From time to time, I post a meme on my Facebook page and Twitter feed with quotes from spiritual writers I find inspiring. A few days ago, I posted this one with a quote from 13th Century Christian mystic, Meister Eckhart.
Eckhart was a Dominican priest, philosopher, and theologian. In his era, his sermons were very popular. This popularity led charges of heresy against him in the Inquisition. While charges were made, nothing ever became of them. Yet, it is clear that his ideas threatened the establishment of his day. Eckhart was a great influence on theologian Nicholas of Cusa, reformer Martin Luther, and psychologists including Carl Jung and Erik Fromm. While Eckhart’s name isn’t commonly recognized today, he has been a thought-leader for generations.
Like other mystics in the Christian tradition, Eckhart’s focus was not on what separated us from God. Preoccupations on sin, human failure, and wrong-doing rarely enable us to grow deeper in the spiritual life. Instead, Eckhart’s focus was on an approach to prayer and meditation that was transformative. Affirming that we are created in the image and likeness of God, Eckhart understood that our growth to be fully human was to grow toward union with the Divine.
Reflecting on this quote, someone asked on Facebook: Does this mean that we lose our identity as we grow spiritually? It’s a wonderful question. It’s also one of the things which conveys a fear many people have regarding full, rich growth. Will I stop being me?
I frequently visit a Benedictine Monastery in the mid-west. Over the last twenty or so years, I’ve become good friends with several members of the community. They live simple lives, but there’s something unmistakable about these women. They radiate joy. There’s a transformation that’s occurred for them over the years. It’s not that they lost their personality. Instead, what I experience in each of them is a fullness, a wholeness that’s conveyed in many ways, from a twinkle in their eyes to a deep compassionate spirit. They have been changed in the way Eckhart is describing: becoming the fire.
We see this kind of transformation in public figures like South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dali Lama. They lived through great hardship and difficulty, yet they overflow with joy. The Benedictine sisters I know as well as Archbishop Tutu and the Dali Lama have been set on fire with Divine Love.
Do we lose our identity, our personality, as we grow into a deep union with the Divine? I don’t think it’s that we lose our personality or identity as we grow into fuller union with God. Perhaps it’s better to think of it in terms of the words of John the Baptist as recorded in the Gospel of John the Evangelist: He must increase and I must decrease.
We each have our own identity or personality. We each also carry something of the spark of the Divine Light within us. There is something unique about us that is rooted in God. Eastern Orthodox spirituality conveys this understanding by understanding people as icons of the Divine. That doesn’t mean that this Divine spark within us cancels out who we are as individuals. Instead, the Divine Spark grows and shines through our unique individuality. This is evident in the lives of the women who live as monks at the Benedictine Monastery I visit: they aren’t all the same but there’s something shared among them I experience as deep, abiding joy. Their uniqueness as individuals remains evident. In my study is a sun catcher made of broken glass fashioned by one sister; another is known as “the soap Sister” because of her finely crafted soaps; there are two who maintain a series of beehives….yes, many different interests, personalities, and abilities. But they have been set on fire. Year after year, the flames grow and they become the fire — just as Eckhart wrote. It’s truly a wonderful thing. It’s the transformation we are all called to share. In doing so, we become our best selves.
Eckhart inspires me. The image of the wood in the fire becoming the fire draws me further into the mystery of the Divine. It’s a transformation that continues throughout our lives.