Contemplations, Vol. 03

Exploring the world of Meister Eckhart and heretics

Last month, I thought to myself “I’d like to start releasing the monthly contemplation at the start of each month…”

Well, here we are over 3 weeks into October…

I’ve had many new subscribers since I released the last Monthly Contemplation, so if you’re new here, each month I share a quote about God, spirituality, prayer, life, etc — often rooted in Christian Mysticism, but not always — for us to contemplate throughout the month.

This month, we’re exploring a quote by Meister Eckhart, one of the most prominent figures in Christian Mysticism. (Not to be confused with Eckhart Tolle)

Born in 1260 in Germany, Meister Eckhart was a Dominican friar, theologian, philosopher, professor, and of course, mystic.

Like so many others Christian Mystics, he was considered a heretic by the Church — due to his teachings that we are not separate from God. He teaches that by turning inward, we can experience the presence of God directly, without intermediaries.

Yeah… The Church don’t like that!!!

The through line with all Mystics — whether Christian, Jewish (Kabbalah), Islam (Sufism), Hindu, Buddhist, etc. — seems to be the very notion that God is within and all around. That union with God is not only possible, but is our very nature.

So today, I share with you this quote by Meister Eckhart:

God created all things in such a way that they are not outside himself, as ignorant people falsely imagine. Rather, all creatures flow outward, but nonetheless remain within God.

Read Again.

Pause.

Breathe.

---

I want to share a quick story that is relevant to this quote.

In 2022, I found myself unexpectedly living in a cottage in the English Countryside, just outside of Glastonbury. I was only meant to be there for a month, but stayed almost an entire year — another story for another time. While there, I knew it was spiritually potent time, but in hindsight, even more so.

And no, unfortunately Jude Law did not come knocking on my door… iykyk.

During this time, I worked with an Aramaic mentor and scholar for 6 months. Aramaic is the language Jesus spoke, and I was curious - not to learn to translate and speak the language - but to understand where Bible translations went wrong, as well as to learn how to pray the Hail Mary in Aramaic. Again, it wasn’t about the translation, but rather to tune to the sound and essence of this prayer and language.

Ironically, that mentor lives in Asheville, where I now live. Life’s web is always weaving in funny ways!

If you’re not aware, there are many humans who believe that several Bible translations are incorrect — or at the very least, are deeper and more nuanced — due to the amount of languages and humans they have been translated through over millenia.

One of those humans is one of my mentor’s mentors, Stan Tenen.

You can do your own research on him, but one of the most profound experiences I’ve had was hearing his translation of Beresheet/Hebrew Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

He argues that the Hebrew text of Genesis 1:1 is not just a narrative sentence, but that, at its root, it encodes a geometric and linguistic structure in the arrangement of the Hebrew letters themselves.

That may not make any sense. And neither will the translation.

Just read it and feel it.

Without further ado:

Breaking open, inside, outside. Rushing, radiating, reaching. All life, shining source-light, in inner being, itself recurring, in itself. Breaking open, inside outside. Rushing, radiating, reaching. All life. All life blooming. Kindling, inside lighting, looking open, in, without. In inner being, golden, flowing, moving outward. In itself. All life itself recurring in itself, looking open, in, without, shining source-life, inside dividing, in inner being, golden, flowing, moving outward. In itself. Doing, living, co-evolving, all life itself recurring. In itself. Looking open, in, without, all life rushing, radiating, reaching, tree-tops, upright, bearing wholeness, carrying light.

I always picture a torus field when I read this. The “all creatures flow outward, but remain within God” portion of Eckhart’s quote feels so parallel to Tenen’s translation.

And that, my friends, is our October Contemplation.

Love & Prayers,
Kelly