In the serene halls of medieval Germany, Meister Eckhart spoke of an obedience that transcends conventional understanding. “The more a man obeys, the freer he is,” he proclaimed, revealing a truth that seems to defy logic. This obedience bears no resemblance to blind submission or mere rule-following. Instead, it points to a profound state of inner freedom where individual will dissolves into divine reality.
For Eckhart, true obedience emerges naturally from what he terms “detachment” (abegescheidenheit). When one empties themselves completely, they discover that God wills not for them but through them – or more precisely, for Himself alone. This radical teaching suggests that authentic spiritual life isn’t about aligning our will with God’s, but about recognizing that, at the deepest level, there is only one will operating.
The seeming contradiction resolves itself in what Eckhart calls the “ground of the soul” (grunt der sêle), where the distinction between human and divine will vanishes. As he states in one of his sermons, “God’s ground and the soul’s ground are one ground.” This unity reveals that our usual notion of obedience still maintains the very duality it seeks to overcome.
Empty Fullness
“The more empty you are of yourself, the more room there is for God,” teaches Eckhart, presenting another apparent paradox that points to ultimate truth. This emptying isn’t a process of loss but of discovery – discovering what has always been present beneath our self-imposed limitations.
The path of detachment requires letting go not only of external possessions but of our cherished self-concepts and spiritual aspirations. Eckhart’s radical teaching suggests that we must be willing to “pray God to rid me of God” – to release even our ideas about divinity that keep us in subtle separation. This mirrors the Buddha’s teaching that attachment to spiritual concepts and experiences can become as binding as worldly desires.
God, according to Eckhart, is “nearer to me than I am to myself.” This intimacy remains obscured only by our persistent attempt to find what was never lost. The very act of seeking creates the illusion of distance from what we seek. As he explains, “Why do you seek God as if He were hiding from you, as if He were far away?”
The Kingdom Within
Jesus’s proclamation that “the Kingdom of Heaven is within you” resonates deeply with Eckhart’s mystical insights. This teaching suggests that divine reality isn’t a distant realm to be reached but our most intimate truth to be recognized. When Jesus instructs his followers to “deny themselves,” he points to the same fundamental letting go that Eckhart advocates.
The command to “love your enemies” takes on new meaning when viewed through a non-dual lens. Such love becomes possible only when we transcend the illusion of separation that creates the very category of “enemy.” In this light, Jesus’s teaching isn’t merely ethical guidance but a description of what naturally flows from awakened consciousness.
“I and the Father are one,” Jesus declared, expressing the ultimate truth that Eckhart would later articulate in his own way. This oneness isn’t a special state to be achieved but the eternal reality that self-preoccupation obscures. The parallels between Jesus’s teachings and Eckhart’s mysticism suggest a perennial wisdom that transcends religious boundaries.
Form and Emptiness
The resonance between Eckhart’s Christian mysticism and Buddhist thought reveals a striking universality in mystical experience. The Heart Sutra’s teaching that “form is emptiness, emptiness is form” mirrors Eckhart’s understanding of how divine fullness manifests through complete emptying of self.
Buddhism’s doctrine of non-self (anatta) aligns with Eckhart’s emphasis on detachment, both pointing to the illusory nature of our usual sense of separate selfhood. The Buddhist path of releasing attachment to find freedom parallels Eckhart’s way of letting go to discover divine unity. As the Buddha taught, “In the seeing, let there be just the seeing” – a state of pure awareness without a separate self claiming the experience.
Yet both traditions recognize how spiritual practice itself can become a subtle form of self-reinforcement. The very paradigm of seeking enlightenment or union with God can perpetuate the sense of separation it aims to dissolve. This recognition led Zen masters to warn, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him,” echoing Eckhart’s prayer to be rid of God for God’s sake.
Beyond Seeking
All these teachings point to a fundamental truth: what we seek is what’s seeking. The separate self that appears to need transformation is itself the primary obstacle to recognizing our true nature. This understanding transcends religious boundaries and cultural expressions, revealing a universal wisdom about human consciousness and its liberation.
When Eckhart speaks of the ground where God and soul are one, when Jesus points to the kingdom within, when Buddha teaches the emptiness of all phenomena, they illuminate different facets of the same diamond. Their teachings suggest that spiritual awakening isn’t about becoming something new but about recognizing what we’ve always been.
The challenge these teachings present isn’t intellectual but existential. They invite us to question our most basic assumptions about who we are and what separates us from divine reality. The paradox at the heart of all genuine spirituality is that what we seek is always already here, hidden only by our seeking.
The Living Truth
These mystical teachings remain vital because they address the perennial human tendency to create separation where none exists. Whether through Eckhart’s lens of detachment, Jesus’s teaching of self-denial, or Buddhism’s insight into emptiness, they guide us beyond the confines of dualistic thinking into direct recognition of our true nature.
As Eckhart reminds us, “The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me.” This perfect intimacy describes our actual condition, not a distant goal. When all seeking ceases, when all concepts fall away, what remains is what was never lost – the simple, self-evident truth of our being.
These teachings don’t point to some esoteric reality but to the most obvious fact of existence – so obvious we usually overlook it. They invite us to stop creating obstacles to what’s already present, to cease seeking what was never absent, to recognize the truth that has always been our own deepest nature.
Image by Manolo Franco
Tom’s Blog 