The Wisdom of Meister Eckhart

Here in time we celebrate because the eternal birth that God the Father bears unceasingly in eternity is born now, in time and human nature. According to St. Augustine, this birth is always happening. But what does it profit me if it does not happen in me?A wise man said: “When all things lay in the midst of silence, then there descended into me from on high, from the royal throne, a secret word.” This sermon concerns that word. First we will consider the phrase: “In the midst of silence, there was spoken in me a secret word.”—“But, sir, where is the silence and where is the word spoken?”It is in the purest, noblest part of the soul, in her ground and very essence. That is the silent center where no creature or image has ever penetrated. There the soul has no activity or understanding, and thus no image of herself or any creature. Here alone is rest and habitation for this birth, where God the Father can speak his Word, for it is intrinstically receptive of nothing save the divine essence. Here God enters the soul with his all, not merely with a part. Creatures cannot enter the soul, nor can the soul know anything about a creature the image of which she has not willingly absorbed. An image is a thing that the soul creates with her powers, by means of which she approaches creatures. But an image received in this way must enter from without through the senses. Consequently there is nothing so unknown to the soul as herself. As one philosopher says, the soul can neither create nor absorb an image of herself.Now you must know that the interior of the soul is free from both means and images; that is why God can unite with her freely without form or appearance. Surely, any power we might attribute to a master, God possesses without measure. The wiser and more powerful the master, the more immediately and simply his work is effected. Man requires many instruments for his external works, and much preparation is needed before he can bring them forth as he has imagined them. More exalted are the angels, who need fewer means and images for their works. The highest Seraph has but a single image. He seizes as a unity all that his inferiors regard as manifold. But God needs no image and has no image: God works in the soul without image, likeness or means. This no creature can do.--“How does God the Father give birth to his Son in the soul: like creatures, in image and likeness?”No, by my faith! It occurs just as he gives him birth in eternity, and not otherwise.—“Well, but how does he give him birth there?”See. God the Father has perfect insight into himself, profound and thorough knowledge of himself through himself, not by means of any image. Thus God the Father gives birth to his Son in the very oneness of the divine nature. In the same way, God the Father gives birth to his Son in the ground and essence of the soul, and thus he unites himself with her. Were any image present there would not be real union, and in real union lies our beatitude.Now you might say: “But there is nothing innate in the soul but images.” This is not true! If it were, then the soul could never be happy, for no creature can provide us with perfect happiness. Union with God is the highest happiness and final goal; it is his will and nature to be the alpha and omega of all. Therefore you must dwell in the ground of your soul, where God will join you to his essence without the medium of any image. The second point to consider is what you should do to bring this birth to pass in yourself. Is it better to take action by imagining and thinking about God, or should you keep still and wait so that God can speak and act in you? At the same time, note that only the good and perfect, who have so absorbed the essence of virtue that it emanates from them naturally, are fit to receive this act of God. Above all there must live in them the worthy life and lofty teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. Such know that the highest attainment in this life is to remain still and let God act and speak in us. When the soul withdraws her powers from bodily forms and functions, then this Word is spoken. The more completely you can withdraw your faculties and forget the things and images you have taken in, the more susceptible you are to this act. If only you could be suddenly unaware of things, and even of your very existence, as was St. Paul when he said: “Whether in the body or out of the body I know not; God knoweth!” His spirit had so entirely absorbed the faculties that it had forgotten the body. Memory no longer functioned, nor understanding, nor the senses; vital heat and energy were suspended so that the body was sustained during the three days that he neither ate or drank. God works without instruments or images. The freer you are from images, the more receptive you are to his interior operation. God scorns to work among images.