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Meister Eckhart Quotes

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Famous Meister Eckhart Quotes

“Indeed, even if you make God your goal, all the works you perform for his sake will be dead, and you will only spoil those works which are genuinely good. Not only will you spoil your good works, but you will also commit sins, for you will be behaving like a gardener who is supposed to plant a garden but who pulls out all the trees instead and then demands his wages. That is how you will spoil your good works. And so, if you wish to live and wish your works to live too, then you must be dead to all things and be reduced to nothing. It is a property of creatures to make one thing from another, but it is a property of God to make something from nothing. And so if God is to make something of you or in you, then you must first yourself become nothingness. Enter your own inner ground therefore and act from there, and all your works shall be living works. That is why ' the wise man' says that 'the just person lives in eternity' since it is because they are just that such a person acts, and all their works are living works.”

SpiritualityChristianityMysticismChristian Mysticism
Book:Selected Writings
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“A question arises regarding the angels who dwell with us, serve us and protect us, whether their joys are equal to those of the angels in heaven, or whether they are diminished by the fact that they protect and serve us. No, they are certainly not; for the work of the angels is the will of God, and the will of God is the work of the angels; their service to us does not hinder their joy nor their working. If God told an angel to go to a tree and pluck caterpillars off it, the angel would be quite ready to do so, and it would be his happiness, if it were the will of God.”

IfsDoeFactsWould BeJoyHeavenTreeReadyProtectEqualAngelAriseGods WillHinderPluckCaterpillarsAngel In HeavenProtect And Serve
Book:Meister Eckhart's Sermons
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“The authorities teach that next to the first emanation, which is the Son coming out of the Father, the angels are most like God. And it may well be true, for the soul at its highest is formed like God, but an angel gives a closer idea of Him. That is all an angel is: an idea of God. For this reason the angel was sent to the soul, so that the soul might be re-formed by it, to be the divine idea by which it was first conceived.”

GivingFirstsWellsMayIdeasSoulReasonMightNextFatherTeachDivineSonAuthorityHighestAngelBeing TrueComing Out
Author:Meister Eckhart
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“Now the Father draws us from the evil of sin to the goodness of His grace with the might of His measureless power, and He needs all the resources of His strength in order to convert sinners, more than when He was about to make heaven and earth, which He made with His own power without help from any creature. But when He is about to convert a sinner, He always needs the sinner's help. "He converts thee not without thy help," as St. Augustine says.”

NeedsMadeHelpingMightEarthOrderEvilFatherHeavenSinGraceCreaturesGoodnessDrawsResourcesTheeSinnerHeaven And EarthAugustine
Author:Meister Eckhart
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“It is permissible to take life's blessings with both hands provided thou dost know thyself prepared in the opposite event to take them just as gladly. This applies to food and friends and kindred, to anything God gives and takes away... As long as God is satisfied do thou rest content. If he is pleased to want something else of thee, still rest content.”

IfsKnowsWantGivingLongStillsHandsEventsBlessingOppositesPreparedSatisfiedTheeWant SomethingThyselfKnow ThyselfKindredGive And Take
Author:Meister Eckhart
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“I have sought earnestly and with great diligence that good and high virtue by which man may draw closest to God... and as far as my intelligence would permit, I find that high virtue to be pure disinterest, that is, detachment from creatures. Our Lord said to Martha 'Unum est necessarium', which is to say; to be untroubled and pure, one thing is necessary and that is disinterest.”

MenMaySaidWisdomFunLordVirtueOne ThingPureCreaturesDrawsPermitClosestDetachmentOur LordDiligenceDisinterest
Author:Meister Eckhart
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“Behold how all those people are merchants who shun great sins and would like to be good and do good deeds in God's honour, such as fasts, vigils, prayers, and similar good deeds of all kinds. They do all these things so that our Lord may give them something, or so that God may do something dear to them. All these people are merchants.”

PeopleGivingKindMayPrayerSinLordDearDeedsBe GoodAll KindsHonourGood DeedsOur LordMerchants
Book:Breakthrough, Meister Eckhart's creation spirituality, in new translation
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“Once a man came to me - it was not too long ago - and said that he had given away much landed property and many goods for his own sake so that he might save his soul. Then I thought: 'How little and how insignificant is what you have let go of! It is blindness and foolishness for you to continue looking at all you've let go of. If, however, you've let go of yourself, then you've really let go.'”

IfsMenLittlesLongSaidSoulMightGivenLetting GoPropertySakeGoodsLong AgoFoolishnessBlindnessInsignificant
Book:Breakthrough, Meister Eckhart's creation spirituality, in new translation
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