Meister Eckhart (1260-1327).

God is not so much concerned with our works as with the spirit with which we perform them all and that we should love Him in all things. They for whom God is not enough are greedy. The reward for all your works should be that they are known to God and that you seek God in them. Let this always be enough for you. The more purely and simply you seek him, the more effectively all your works will atone for your sins. Selected Writings, P.27.

In return for stripping myself of myself for his sake, God will be wholly my own possession with all that he is and can do, as much mine as his, no more and no less. He will belong to me a thousand times more than anything ever belonged to anyone which they keep in their chest, or than he was ever his own possession. (...) Selected Writings, P.48.

People think that they have more when they have both things and God than when they have God without things. But this is wrong, for having all things as well as God is nothing other than having God alone. Selected Writings, P.125.

(...) there are certain people who turn from things out of love, but who still have great regard for what they have left. But those who understand in truth that even when they have given themselves up and have abandoned all things, this is still absolutely nothing - those who live in this way, truly possess all things. Selected Writings, P.186.

The Now in which God created the first man and the Now in which the last man will disappear and the Now in which I am speaking - all are the same in God, and there is only one Now. Quoted after: Novak Philip, The World's Wisdom, P.270.

Scripture says, "No one knows the Father but the Son." Therefore if you want to know God, you must not only be like the Son, you must be the Son. Quoted after: Novak Philip, The World's Wisdom, P.270.

I am often asked if a man can reach the point where he is no longer hindered by time, multiplicity, or matter.  Assuredly!  Once this birth has really occured, no creatures can hinder you; instead, they will all direct you to God and this birth.  Take lighning as an analogy. Whatever it strikes, whether tree, beast, or man, it turns at once towards itself.  A man with his back towards it is instantly turned around to face it.  If a tree had a thousand leaves, they would all turn right side up towards the stroke.  So it is with all in whom this birth occurs, they are promptly turned towards this birth with all they possess, be it never so earthly.  In fact, what used to be a hindrance now helps you most.  Your face is so fully turned towards this birth that, no matter what you see or hear, you can get nothing but this birth from all things. Cyprian Smith. The Way of Paradox - Spiritual Life as Taught by Meister Eckhart. PP.100-101.


A man born blind can easily deny the magnificence of a vast landscape. He can easily deny all the wonders that he cannot touch, smell, taste, or hear. But one day the wind will show its kindness and remove the tiny patches that cover your eyes, and you will see God more clearly than you have ever seen yourself. P.92.

When were you last really happy? Let that experience ferment, bring it to mind once in a while. Surely in the genesis of that past moment, when you danced, you would not have wanted a constable to have knocked on your door, or have said, “You entered a restricted ground.” Why are there so many stars and souls, with no end in sight for them? Because nothing can interrupt God when He is having fun, creating! P.95.

(…) What a womb God has – what wild love He must have made to Himself for days and days without stopping to have given birth to all you can imagine, and to all you cannot conceive. Draw a circle around the frontiers of space, barely can God fit a toe there. P.96

All languages has taken an oath to fail to describe Him; any attempt to do so is the height of arrogance (…). I cried out one night in the madness of separation from love, in the madness of doing, of trying to add to the Perfect; for Perfect is All.

The awakened heart is like a luminous sphere – just giving without thought to any who may come close or gaze at it. The soul becomes blessedly lost to all but its own holy being.

When we cannot be who we are our divine senses become mute, mute and sick from the insanity of judging what He made Immaculate.

Who must God have made love to in order to have given birth to all this sound, to this sacred spectrum of colors, scents, and music from wind’s body and existence’s plea for mercy – that plea for the real mercy, unbearable joy? P.97.

I am a swimming galaxy tonight. Angels prowl around me hoping I will toss them a fresh piece of light – here dears, here, my sack is full. The universe rents space from me, and oceans are drawn from my well. How can that be? For I can touch Jerusalem while my other hand tastes the beauty of the Rhine. Yes, I can kiss Jerusalem while my mouth tastes the wonders of the Rhine. P.98.

My Lord told me a joke. And seeing Him laugh has done more for me than any scripture I will ever read. P.99.

They are always kissing, they can’t control themselves. It is not possible that any creature ca have greater instincts and perceptions than the mature human mind. God ripened me. So I see it is true: all objects in existence are wildly in love. P.100.

Knowledge always deceives. It always limits the Truth, every concept and image does. From cage to cage the caravan moves, but I give thanks, for each divine juncture my wings expand and I touch Him more intimately. P.101.

I wanted to put something on this page that might make your heart see as mine, for the Truth lives in me now; its ways I know. When God flowed into Himself, he made the mill happy. (…) Existence leans its mouth toward me, because my love cares for it. P.102-3.

Someday you will hear all things applaud your wonder. Life claps in awe of the Divine’s performance. When your veil is removed, you, dear – you, everyone – will see that your being is Holy. Raising their children is the primary care and purpose for some – this is a blessed state, for an oasis of love is found in the desert. The heart only reflects the Sky when it is giving and compassionate. Who would want to stand before a mirror that was shattered, and thus distorts our beauty that is so fragile as we grow. An oasis for all life the soul becomes when it is unveiled. P.104.

How long can the moth flirt near the mouth of the flame before their lips touch and the moth’s soul becomes like a sun. (…) How long do you think you can just flirt with Him before you dissolve in ecstasy? (…) P.105.

I could not bear to touch God with my own hand when he came within my reach, but he wanted me to hold Him. How God solved my blessed agony, who can understand? He turned my body into His. P.106.

All day long a little burro labors, sometimes with heavy loads on her back and sometimes just with worries about things that bother only burros. And worries, as we know, can be more exhausting than physical labor. Once in a while a kind monk comes to her stable and brings a pear, but more than that, he looks into the burro’s eyes and touches her ears and for s few seconds the burro is free and even seems to laugh, because love does that. Love frees. P.108.

What keeps us alive, what allows us to endure? I think it is the hope of loving, or being loved. I heard a fable once about the sun going on a journey to find its source, and how the moon wept without her lover’s warm gaze. We weep when light does not reach our hearts. We wither like fields if someone close does not rain their kindness upon us. P.109.

They can be a great help – words. They can become the spirit’s hands and lift and caress you. P.110.

Having lunch in a field one day, I troubled an ant with a question. I asked of him humbly, “Have you ever been to Paris?” And he replied, “no, but I wouldn’t mind going.” And then he asked me if I had ever been to a famous ant city. And I regretted that I hadn’t, and was quick to add, “I wouldn’t mind, too!” This led to a conclusion: There is life that we do not know of. How aware are we of all consciousness in this universe? Less than that is our knowledge of God. How then can we ever argue about Him? P.111.

All beings are words of God, His music, His art. Sacred books we are, for the infinite camps in our souls. Every act reveals God and expands His Being. I know that may be hard to comprehend. All creatures are doing their best to help God in His birth of Himself. Enough talk for the night. He is laboring in me; I need to be silent for a while, worlds are forming in my heart. P.112.

Commerce is supported by keeping the individual at odds with himself and others, by making us want more than we need, and offering credit to buy what refined senses do not want. (…) I find nothing more destructive to the well-being of life than to support a god that makes you feel unworthy and in debt to it. I imagine erecting churches to such a strange god will assure endless wars that commerce loves. A god that could frighten is not a god – but an insidious idol and weapon in the hands of the insane. A god who talks of sin is worshipped by the infirm; (…) P.115.

I was once spiritually ill – we all pass through that – but one day the intelligence in my soul cured me. P.116.

How long will grown men and women in this world keep drawing in their coloring books an image of God that makes them sad? P.117.

It is a lie – any talk of God that does not comfort you. P.118.

It is your destiny to see as God sees, to know as God knows, to feel as God feels. How is this possible? How? Because divine love cannot defy its very self. Divine love will be eternally true to its own being, and its being is giving all it can, at the perfect moment. And the greatest gift God can give is His own experience. Every object, every creature, every man, woman and child has a soul and it is the destiny of all, to see God as God sees, to know as God knows, to feel as God feels, to Be as God Is. P.120.

All the above quotes from:

Ladinsky Daniel (2002). Love Poems from God. Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West. Penguin Group.

Last updated: 2008/10/27

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