The Rhineland Mystics<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A\nDominican Mystic<\/strong>\nWednesday, \u202fAugust 5, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p><em>Another of the Rhineland Mystics was\nMeister Eckhart. His writings were probably the height of Western nondualism.\nCarl McColman has written several accessible books on the Christian mystics\nthat broaden and deepen our notion of mysticism. He even makes a mystic like\nMeister Eckhart understandable! Here McColman captures the essence of Eckhart:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meister Eckhart stands alongside Bernard of Clairvaux and\nJohn of the Cross as one of the most celebrated Christian mystics; he is also one\nof the most controversial figures, having a number of his teachings declared as\nheretical shortly after his death. Today, some scholars believe that the\ncensure of Eckhart\u2019s ideas may have been politically motivated and have made\nefforts to have his name formally cleared by the Vatican.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eckhart entered the Dominican Order as a youth. After\nspending some time in Paris, he returned to his native Germany, where he became\nrenowned as a preacher. [<em>The\nDominicans are the Order of Preachers, and Meister Eckhart was a very popular\nhomilist in his day.<\/em>] \u201cMeister\u201d is not his name, but a title,\nreferring to his receiving a master\u2019s degree in theology. Eckhart\u2019s impressive\nbody of work includes academic treatises in Latin, along with about one hundred\nsermons in his native German. The German writings generally were his more\nspiritually daring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The problem with [reading] Eckhart seems to be that his\nideas were often expressed using language that could easily be misinterpreted.\n[<em>I, Richard, believe he was\nmisinterpreted because he was a nondual thinker, speaking to mostly dualistic\nthinkers\u2014just as Jesus was doing.<\/em>] He has been accused of pantheism\n(the belief that all things are God) or monism (the idea that there is\nultimately no distinction between God and creation). [<em>Richard again: I believe Eckhart was\nprimarily teaching pan<\/em>en<em>theism,\nwhich means God<\/em> in <em>all\nthings.<\/em>] He stressed God as a ground of being present throughout\ncreation\u2014including in the human soul\u2014and that each Christian is invited to give\nbirth to Christ within one\u2019s soul. As a preacher, Eckhart saw his sermons as a\nmeans of inspiring his listeners to recognize the divine presence within, and\nin so doing to be \u201cwonderfully united\u201d to God. In his Sermon 5, he offers four\ngoals for his preaching:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I preach, I\nam accustomed to talk about detachment, saying that we should become free of\nourselves and of all things. Secondly, I say that we should be in-formed back\ninto the simple goodness, which is God. Thirdly, I say that we should be\nmindful of the great nobility which God has given the soul in order that we\nshould become wonderfully united with [God]. Fourthly, I speak of the purity of\nthe divine nature, and of the radiance within it which is ineffable. God is a\nword: an unspoken word. [1] <em>[RR:\nUnspoken, that is, until and unless we ourselves speak from the True Self!]<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Rhineland Mystics A Dominican Mystic Wednesday, \u202fAugust 5, 2020 Another of the Rhineland Mystics was Meister Eckhart. His writings were probably the height of Western nondualism. Carl McColman has written several accessible books on the Christian mystics that broaden and deepen our notion of mysticism. He even makes a mystic like Meister Eckhart understandable! […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19165"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19165"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19166,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19165\/revisions\/19166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p><em>Another of the Rhineland Mystics was\nMeister Eckhart. His writings were probably the height of Western nondualism.\nCarl McColman has written several accessible books on the Christian mystics\nthat broaden and deepen our notion of mysticism. He even makes a mystic like\nMeister Eckhart understandable! Here McColman captures the essence of Eckhart:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meister Eckhart stands alongside Bernard of Clairvaux and\nJohn of the Cross as one of the most celebrated Christian mystics; he is also one\nof the most controversial figures, having a number of his teachings declared as\nheretical shortly after his death. Today, some scholars believe that the\ncensure of Eckhart\u2019s ideas may have been politically motivated and have made\nefforts to have his name formally cleared by the Vatican.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eckhart entered the Dominican Order as a youth. After\nspending some time in Paris, he returned to his native Germany, where he became\nrenowned as a preacher. [<em>The\nDominicans are the Order of Preachers, and Meister Eckhart was a very popular\nhomilist in his day.<\/em>] \u201cMeister\u201d is not his name, but a title,\nreferring to his receiving a master\u2019s degree in theology. Eckhart\u2019s impressive\nbody of work includes academic treatises in Latin, along with about one hundred\nsermons in his native German. The German writings generally were his more\nspiritually daring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The problem with [reading] Eckhart seems to be that his\nideas were often expressed using language that could easily be misinterpreted.\n[<em>I, Richard, believe he was\nmisinterpreted because he was a nondual thinker, speaking to mostly dualistic\nthinkers\u2014just as Jesus was doing.<\/em>] He has been accused of pantheism\n(the belief that all things are God) or monism (the idea that there is\nultimately no distinction between God and creation). [<em>Richard again: I believe Eckhart was\nprimarily teaching pan<\/em>en<em>theism,\nwhich means God<\/em> in <em>all\nthings.<\/em>] He stressed God as a ground of being present throughout\ncreation\u2014including in the human soul\u2014and that each Christian is invited to give\nbirth to Christ within one\u2019s soul. As a preacher, Eckhart saw his sermons as a\nmeans of inspiring his listeners to recognize the divine presence within, and\nin so doing to be \u201cwonderfully united\u201d to God. In his Sermon 5, he offers four\ngoals for his preaching:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I preach, I\nam accustomed to talk about detachment, saying that we should become free of\nourselves and of all things. Secondly, I say that we should be in-formed back\ninto the simple goodness, which is God. Thirdly, I say that we should be\nmindful of the great nobility which God has given the soul in order that we\nshould become wonderfully united with [God]. Fourthly, I speak of the purity of\nthe divine nature, and of the radiance within it which is ineffable. God is a\nword: an unspoken word. [1] <em>[RR:\nUnspoken, that is, until and unless we ourselves speak from the True Self!]<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Rhineland Mystics A Dominican Mystic Wednesday, \u202fAugust 5, 2020 Another of the Rhineland Mystics was Meister Eckhart. His writings were probably the height of Western nondualism. Carl McColman has written several accessible books on the Christian mystics that broaden and deepen our notion of mysticism. He even makes a mystic like Meister Eckhart understandable! […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19165"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19165"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19166,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19165\/revisions\/19166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}