Biography
Meister Eckhart was a German theologian, philosopher, and mystic whose teachings on the direct experience of God represent a peak of Western mystical expression. A Dominican friar and scholar, he held important positions in his order and was known as a brilliant preacher who could communicate profound mystical truths to ordinary people.
His teachings emphasized the "birth of the Word in the soul"—the recognition that the same divine reality that manifested as Christ can be realized within every human heart. He taught that the soul must be emptied of all images and attachments to become the ground where God is born.
Though some of his propositions were condemned by the Church after his death, his influence on Western spirituality has been profound. Modern scholars recognize in his writings a non-dual understanding remarkably similar to the teachings of Advaita Vedanta and Zen Buddhism.
Teaching and methods
Eckhart taught detachment (Gelassenheit)—the letting go of all created things, including one's own will, desires, and even concepts of God—as the path to union with the divine. He emphasized that God is found in stillness and emptiness, in the "desert of the Godhead" beyond all images and forms. Through complete inner poverty and letting go, the soul becomes the space where eternal truth reveals itself.
Selected quotes
“ Theologians may quarrel, but the mystics of the world speak the same language. ”
“ [W]e must come into a transformed knowing, an unknowing which comes not from ignorance but from knowledge. ”
“ If you seek the kernel, then you must break the shell. And likewise, if you would know the reality of Nature, you must destroy the appearance, and the farther you go beyond the appearance, the nearer you will be to the essence. ”