January ‘25 1-to-1 Wiseletter (Meister Eckhart + Frodo)
In January's 1-to-1 Wiseletter, we're looking at a quote by Meister Eckhart, a 13th
century German mystic and Dominican priest.
Meister Eckhart
Quote
“The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me”
The relationship between God and man is a two-way street. Herman Melville approached this insight in his epic Moby-Dick. Moby-Dick the whale represented the primitive God of the Old Testament, a pseudo-unconscious force of nature oscillating between extremes of wrath and mercy. Captain Ahab, leader of the whaling ship destroyed by Moby-Dick, represented modern man and his departure from the ancient proclivities of groveling before his deity when disaster struck. Ahab senses that the playing field is level and takes the offensive by tracking down the whale.
Captain Ahab
In less antagonistic but no less blasphemous terms, Eckhart affirms this secret relationship between God and man.
Eckhart’s “eye” is Consciousness boiled down to its basic element: awareness. This is the same “I am” encountered by Moses at Mt. Horeb, the Tat tvam asi of the Upanishads, and the Eye of Sauron in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.
This “I am” can see in all directions. It brings the world into existence with its gaze and locks it into place with knowing, or knowledge. But there’s just one problem: the naked eye of “I am” hangs suspended, alone, revealing all but itself. However hard it tries it can’t turn its gaze back on itself. While its exterior comes into view as the world, its interior remains a mystery.
It’s unconscious of itself.
The eye can only see into itself if there arises an opposing eye to peer back into it. This other eye must at least seem to be distinct, as there is only one “I am.”
This is like the relationship between God and man. On the surface, the dual entities of God and man are distinct, but at their root, they’re one. Hence, the eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me. Eckhart declares identity between God and man. God is man’s inner world, man is God’s outer world. Moby-Dick is a powerful beast who swims under the formless sea (under the level of consciousness), while man floats atop (over the line of consciousness) and struggles to bring the forces of the Unconscious to heel.
Man rescues God from its own unconsciousness by summoning the heroic courage to look inward and encounter it. This is Ahab’s quest.
The trickiest part is that man can’t do this out of selfish pretense. He cannot bring God into view and witness it from his personal standpoint. Since the eye they share is distinct only in seeming, but not at root, it’s impossible for man to bring his identity (his ego) through the door. "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Captain Ahab attempts this and perishes. Tangled in his own harpoon rope, he is dragged under into the deep by Moby-Dick.
It is for this reason that a mere hobbit, the meekest of all, was the only one suited to carry the The One Ring across the world into Mordor, the interior of Sauron’s kingdom.
To be observed is to be known. To be watched without seeing your watcher is disquieting. If we feel we're being watched, the first thing we do is find our stalker to strip them of their advantage. Direct eye contact in the animal (and civilized) world is dangerous. Stare a strange dog in the eye at your own peril. To be seen is an eerie experience.
The perennial mystical experience of seeing God while God sees you is the eeriest of them all. God and man wake up to each other in a mutual deja-vu of primeval horror and bliss. “Who’s responsible?!” is the first question they ask in unison.
QUESTION
Love, peace, charity, liberty, hate, war, greed, oppression—who’s responsible?
Cheers,
John
