Reading Meister Eckhart
Martin Burke
Assebroek/Brugge
Belgium
Where prudence is the hallmark of the theologian ecstasy is the hallmark of
the mystic. The writings of Meister Eckhart frequently cross the line from
theology into mysticism and when this happens the result is a song of songs
of the human heart that longs for and perceives the divine.
The poet always responds to the mystic more than to the theologian. This is
the nature of poetry - to raise a song, to cast off, as William Blake said,
the not human. To sing rather than explain; to celebrate more than to
expound, it is in this that the poet finds a niche and as such is kindred to
the mystic perception and expression.
What follows then is not theology. I am neither qualified nor inclined to
it and I leave it to others to map out the territory which theology covers.
I respond as a poet to the poet in the mystic and find that I can raise my
voice with him in song and celebration.
This then is a response to what has been given by him - given in his writings
and sermons and understood from the particular focus of poetry.
Many may disagree with the claims its advances, but beyond any doctrinal
issue, none can disagree with the validity of the intensity with which the
Meister approached his subject matter.
Think of it then as a response - an understanding, a telling in one language
what was originally told in another. Think of it as a song uniting one voice
to another voice. Think of it as a celebration of the Logos and creation.
Think of it as a poem (and as the extract from a book-length poem) which is
a love-song - and that will unite the writer and the reader in the most
satisfactory of ways.
(From) Reading Meister Eckhart
12
The beginning?
What is the beginning? -
Forming word and fashioning hand
And time and consequence began
The priestly rituals remember this -
He blesses the bread
He lifts the host
And the miracle occurs
It is always occurring
In time and in eternity
In the acts of your life
In the Logos manifesting itself in all things
Always new
Always as if for the first time
This is its greening force
I see it in every expounded word for there are true teachers in the world
I see it in the water that flows from the fountain in seven directions
The word is always itself no matter its guise
It is always itself and you can know it
The soul knows it and responds in kind
The beginning always begins and there is no end
The word echoing itself through the many heavens
And you must follow every stream that runs from this
You must listen to the echoes and count them in your soul
You must be alert to ever nuance of the spirit
You must be naked to its greening force
Its greening force!
This is the kern, this is the kern, the rest is occasion and appearance
Rest in the comfort of its embrace
Walk bewildered at its beauty as it leads you through the unerring path of
the world
Be open and meek
Be ready
Prepare the soul and all will be well when even in winter the greening
shakes the bitten ground
O yes, I have seen it in winter when the rose was bitten by ice
- Even the ice is necessary here -
So take from that example and council
Place your mind - and it can be wonderful - at its service
Restore the rose its rightful ascendancy
Yes, it will bloom in December
December and solstice and the new born child
- It is this the calendars remember -
Rose of the heart and the rose of the mind and the greening always blooming
rose of the eternal name
In December
In every spoken word and silence
In all things that grow towards the light
The beginning?
What is the beginning?
It is the shaping word and fashioning hand and they are never stilled
The word is spoken, the hand moves again,
All is set to green the rose and so transform your life
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