Mister Eckhart (1260-1327) Dominican friar and German mystic was a renowned theologian whose teachings, though popular among the monastic and lay populations that he preached to, deviated enough from the accepted language of the Catholic Church that he was tried as a heretic in 1327. At his trial, Eckhart explained all challenged doctrines, asserting that heresy required intentionality which he did not possess. Before the verdict was handed down Eckhart disappeared.
Eckhart said the great need of man was that his soul be united with God, the perfect goodness; for this a knowledge of God and his relation to the world, a knowledge of the soul and the path of approach, are necessary.
According to Eckhart, all creatures have part in the divine essence; but this is true of the soul in a higher degree. In the irrational creature there is something of God; but in the soul, God is divine. Though God speaks his word in all creatures, only rational creatures can preserve it.
In other words, in the soul, where he has his resting-place, God is subjective, while in the rest of creation he is merely objective. The soul is an image of God, in so far as its chief powers, memory, reason, and will, answer to the divine persons.
Eckhart's ethical view is of rare purity and sublimity. The inner position of man, the disposition of the heart, is for him the main thing and for him this is not a result of reflection. He speaks little of church ceremonies.
For him outward penances have only a limited value. That man inwardly turn to God and be led by him seems to be the main purpose of Eckhart's exhortations to let no one think that because this or that great saint has done and suffered many things, he should imitate him. God gives to each his task, and leaves every one on his way.
No one argues more decisively than Eckhart that good works alone do not make a man righteous; instead, man must first be righteous in order to do righteous works. Nor does he recommend that one flee from the world. Better to flee from oneself, selfishness, and self-will.
Otherwise one finds as little peace in the cell as outside of it. Though he sees in suffering the most effective and most valuable means of inner purification, Eckhardt believes one should not seek sufferings of his own choosing, but only bear patiently whatever God imposes.
He recognizes that it is natural for one to be affected either pleasantly or unpleasantly by the various sense-impressions; but in the innermost depths of the soul one must hold fast to God and allow himself to be moved by nothing.
One of the unique aspects of Eckhart's 14th c. theology is his inclusion of atypical concepts that have more of a contemporary ring.
"Nothing hinders the soul so much in attaining to the knowledge of God as time and place. Therefore, if the soul is to know God, it must know Him outside time and place, since God is neither in this or that, but One and above them. If the soul is to see God, it must look at nothing in time; for while the soul is occupied with time or place or any image of the kind, it cannot recognize God. (Excerpt from sermon: "The Nearness of the Kingdom.")
"So I say that the aristocrat is one who derives his being, his life, and his happiness from God alone, with God and in God and not at all from his knowledge, perception, or love of God, or any such thing....
"This much is certain: when a man is happy, happy to the core and root of beatitude, he is no longer conscious of himself or anything else. He is conscious only of God...To be conscious of knowing God is to know about God and self. As I have just been explaining, the agent of the soul which enables one to see is one thing and the agent by which one knows that he sees is another."
"The two eyes of the soul of man," he says, "cannot both perform their work at once: but if the soul shall see with the right eye into eternity, then the left eye must close itself and refrain from working, and be as though it were dead. For if the left eye be fulfilling its office toward outward things, that is holding converse with time and the creatures; then must the right eye be hindered in its working; that is, in its contemplation. Therefore, whosoever will have the one must let the other go; for 'no man can serve two masters.'"
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