Meister Eckhart – About Cracking Parables
Meister Eckhart was a German theologian, philosopher, and mystic who lived from the late 13th to early 14th centuries. He shares the following wisdom:
About Cracking Parables
I have often said: The shell must break and whatever is inside must come forth; for if you want to have the nut, you must first crack the shell. In the same way: if you want to find nature revealed, you must first crack all its parables, and the further you penetrate, the closer you will get to true being. When the soul finds the One in which all is one, then it remains in this single Oneness. (Sermon 51)
About Stillness
And therefore (because the relation to God may not be disturbed by any images of knowledge from within), silence and stillness must be the rule, and the Father must speak there and give birth to his Son and work his works without any images. . . . Such (good and perfect) people should know that it is the best and most noble of actions for which we have come into this life, if you are silent and allow God to act and speak. When all powers are removed from their works and images, then this word is spoken. For this reason he said: ‘In the midst of silence the heavenly Word was spoken to me.’ (Sap 18:14ff)
Translation of: Quint in: N. Largier, Meister Eckhart. Werke, 2 vols., Frankfurt/M., 1993, Here vol. I, p. 545, 1. 18-25.
Image by: Wing-Chi Poon, via Wikimedia Commons
