Reading Eckhart and thinking of the question of human nature. I think that generally speaking we put things the wrong way round and take the existential self, or the self of experience, as the primary reality situated over and against God. Whereas it is the true self, or as E would put it, the ground of the soul, which is primary and this does not exist over and against God but in God. This is fine for contemplatives, inside or outside the cloister, but what about the vast majority of people. I talked to –during the day and he is finding it very tough with no money and a succession of job rejections and failed interviews. I really felt for him. And then there is — shortly to be out of work and no ideas for the future. Finally there is the situation in Palestine, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the hypocritical cynicism of most politicians. How does all this fit into E’s highly abstract and esoteric ideas about human nature? He has quite a lot to say about Christ as the Word, his relationship within the Trinity and his kenosis in communicating God to us – but what about the human Jesus and his suffering? How does that fit in? I can quiet see that the suffering of Jesus, given his divine connection, has an ontological, indeed a transcendental, dimension which reverberates through all that is, ever has been or will be. And I suppose, on a lesser scale, something similar applies to each human person given his or her existential ground in God. But these are esoteric concepts, the fruit of uncommon experience and erudite speculation. How can they be made relevant? Most people are immersed in the practical details of daily living and striving. Many face excruciating suffering and intractable problems. Even if they could all be brought to appreciate the meaning of these concepts, as concepts they would still have little weight to bear against the pressure of tangible events.
The traditional solution for those who become aware of the significance of our divine connection, and who have a contemplative disposition, has been to flee from the pressure of tangible events and attention preoccupying occupations into the solitude of the desert and the silence of the cloister. And these people have been an invaluable sign, reminding us of the ephemeral character of material values and of the transforming presence of the Spirit. But I cannot help feeling that in sidestepping the material world with all its beauty and ugliness, its joys and sorrows, something important is being missed. Granted the awesome implications of the ground of our being in the ground of God, but this does not mean that our daily striving with suffering and joy is not relevant. On the contrary, it should infuse the most insignificant actions, our dealings with washing and shopping, making and mending and, even more, our struggles for justice and against exploitation, with a transcendental significance. And at some deep, inarticulate level we know this. But how do we make this knowledge more explicit? How can we use it against the mesmerising attraction of wealth and power and the pressure to conform? I’m sure Marx was right when he said that it was the social being of man which determines his consciousness. So Eckhart’s ideas are not going to carry much weight in a consumer oriented society of possessive individualists.