Unitive consciousness - the christian mystic Meister Eckehart

 

"The eye in which I see God, it is the same eye in which God sees me. My eye and the eye of God, there is one eye and one vision and one realization and one love", the famous christian mystic Meister Eckehart says in one of his sermons. Eckehart (1260-1328) was a german catholic Dominican theologian and philosopher, and an important church leader. Toward the end of his life he was convicted of heresy by the pope, because of his mystical approach to christianity.   

Eckehart was one of the first to preach to the congregations in the vernacular language, not in latin, and his message was new and innovative. He was highly learned and a renowned theologian, and he  brought in his mystical experiences and realizations in a very radical way in his preaching. The central theme of his sermons is the presence of God in the soul of man: "Something is given in the soul that is so deeply related to God that it is one, and not united, with Him." God is not something outside of us that speaks to us, He can only speak in us. 

To Eckehart, unity itself is present in the highest part of the soul of man. This gives man the ability to lift his gaze above the sensible world, and see the unsensible unity in all that exists. This place in the soul is the timeless and eternal identity of every human being, and to connect with that it is necessary to stop identifying with our historical individual selves, which are limited by time and place. Eckehart talks about liberation, to let go of all agendas and beliefs about who we are and how things are supposed to be, and surrender. Even the concept of God needs to be abandoned, in order to be awakened to unity with the One, Eckehart says, highlighting the radicality of his perspective.

"The eye in which I see God, it is the same eye in which God sees me. My eye and the eye of God, there is one eye and one vision and one realization and one love". This quote exemplifies how mystics from different traditions will emphasize experiencing reality differently, seeing more, noticing more. Today we could describe it as expanding perception, moving from the perspective of being a separate individual to the perspective of being part of something larger than ourselves, of wholeness. Accessing the direct experience of this self which is beyond the the learned or socially constructed fragments of our individual personality, may feel like releasing into our true self, our essence. Connecting with these deepest layers in ourselves, implies experiences of fullness and aliveness which have a profound transformative potential.