart is a great hero of mine, and ironically is one of those ‘I’m more spiritual than religious’, many centuries ago. His use of ‘ground’ or ‘earth’ is a physical sciences terminology which translates perfectly to philosophy and spirituality. The earth of an electrical circuit is a good analogy.
I’ve barely started the article but your comments about the “man in the sky” stuff was interesting. I’m an atheist and I’ve heard other atheists make that argument and it’s not a very good one. It patronizes people and puts them off whatever you have to say. It also forestalls any exploration of religious history or culture or thought.
For quite a few years now, I have been thinking about so many philosophical ideas. I am from Germany, but I have never heard about Meister Eckhart anywhere up until now, since this article was recommended under a article. I am really happy that I stumbled upon this article. On October 6th 2021 I had a near death experience. I told my local pastor, that what I experienced was very much out of this universe. While I was gone, time, space and matter were absent and no light nor darkness existed. I had no sense of self nor any emotions and I was not thinking about anything. The only thing I felt was the intense feeling of completeness and peace without any will nor thought. There was no X, Y or Z axis, no past, present or future, no material things, no thoughts and no emotions. The only thing that was there was an eternal nonexistence and it was, what I would now describe as, eternal peace beyond any time, space and matter. To my pastor it was very confusing and so was it to me. I still can’t explain to myself what happened in the night from October 6th to October 7th in 2021. The only thing I know, is that experience or feeling did not feel like any mortal feeling from this plane of existence. When I came back to myself in the hospital, it felt that the next three hours were like 5 minutes and I was regaining a sense of space, time and matter, since I also did not feel my body and I could not move any part of my body. The three hours after I came back to myself felt like I was slowly regaining a feeling of self concious.
Thank you for explaining Eckhart’s beliefs and also providing the historical context of his contemporaries, especially the fate of Marguerite Porete. It really brings home how his exploration of the deeper meaning of Christian theology required a huge risk to his physical safety, even for a man of his position. One tattletale monk might have triggered a heresy trial at any moment! I really look forward to seeing more of your articles. This one was extremely well-done.
Thanks for this article! As a Christ-centered Quaker myself, I regularly find myself shocked at how narrow peoples’ perception of Christianity often is. Even when talking to people with a full understanding of how diverse Islam or Buddhism or any other religion is, I will often find that these same individuals have a blind spot where they view Christianity as a universally oppressive monolith. I have had more atheists tell me I’m “not a real Christian” when I explain Quaker theology to them than Evangelicals, by far. I think some of this has to do with the way that Christianity is presented to them, so I very much appreciate when people try to talk about the diversity of thought actually present in this religion.
Did not expect that I’d watch a 45 minute article about a Christian mystic today. Awesome article, man. I can tell you put a lot of work into this. I’m certainly one of those people who tend to dismiss Christian philosophy and romanticize exotic schools of thought. I’ve never heard anything like Eckhart’s conception of the ‘ground’ and how god and existence flow from and into it. Furthermore, the idea of annihilating everything that separates you from god and the ‘In quanum principle’ has obvious parallels to non-dual/Buddhist thinking about dissociating from the ego. I’m going to be checking out some more of your articles for sure.
An excellent talk, and very appropriate for Christmas Day. My own favourite statement of Eckhart is, ‘The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me’. My own spiritual practice is rooted in Theravada Buddhism – as was that of Maurice Walsh, one of Eckhart’s major translators. As for paradoxes, every word we speak or write is divisive – it immediately splits the world into that which the word defines, and everything else. In which case, any attempt to speak about Oneness is, by definition, doomed to failure. Perhaps the only way past this problem is to view words as provocations to direct experience, rather than mere descriptions. ‘The map is not the territory’, etc. But that statement has its own inbuilt difficulties, of course…
“Porete’s vision of the Soul in ecstatic union with God, moving in a state of perpetual joy and peace, is a repetition of the Catholic doctrine of the Beatific Vision, albeit experienced in this life and not in the next. Where Porete ran into trouble with some authorities was in her description of the Soul in this state being above the worldly dialectic of conventional morality and the teachings and control of the earthly church. Porete argues that the Soul in such a sublime state is above the demands of ordinary virtue, not because virtue is not needed but because in its state of union with God virtue becomes automatic. As God can do no evil and cannot sin, the exalted/Annihilated soul, in perfect union with Him, no longer is capable of evil or sin. Church authorities viewed the concept that someone was above the demands of ordinary virtue as amoral.”
If Meister Eckhart’s philosophies are complex and Intellectually stimulating and remain a model upon which we may understand the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament in a different light perhaps, then I find that Eckhart’s ideas help me to integrate Paul Tillich’s discussion of The Eternal Now and the Ground of Being with Scripture in a more understandable way, provided that Eckhart’s statements about The Eternal Now and the Grunt have anything in common with how or where Tillich derived these two concepts. But, if Eckhart’s complex ideas and metaphors are stimulating and inspiring to me, I know that it is because this article in particular is one of the most well put together ones that I have ever watched! This article succeeds in summarizing every angle of Eckhart’s thought, and where other articles fade at the end, leaving me empty, this article leaves me very grateful.The narrator, here, is so very articulate and clear in describing the contours of Meister Eckhart’s paradoxical, metaphysical sermons and writings. This article itself is so very inspiring and that is the narrator’s achievement. This is an awesome article!
Loved this article. Long ago I read some of Eckhart when I was studying Middle High German. What a great mind. I do wonder though about your point that Christianity has a breadth that seems unknown to people who say they are spiritual but not religious. In my reading I’ve seen that breadth as well. But a religion isn’t just ideas, it is also a source of community for its members. I may resonate with Meister Eckhart’s ideas profoundly but that doesn’t mean I can find a church community in Central Ohio that is accepting of those beliefs. The last time I went search for a Christian church I was completely discouraged because the ministers were at pains to lay out what one absolutely had to believe in order to be part of their community. I did finally find a church in a college town some 40 miles from my home and attended regularly until that minister left and was replaced by someone far more dogmatic. At least for me, saying I’m spiritual and not religious is a way to say I’ve given up on trying to fit into the church communities in my area. Meister Eckhart himself would be considered blasphemous in all of them. On the other hand, finding a community within local Buddhist groups has been perhaps note easy but far easier than within Christian churches.
Good job of laying out Meister Eckhart’s philosophy. Combine that with Teresa of Avila’s (Inner World=Meditation) and Brother Lawrence’s (mindfulness between meditations) instructions of ‘how’ and a person has the cream of what the Christian/Catholic traditions have to offer. Suggest that you put out articles on these also.
I would like to point out that it is erroneous to conclude that when mystics’ writings or commentary overlap it is the result of borrowing or influence one by another. Instead, it is the result independent realization. That is, they each realize the same Truth but it is the limit of their language and human cultural influences that result in somewhat different description of the same thing. I would like to point out further, that realization does not (or may not) occur at once and therefore is not absolute. Instead, realization occurs (or may occur) by degrees and is dependent on the individuals physical and mental well-being. That is, the individual’s readiness and ability to receive the realization. This too can lead to variations in the individuals perception of the realization and how the individual records it.
This is a wonderful overview of his expressions and writings. Thank you! I cheered when I heard your statement about “I’m spiritual but not religious” and the trendy preference for “foreign” religions having very much to do with a shallow knowledge of both. I tremendously enjoy the depth of your content. It is a blessing.
Yes! As someone who was raised Catholic but always valued the mystical aspect (even though I only vaguely knew of it for most of my upbringing) your intro hits home. On one hand I associate with a lot of materialist political types, who scoff when they see religious or mystical texts on my bookshelf. On the other hand I associate with new agey hippy types, who do Yoga and try and integrate eastern philosophy into thier western lives, who scoff when they see my rosary beads and think nothing of making a mala an expression of vanity. And unfortunately there are some who identify as Christian who believe in the anthropomorphic god. I used to work with a Pentecostal Christian from Brazil, and our religious debates took a pause when that point of disagreement came out. Thanks for this!
Excellent article, but although condemned at the time due to a Francsican led Inquisition which saw conflict with his Dominican Order, he has been redeemed in the 20th century and numerous Pope’s have verified his Catholic orthodoxy through the consistent work of the Dominican Order. It is important to note, the man who most compounded on his works, Blessed Henry Suso, who was beatified, is a very well respected theologian with no questions about his orthodoxy.
Prior to the comparison between Elkhart and the ‘ Unity of Being ‘ I was thinking that if you took out the name Elkhart the philosophy was expressing pure advaita Vedanta particularly as expressed by Sri Ramana Maharshi . It is natural to think that this or that mystic was influenced by a particular philosophical tradition, but ultimately they will be influenced by their direct experience of the Truth . The fact that this direct experience of Truth is so typically similar is proof of the Verity of that Truth . ✝️🕊️🕉️
Fantisimo ⚠️ You are a natural theologian my friend, very informative and even enlightening. A good parallel to the “grunt” is the taoist philosophy of the nature of the two also most ideas of Islam and that God is beyond all identification and interpretation but has also a creative aspect or living reality that is self evident by attributes or qualities.
Hi Philip, I’ve watched your whole article here on Meister Eckhard, and found interesting information. What I’m missing, is a talk about his mystical experiences. When someone takes the time to explain some of his mystical experiences, I can only be in awe. He did not just write about theory, he lived it, he practiced it, he manifested a mystical life. His experiences, as he manifested them in his life, prove his theories.
I’m not qualified to speak on any of this. However, I find it remarkable how some of Eckhart’s ideas can be interpreted in terms of Einstein’s ideas of time and space, current ideas on consciousness and Roberto Kastrup’s proposition that consciousness is the fundamental basis of everything. Much of the talk here could possibly be interpreted as god and spirit (my lack of qualifications becoming obvious) or whatever being pure consciousness. In any case, believers in god don’t find idealist philosophy so difficult to accept!
Wonderful episode. Thank you very much. It is true that his unmanifest “Ground” can be found in most mystical traditions (The “Ayn” of Qabalah, “Parabrahman” in Vedanta, Dharmakaya for Dzogchen, etc.), but that doesn´t diminish the tremendous strength and conviction of his words, especially when he had a more rigid environment than the one surrounding the mystics of those other traditions.
As regards the ethical teaching of Eckhart,there’s a modern variant on his teachings:Quakers. It’s believed that the closer you are to the Inner Light of God the more your active life will reflect what the Inner Light has brought to you. In other words,an active mysticism.When you begin to explore Christian sects and denominations,at some point take a look. You’ll be surprised at how this little group has molded much of the modern point of view
On top of the insight and careful explanation, I deeply appreciate your minimalist presentation. It can feel so uninspired and distracting for articles of this type to be overloaded with atmospheric music and dramatic documentary footage. Clear audio with a good mic, basic stock footage of tranquil scenes, historical artworks, diagrams and quotes on screen is perfect.
16:57 this is not Marguerite Porete but the Virgin Annunciate by Antonello da Messina, also called Annunciata di Palermo. The painting portrays the Blessed Virgin Mary, that kind of bright blue was very precious at the time and only used for the veil of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Anyway, very good article.
While Augustine was the consummate mythical Christian philosopher, and Thomas Aquinas was the Christian philosopher of the rational age, Eckhart will soon take his deserved seat as the Christian philosopher of the Age of Integration. The more Christians realize non-duality for ourselves, the more salient Eckhart will become. Soon will come an “Eckhartian Dawn” in Christendom when his Advaita will reign as the supreme Gospel, not only for Christians, but for the oikoumene as a whole. The only reason that Aquinas, rather than Eckhart, became the consummate philosopher of the West is that the majority of minds in the High Middle Ages still registered a mostly mythical-rational experience of reality. Now that we are moving into the Integral Age, Meister Eckhart and his non-duality will gradually eclipse the hyper-rationalizations of scholasticism. This is the dawning of the Age of Eckhart!
The history of deep misticism and turbulations and prosecutions which were experienced by its messengers show that the concept of separate self is most violent and aggressive ideology . And it’s ruthless grip on the human culture and human minds remains main source of all misery . Equally in the particular individual cases and all over the world too.
I love the link between his inner divineness and then going into the world to live that. We don’t choose to do good because of a rule; we do good because that is what we do, which is why perhaps Jesus said to do good without boasting about it. I don’t think I am expressing myself clearly, but I think I do understand and internalize so much of his teachings, and like many here, have been doing it without knowing Meister Eckhardt’s teachings outwardly. Thank you for a really lovely teaching! Very clear and lyrical!
Eckhart’s philosophy is really inspirational and there is a lot to be learned from it’s message. It appears to me as asking questions that exist outside of the boundaries of established religions. In a sense it is much more akin to my personal philosophy than more biblical christianity could ever be. Thank you for making this article that approaches the topic with such care to detail.
I never read Meister Eckhart book, but many of his ideas are already present and familiar to me from Buddhism especially in the works of Kyoto School Philosophy and Buddhist Mindfulness meditation. I also find similarity with Heidegger Philosophy of Being as groundless ground and later works of A.N. Whitehead, The Function of Reason, emanates from emptiness becomes actuality and then returns to emptiness. The idea of Oneness is similar to Advaita Vedanta. I had experience with mystical idea of Eckhart that when we detach from ourselves we only see allthings good and do goodness without our own will command us to do it. I reached this experience after practicing Buddhist Mindfulness Meditation. But experience like this doesn’t last forever when I quit to practice meditation. I guess, meditation can alter our brain structure, in my case my meditation practice was not enough to alter my brain. So the experience didn’t last long. Btw, I’m protestant by tradition from Indonesia. I find many mystical idea have similarity between them.
Excellent article. Eckhart is an extremely interesting figure in Christian intellectual history. He was a significant influence on Hegel. I agree that there is a shallow tendency to romanticize supposed “eastern” religions while disparaging Christianity, but that line of demarcation has started to shift more recently. Yes, between the 1960’s and the 1990’s, the world was full of pseudo-spiritual, narcissistic bourgeois airheads who went off to India looking for “sadhus.” They had no self-awareness – they didn’t have any clue that they were simply propagating an orientalist discourse – the “eastern holy man” trope. But more recently, this has also begun to happen within some variants of Christianity, particularly within Orthodox Christianity. You know just how fashion-conscious the bourgeoisie are. “Green is the new blue,” etc, etc…. Well, for shallow western bourgeois spiritual tourists, Russia is the new India. India isn’t cool anymore. Lifestyle-Buddhism is so oversold, so Eastern Orthodoxy is the new “cool” religion. And this has recently started producing a self-orientalizing, self-romanticizing religious discourse inside Russia itself. 5 or 6 years ago, most of the practising Russian Orthodox Christians I knew sounded like well read, intellectually stimulating people, but their discourse has recently started to take a dark turn. They’re increasingly laying on the mysticism super-thick, trying so hard to show just how non-rationalist and non-western they are, striking the “crazy Russian” pose in front of the mirror.
Thank you so much for this article. It is very revealing and thought provoking. One thing that I was continuously confronted with by what you had to say is how close to gnosticism Meister Eckhart wanders. But just when you are about to say “gnostic heretic” he pulls back, affirms the world, says that Jesus lets us know the world as logos and he affirms himself as a Christian. In saying this there does seem a tension between gnostic tendencies and more orthodox accounts of Christ as logos. Jesus himself says, and I paraphrase, “You will know the Father through me and only through me will you know the Father”. Yet Eckhart seems to suggest that you will never know the Father which is more Jewish/gnostic and the negative theology of Maimonides. A lot to think about and you’ve certainly motivated me to dig deeper. Whenever I hear this kind of exploration of theological matters, I just think how important it is and how shallowly most people think, or better don’t think, about these matters. I wonder if everyone is ready to be introduced into these kinds of works and they should no longer remain the domain of those who dedicate their lives to such matters. As you suggest, Christianity might be more respected if this was the case. Thanks again.
Great episode – but they are always great. Speaking of ‘Eastern’ or ‘alternative’ religions, perhaps a future topic could be on ‘New Age’ religions, especially in the U.S. Most (virtually all) people are under the mistaken impression that the ‘New Age’ began in the 1960s/70s. The New Age was the Religious Enlightenment of the 1840s in the midwest. That’s when Universalism and Unitarianism got their start, as did Mary Baker Eddy’s Christian Science and later its offshoot, and my favorite, Religious Science. It seems that much of Eckhart’s ‘grunt’ was incorporated into the New Age religions, especially the ‘oneness’ with God or there being no separation from God. Being a chiropractic physician, I was immediately struck by the similarities, sometimes verbatim, that appear in texts on the philosophy behind the reasoning for chiropractic and the tenets of Religious Science. In the 1910s there was serious discussion within the profession about changing its focus to become a religion with a healing focus instead of a healing profession. This came as Christian Science practitioners had begun to obtain exemptions to the various State Medical Practice Acts.
I am deeply religious, but it is important for everyone to have the same definition of that word. My definition of religion is the continual quest to understand what is true. To understand the self, creation, and to know the creator. Dogma has tarnished the word, but dogma is largely man invention for differing purposes. Don’t let the vices of mankind stop your steps along your journey.
One thing that struck me when reading the Walshe translations was how “intellectually funny” his sermons were Humour is not something that survives well especially on the written page but his sermons often contain the two parts that make a joke first a narrative that leads thinking in one direction followed by a switch to a different direction often deeper and more profound. BTW did you know that Walshe, THE translator into English was a Buddhist and translated some of the Buddhist scriptures too.
Thank you for the amazing work! It is great to see that you drew attention to similarities between Eckhart and Ibn Arabi. As you may know, there is a great comparative work in this sense : Paths to Transcendence: According to Shankara, Ibn Arabi & Meister Eckhart (Spiritual Masters) by Reza Shah-Kazemi.
Well on your way on becoming Christian Bale. I appreciate your work. My introduction to Christianity was through Meister Eckhart and Evelyn Underhill, eventhough I am culturally Orthodox Christian. I believe there are some interesting views, like the works of St. Maximus the Confessor, in the body of orthodoxy.
Just came across your website, and I’d like to say thank you for being so calm reguarding a topic that is submit in those days to sometimes verry vivid debates. As someone who is interested in religions since just a few years, (especialy oriental/arabic/catholic/orthodox christianity), I would like to ask If you have come across René Girards theorys about mimetic desire, and if, how is he reguarded by today-scholars? (Here in france he is certainly know)
Hey don’t know if you do requests like this but could you do a vid on the Albigensians (Cathars)? And their connection to the Tarot? I know there’s not much info on them about (pope innocent I think launched a crusade against them and basically wiped them out) but I’ve read that they’re beliefs survive in the symbology of the Tarot and it’s a really interesting possibility, their beliefs seem to have had quite a bit in common with Gnostic teachings and they had some quite revolutionary ideas about gender amongst other things! I can’t see anyone on YouTube has really given them a look in, it’s surprising tbh I’m absolutely fascinated by them! Cheers anyway, hope everyone is having an alright day today!
What an excellent instructive inspiring talk on Meister Eckhart! Although I am a Christian I have studied the vedas and Upanishads and some Buddhist philosophy with extreme interest. Eckhart is experiencing the same truth and way surely. I would love to know if he had any thoughts on reincarnation. Wonderful! Thank you.
Thanks a lot, your articles are very well researched and produced. I’ve been waiting for a website like this and articles about thinkers like Meister Eckhart. Religion has many facets from which we can still learn today which is proven also in your representations of people like Meister Eckhart. Have you considered doing a article about the critique of religion by 19th-century philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach? He is often misunderstood and misrepresented, although his thoughts as a profound humanist thinker are of great significance for German and European history. I would love to see you do a article about him and his theory of religion.
Thank you very much for this amazing article as usual. Meister Eckhart is one of the most famous, interesting and great mystic spiritual masters and monks of the mystic and spiritual western tradition especially the medieval Catholic European tradition just like Teresa von Avila, Hildegard von Bingen, Saint Augustine, Franz von Assisi the spiritual mystic monk and master of the Catholic Franciscan Order, Saint Benedict the spiritual mystic monk and master of the Catholic Benedictine Order and so on. I wish you can make more articles about Christian especially European including western spirituality and mystic.
Another thoroughly researched and well-presented article. I admire your ability to address with equal enthusiasm such diverse people as Eckhart and Ibn Arabi for example, even drawing parallels. Very even-handed analysis. Great quality presentations. I’m a writer of a medieval fiction series that crosses similar boundaries including a Sufi Alchemist. It would be awesome to chat with you about my new manuscript which I’m engaged in writing now, that includes the Jinn. 🙂
Your lecture is just fantastic, I am so very, very grateful to you for this and all your articles. The research and your erudition is such a breath of fresh air in today’s discourse. Two additional thoughts are that while you mention his philosophical Aristotlean roots and similarities to Maimonides, and Porete, I tend to the notion that all the mystics had common experiences of God instead of a common philosophy or theology. One doesn’t just come up with these ideas out of thin air. They are much too profound and ineffable. Secondly, I’d like to add the specific path of Sri Ramana Maharshi and the path of self-questioning. The discussion of oneness reminds me of the great debate between oneness and duality that rages to this day in some sects of the Hindu tradition. As you mentioned, the Nothingness of Buddhism may, in fact be similar to what Meister Eckhart is referring. It also puts me in mind of the Zen flow where when one has transcended all the self and attachments and lives completely in The Way, the only “will” is the will of The Way. When tied to the Divine, whether through the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Compassionate Heart of the Buddha, the Fire of the Holy Spirit in the paths of the principle rather than personhood of God, the-goal is the same, forever Oneness with The Beloved. What a great lecture, thank you again for stimulating not only my soul and heart but my thinking mind as well. Keep up the great work!🙏
My parents were post-Christian agnostics, while I am a tantra practitioner and scholar. There are definitely beautiful and profound teachings in Abrahamic mysticism, but when I was recently talking to my mother about her spiritual life she told me that she has always felt more spiritually stimulated by nature than by church, and had issues with a religious system whose mythology and institutions are so patriarchal.
Thank you, I actually had a poor initial judgement of your website, I thought you were an exalter of exotic mysticism when in fact this article proves you are fair to Christianity. I’m an Orthodox Christian, it would be great to hear your take on Theosis, Hesychasm, desert fathers and eastern christian mysticism in general.
All mystic I hear echo the same unity of Brahman of vedant .how oldest philosophy of planet the vedant or upnishad of vedas has same echo in each religion of mystics .it’s means unity of all religion .that’s why we hindus belive that All religion are true because the founder of all religions are mystics .they experienced the brahman and became enlightened.vedas quote ekam Satya viprah bahuda vadanti .truth is one but the learner man speak in different names
Thank you for this. I have heard that there are records of “Ishua” a great spiritual leader/yogi from the west, having spent several years among the monasteries in Kashmir. I always wondered why the influence of these years was missing in Christianity.. Eckhart’s writings certainly places Christian mysticism in the center of all the major eastern philosophies.
Yes, and most of the Christians don’t understand Eckhart, because he goes beyong religion to spirituality. He s a great master, and have a much more deeper approach of God, Christ, Love and Reality than most of religious or preast who are most relogious because of fear, and power, not real Love. That why is was banished, like Spinoza – fromreligious conservative communities…
I had heard of Meister Eckhart from my favorite present-day spiritual teacher, Eckhart Tolle, who writes in his book The Power of Now that he changed his name to Eckhart after being inspired by his writings. I can now see why. I am Jewish and want to mention that it is also a common theme in the chassidic school of thought that the soul is literally one with G-d. I could translate Meister Eckhart’s work into Hebrew and it would easily pass for chassidus/Jewish mysticism (maybe I will…). Fascinating to see the core connections between the two. Many thanks
I grew up in the very holy bible belt adjacent, Florida. There were women who called themselves “Christian witchs” I dont recall much of their practice. It seemed very wicca-ish from what i do remember, Gerald Gardner n all. This was a southern baptist church and it was a hush hush topic. And this was an all white congregation. My Great grandmother grew a garden and made medicines from her herbs and roots and sticks but she was anti witch anything and is the reason i was shielded from the witchy women of the church.
I suspect that the possibility that many current day Christian’s ancestors were terrorized into the faith may still limit their exploration of the deeper aspects. Where Eckhart got is pan-religious and all religions point there. Don’t forget that by his day the Catholic Church was a multinational organization that wrote its own rules. They had destroyed much of the ‘Classical’ culture that they found unsuitable.
The Church accused Echart of being Pantheist but Panentheist would probably be a better description. So if a being is God insofar as he is good, it it not God if it is not good? If nothing is outside God then how can what is called evil be outside God. One explanation is that evil is only unharmonious action stemming from the the Individual’s Ego isolation from identification with it’s common source and as a result working against the harmony of the extensions of that common existence. Is free will separation and/or isolation from God? This is a fundamental question if nothing exists outside God, How can free will exist unless the individual soul, ego whatever term you like, which is an element of God and so God itself “forgets” that it is God. I’ve read a bit of Echart and he seemed to imply that each individual part is a necessary part of Gods own evolutionary growing into itself. So is “evil” or pain, of different sorts, separation and spiritual isolation from the knowledge of God, etc. necessary to refine gods goodness and growth? This tends to refute the assertion that God is all knowing and perfect in the commonly accepted sense I think Echart would have fared far worse had he not been German, Mechthild and Hildegard managed to live long lives in a a German Environment yet Porete was executed in a French one
If only I had come across these teaching 50 years ago I might not have spent so much time studying and practising in Eastern traditions only to find that the precise same terms and idea are expressed within Eckhart. However, as I see it, there is still a major problem. Eckhart’s mysticism is still not taught in main stream Christianity and it is still rare to come across ways in which this can be learnt. Admittedly this is changing with the advent of the internet but I would still find it difficult to learn about these teachings within the West. Much easier to turn to the East where such ideas are the heart of Buddhism, Taoism and Advaita. The need for an experienced teacher is paramount and the only ones I have ever come across do not fall under the label of Christians.
Really, it sounds like something that I’ve studied in seminary (Catholic), in some of the pretheology and philosophy courses. It’s an incredibly simple statement, but very complex and it’s particularly in context with God’s relation to time. To God, there is no past, present, or future. There is no before or after. God exists in what’s called the eternal now, which is outside of time. He just simply is. Now, while a lot of that is influenced by Aquinas, I think it echoes also in Meister Eckhart’s work in which God simply is and we are in so far as we participate in that isness.
Europeans Have a “shallow understanding of the Christian tradition and romanticize the Eastern traditions.” With good reason, I would say. The few real mystics of Christian traditions, like Marguerite Paret and Mister Eckhart were squelched by the church, through execution or inquisition. What is left is a skeleton of bleached bones. Listen to Eckhart’s description of the highest state of mystical revelation: “Between that person and God there is no distinction. Their knowing is one with God’s knowing…Their activity with God’s activity.” It is a perfect description of Nirvakalpa Samadhi, the absolute union of the individual consciousness with the Divine Consciousness, experienced rarely by Westerners such as Plotinus and Eckhart, but experienced innumerable times by Eastern mystic like Shankara, Ramakrishna, Aurobindo and countless others. All of these were exalted by their communities not suppressed as were the Westerners. There you see a vast difference and good reason to “romanticize” traditions from the Eastern side of the globe..
This is what I comprehend from your article: their goal was to achieve a peace that is unconditional, therefore pure and complete. His writings are in harmony with scripture. 1 Corinthians 15 27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. Also John 17 5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Great article! Meister Eckhart seems very similar to the german romantics of the 1800’s like Fichte, Goethe, Schleiermacher and especially Schelling. Although they seem to invert Eckhart in that in the hegelian way, God is the only thing which is real and is fundamentally rational, rather than being nothingness. It would be cool to hear you comment on the german romantics theology if you know anything about it. Reading them has been what has turned me towards christianity from being a staunch atheist and materialist all my life, but i’ve seen very few talk about them and especially their theology.
It is fascinating to learn that someone fairly long ago had come to so many of the the same basic conclusions that I have, although using different language. I never really thought my views were in any way original, but just hadn’t heard so many of them expressed so succinctly. I do have to make a distinction, though. I disagree with what is described at around 19:20 as the “emptiness” or “nothingness”. I’m not disagreeing with what is being described, but how it’s described. The description is not that which is described, but I assert that a more accurate description is everything-ness, but nothing in particular-ness. I get the beyond unity, but it actually is unity in that it’s everything that is, ever was, ever will be, and ever could be without division. For anything to be anything in particular, it has to not be everything else. There has to be a division. That without division is the source of all that ever could be. Everything comes from 1 not 0. Since this is all in the realm of description, an accurate description is that nothing can’t exist, because if it did, it would be something. If there ever was a state where no thing existed, there would never even be the impetus for anything to ever become and no one to ponder or discuss anything. The universe is presented in moments, quanta, or frames, like a film movie. perusal a film movie in a theater, gives the illusion of continuous motion on the screen, but is one static image played after another quickly enough to look continuous.
I am fluent in Dutch, a language that shares similarities with German. When Eckhart uses the term “ground,” it may be more accurately conveyed as “foundation.” This substitution best captures the essence and nuance of the term in its original German context, providing a clearer understanding of its intended meaning in my opinion.
There are so many Christian mystics of the times past, so different from current so called Christian prophets and prophetess of today. Today, they casually claim to have traveled to heaven and have touched God’s hair. So how ridiculous is that? Many of these so called evangelical prophets speaks in tongues and claim power of healing or many other abilities. But these contemporary mystics ultimately fails in the emptiness or nothing test. You can see them full of material things. It seems to me that God is like a Kamadenhu or a wish-fulfilling cow or Nandi of Lord Shiva. Maybe someday you can feature contemporary Christian mystics like Kenneth Copeland, Paula White and so many of them. Or Jim Jones.
Fantastic website! This website gives me great hope for the possibilities of inter-religious dialogue and contemplation, and of human mutual understanding! May I suggest doing a article on the Sefer Yesirah (and maybe Shabbetai Donnolo, 9th century)? It’s the late antique foundation of medieval Jewish mysticism and cosmological thinking. Thanks!
It seems to me that modern Christianity is severely lacking in spiritual practices similar to yogic kriyas or even the Islamic daily rituals. More understanding and teaching of underlying mystic concepts and practices are needed, rather than abandoning all religious traditions in a misguided effort to appeal to the lowest common denominator in order to get people back in church..
One of the revelations I received was on the triune nature of God I never seen taught. I feel using the term persons in the Unity of God is not the best terminology. I believe God has three personal attributes with separate personalities would be more accurate. I believe understanding how we are made in the image of God tells us everything about God’s nature. We have a Soul, Mind & Body(Spirit Bod after death) that all have separate natures, experiences & interactions within all three. I believe God the Father represents the eternal infinite Soul & which like our own created soul is intangible but it still interacts with the mind & body. Jesus is the Logos, the eternal mind which creates & reveals itself to creation. The Holy Spirit is the eternal Spirit Body which manifests in all creation & interacts within His creation. God’s Consciousness is the interaction with His Soul & Mind to make decisions. Soul, Mind & Spirit Body creates & interacts with His creation.
” Somebody asked Meister Eckhart – a really religious person – “When Jesus says ‘Ask and it shall be given’ why don’t people ask? If it is just for asking’s sake, why don’t people ask? If he says seek and ye shall find, and he says only knock and the doors shall be opened unto you, then why don’t people knock?” Eckhart laughed and he said, “For two reasons first you may ask and it may not be given to you, so people don’t want to be frustrated; second, and a deeper reason, you may ask and it may be given to you. That is more frightening.” That’s why people don’t try. They simply pay lip-service And you know, the whole world seems to be religious in a way people go to the temple to the mosques, to the churches They read the Bible, Koran, Gita, they recite the Vedas, they do mantras, but still there seems to be no religious consciousness at all The earth is surrounded by a very, very dark cloud of unconsciousness. There seems to be no light. The night seems to be utterly dark, not even a single star. You have to be very, very aware of this, because you can do the same as people have been doing down the ages. Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism – they are not true religions. They are pseudo, counterfeits. Christ is true, Christianity is false. Buddha is true, Buddhism is false. Buddhism is created by us, Buddha is not created by us; but we create Buddhism according to our needs, according to our ideas, according to our prejudices. WE create Buddha, we create Buddhism, we create a myth of Buddha.
This is interesting! He’s not just an influence for Roman Catholicism, arguably he’s a ‘grund’ of the protestant reformation (a student of his, maybe Tauler, wrote what Luther would respect and publish as Theologica Germanica). I can see, and looking at other comments, how the emphases of lutheran theology have been influenced by his work (as an example that the Holy Spirit replaces our sinful desires with holy ones, part of growing into union with Christ). And I now see a bit easier why the ‘Wizard of the North’ was lutheran.
“There has been some speculation as to why Porete was considered controversial. Growing hostility to the Beguine movement among Franciscans and Dominicans, the political machinations of Philip IV of France, who was also busy suppressing the Knights Templar, and ecclesiastical fear at the spread of the anti-hierarchical Free Spirit movement have all been suggested.(citation needed)”
Thank very much for your articles, could I kindly request that you do an analysis of the twelver sect of Shia Islam, and it’s 12 imams who were bestowed with Godly powers and were the sect in which Sufism ultimately derived from. Or possibly on the Dajjal aswell, and/or the antichrist, and you can analyse the difference between the Jewish perspective of the antichrist to the Christian and Islamic perspective. After that you can do an analysis on the devil, shaitan, ibliss, Lucifer, synthesising hinduism, shikism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity. Their’s sooo much more you can do. Most youtubers with such amazing academic knowledge like yourself usually don’t disburse as much as you do in every article. This website I sense is going to be very successful.
Why would a God who his believers claim is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, who exists beyond time and space, who is perfect in every conceivable way need to create anything at all? Surely such a being or deity would be sufficient to itself. The need, desire or impulse to create suggests a lack of something which by the definition above is not possible. God cannot lack anything. The need, desire and impulse to create are features of the human condition and not of any claimed divinity.
Very interesting. Eckhart’s ideas are new to me, but I did find some resonance to musings of my own regarding the infamous apple munching in the Garden of Eden and its possible connection to the nature of consciousness, self awareness and narcissism. It could be as simple as creation being tied to awareness (which can be said to be a subjective prerequisite), and that the ultimate Christian virtuous goal is to cough the apple up again and re-enter a paradisiacal state of being conscious but unaware of the self, which was God’s recommendation all along I guess. Personally I may be too influenced by Satan who suggested that self awareness was the bees knees, to seriously consider being a kind of moving tree instead. Though it has to be said that I have no idea what it’s like to be a moving tree, and that my inclination ultimately is shaped by the very narcissism that’s been giving us so many problems in the first place. I find it extremely intriguing that ideas that are thousands of years old, just might have living nature and our species pegged on such a fundamental level. If that’s the case, all the rest of it may not really matter all that much. Now if only we were able to collectively choose a different course,.. but I guess Satan is the god of this world (2 Corinthians) for a reason.
How stimulating that Eckhart, among others, felt God was encouraging him to speak his truth from his human faculties, as contrasted with being an apologist for existing biblical dogma. Today there is so much “top down” biblical conformity and too little respect for creative interpretations? I bought a book at a flea market not long ago for a dollar or so. It was a hardbound book in good condition which was stamped “withdrawn” from a listed New York library. The book is “Meister Eckhart” A modern translation by Blakney.
he was a classically trained contemplative. most people can comprehend that the outward form(s) of religious practice alone isn’t substantial per se. yet devotion and moral striving are not merely important but also of inestimable substance, as one is thus brought to a place of meaning w/ comprehension of reality as well as the love of God as the genuine outcome, resulting in beneficence (God’s own, of course) in the lives of all. : ) love God w/ the mind of a child for the best result!
I think the true concept of God is absolutely fascinating. We call Him by a trinity, by a name, by a state of spirit, by a concept, and He has undoubtedly been revealed in many mystics, primary of which being Jesus Christ; but in the end, any human defined or applied concepts to Him don’t even beginning to start describing the true essence of His being. Our “understanding” is effectively infinitesimally small because He is so absolutely incomprehensible in totality, if any totality there is. And to think, something like Him loves us enough to be revealed through us.
Easterners who come to Christianity rarely come through the Gnostics or Christian Mystics. They come through Orthodoxy. Even in the West, Meister Eckhart, St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa are only known by a small majority. I know of no Christian leader who said like the Buddha “Be a light unto oneself.”
Well, you can’t blame those who think Christianity is somewhat silly cuz these things about God in the heavens who needs to to be worshipped and gets jealous with other gods it’s literally written there. It’s seems very egotistical in contrast to the Hindu concept of Brahman, the Daoism’s Dao andthe Bhuddism’s Shoonya. Also,. Christianity is itself has a long bloody history and history is very important in judging something. Meister Eckart indeed has ideas similar to Vedanta but during his time he was attacked and his ideas were original to him and a few mystics but aren’t in the bible itself. Mystics were not men of books they were very experiential in their approach to God and this is a threat to the authoritarian church who is the only authority when it comes to interpretation of God’s word. Unlike in Hinduism where these things like what Eckart said are literally written in books like the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita and all sorts of ways to the divine is acknowledged. Sadly Christianity is a a religion of just 1 book and inner explorations and other means to knowp God is not encouraged, only obeying the church and the bible
A fantastic talk, but I am sorry to say that there can be no such thing as a “mystical idea”. A mystic does not produce ideas or believes, or concepts, as his knowing does not depend on Intellect, mind, thought. He speaks of what he has come to know by transcending the limitations of the human mind. Actually he is no longer he himself but a new creation, a vessel through which the eternal speaks.
This is just the comment I made when I shared the vid. There’s a lot of powerful ideas here, which are fundamentally very simple and have its reflection shown via the Single digits of 0-9. The ultimate mistake people who delve too deep into philosophical mental masturbation make is in thinking they have to renounce life. This life is meant to be lived, there is no need to suppress any aspect of life! but rather, every aspect of life needs to be lived with mindfulness and discipline! Human beings as we are today only have 90 years to live, there’s nothing you can do that will damn you for eternity, other than not to recognize your divine nature and not respect it. but you’re only damned until you realize the truth, and change your thoughts and actions.
“The ground is utterly the silent and empty abyss…that is the true essence of the godhead the starting point of reality from which everything including divinity emanates and to which everything eventually flows back…and I the ground there is no distinction the sould and God are fundamentally one…’God’s ground and the soul’s ground are one.'” Awesome!
People talk about religion without fully understanding the political influences it has, and the use of it to unite one group or to divide it against another (Division by theology or faith, East and West, etc.). They all have serve the purpose of political and cultural social structures. The other problems with religions or theology is that it infuses too much human concepts into it. The mental thoughts used in some can be considered mentally illed ideas based on the ignorance of the groups involved or visions seen. They become influenced based on the mental experiences. The idea of believing in God or an absolute reality is not wrong by any means. The problems can be found in the language that tries to give it meaning, which renders it false. Humanity has depended too much on the mental visions, ideas, and concepts aswell as mental revelations. That it is why they all differ in many ways. Religions can be called the corrupted way used to argue a truth known to all naturally. Being forced down peoples’ throat by their religious leaders, and politicians of the time (Kings, Lords, etc.). So naturally, when one of its followers breaks away by showing a deeper understanding of God, they are persecuted and killed. Jesus falls into that category and many others before his time. Another problem arises when the followers or disciples (?) add to the words heard or spoken by their teachers and add their own understanding based on their ignorant human knowledge (False ideas and concepts).
Dr. Bernard McGinn, leading scholar and expert on Western Christian mysticism and has written extensively on Eckhart, said it is in error that Eckhart was condemned as heretical. You might want to correct the above statement. But popular thought is that Eckhart was deemed heretical. Just is not fact, is all. He did not have an easy time of it, but that aspect did not happen.
This sounds to me strikingly similar to Satre’s “Being and Nothingness” in terms of Sartre’s verbage “condemned to be free” just replacing it with “ground” for Eckart. I’d like to see a comparison/contrast between Sartre and Eckart. I’d have to think about it pretty in-depth but I think there’s potentially a real over-lap of philosophical framework…just one advocating a Godless freedom while the other arguing an underlying unity with God.
Wow. Filip you are a masterful teacher. I found my way back to this old vlog after listening to the recent Neoplatonist series. Fascinating article and very interesting comments toggling between TOP and NEWEST. The best to come out of it is the Introduction to McGinn whom I hadn’t known of, being more involved with Modern Traditionalist takes and other Apophatic literature, so I am amazed reading Eckhart’s Mystical Sermons in the fabulous McGinn/Walshe translation. That work has brought me Absolute Clarity into my own mystical experiences especially when coupled with my Vedic reading as well as Dionysus the Areopagite and John SCOTUS Erigena. At the risk of coming off like a mystic snob, it’s clear that there are still many people who are missing out on the true mystic experience despite their strong theological opinions. Contemplative mysticism takes a lot of time and patience which most folks just don’t have especially in these times. You really have to make a commitment to yourself ( the elusive “Self” of psychology being a descriptor for the “Soul” of the mystic IMO). There is a perennial philosophy element to all religions IMO, and thankfully, many of the viewers from different belief backgrounds agree. Great job and thanks again for educating us.
the WORD became FLESH. so the LOGOS is the Holy Spirit of God which incarnated as Jesus. its like a light. theres the source of light, the radiance of the light and the reflection of the light. but its all ONE Light. Jesus IS God in the flesh. the Father IS the Son. just as you are your Soul… in a body.
Eckhardt represents, one might say, the more-taken road in Christian mysticism, but there is another that I find even more interesting: the genealogy that runs from the pseudo-Dionysius (and here the road diverges) through Maximus Confessor, John Scottus Eriugena, Alan Insularis, Ramon Lull, and Nicholas Cusanus. This group of Christian mystics combined an Aereopagitic dialectical apophaticism with a strongly Trinitarian ontology and a deeply Christocentric emphasis. In this understanding, the central philosophical principle of Christianity is distinction-without- separation, leading to a personal and cosmic teleology that is not monistic but perichoretic. Maximus, Eriugena, and Cusanus (who is the convergence of these two paths in the mystical tradition in that he was influenced in some measure by both Eriugena and Eckhardt) work out this principle in detail, but it is implicit in both Nicea and Chalcedon. Anyway, just some food for thought and (hopefully) interesting leads for you to pursue. I do not consider Eckhardt an orthodox Christian because of his monism, but I think I understand his motivation as an outworking (albeit one I would see as problematic) of the Eastern concept of theosis. Thanks for this.
Brother, greetings. I have listened quite a few of your presentations now. They are generally good as starting points. However, you seem to be reading from a script, not speaking from your thoughts. And that makes the presentation monotonous and in the long term onerous on the listener. Forgive me if I am wrong. Are you reading from a book?
This was fantastic! I am one of those wishy-washy “not religious but spiritual” people and this was very eye opening. From beginning to end, this article is definitely worthwhile for those of us who are “seekers” and enjoy different perspectives on this bizarre experience we all share. Over the past several years I’ve delved pretty deeply into gnostic heresies and after hearing the world view expressed here, it’s not surprise to me that some of his work was deemed heretical. I’ll have too look deeper into those specifics, but if it involves his notion of god as an ultimate “nothingness”, I won’t be surprised in the least. Though, who knows what the church may have picked out as an affront to its own ideas. Thank you for this very informative and well produced article!
Truly excellent. I am reminded of Philippians 2:5-11: “Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a Cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the Name that is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in Heaven and on Earth and under the Earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
It should be pointed out that the issue between the Dominicans and the Franciscans had less to do with the interaction of philosophy and theology, and more to do with the appropriateness of using Aristotelian science within the theological method. The church going back into the first millennium, had already synthesized to various degrees with ‘neoplatonism’ — in both Christian East (Pseudo-Dionysius) and West (Augustine).
agree with the preamble re: romanticizatio, but come on…. Zen Buddhism and Taoism are objectively cool and chill, and even useful if you don’t subscribe to supernatural beliefs. religions that threaten eternal torment for submission, stoning of homosexuals, rules for slavery and parables of a god who commits genocide and murders (the eldest) children is not so chill and frankly, fucking stupid and immensely toxic.