Meister Eckhart
c. 1260–1328 · Rhineland
- First attested
- 1328Middle High German sermons and Latin treatises; Papal Bull In Agro Dominico (1329).
Let go of possessive striving so that the divine nature can be realized directly within you.
German Dominican friar, philosopher, and mystic of the Rhineland mystical movement. Eckhart preached daring sermons in the Middle High German vernacular on the "spark of the soul" (Seelenfünklein), radical detachment (Gelassenheit), and the birth of the Word in the purified human heart, leading to papal investigation in 1326.
Light
Radical inner freedom, transcendence of egoic piety, and direct spiritual realization.
Shadow
Intellectual abstraction of faith; potential nihilistic misinterpretation of total detachment.