The Complete Mystical Works of Meister Eckhart

The Complete Mystical Works of Meister Eckhart (2009). M.O'C.Walshe (trans) New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company.

This book is actually a reissue of the three volume Meistert Eckhart: Sermons and Treatises, translated and edited by M. O'C Walshe. These three volumes were published in 1979. Meister Eckhart is my favourite Christian mystical writer and philosopher. M. O'C Walshe did a good job in translating his sermons and writings. Eckhart presents his scholarly and academic writings in Latin while he preaches and presents his reflections in the vernicular German. The German portion of his works are often referred to as his mystical writings.

in the midst of silence, there was spoken within me a secret word...But where is the silence and where is the place where the word is spoken?...It is in the purist place that the soul is capable of, in the noblest part, the ground...

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How to be a Mystic

Carl MacColman in his delightfully named blog/website The Website of Unknowing posted his thoughts on How to be a Mystic.

And so this is the real kicker: the most reliable path to becoming a mystic is, simply, the path of following Christ. Like Evangelicals, we need to accept Christ as our Lord and Savior. Like Catholics, we need to make Communion a priority. Like Lutherans, we need to nurture our faith. Like the Orthodox, we need to make sure the name of Jesus is always on our lips. We need to read the Gospels and make the stories of this wild carpenter-turned-rabbi part of our daily lives. We need to go and do what he said. We need to make his mind our mind, and open our hearts to his heart. We need to be so focussed on Christ (instead of ourselves) that we stop worrying about whether we are mystics or not.

And once that happens, we will have begun the journey.

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I really like his thoughts on mysticism.

Demarest on Mysticism

An interesting article on Mysticism posted on METAmorpha

Bruce Demarest: Mysticism: Peril or Promise?

What Do We Mean?

Satiated with consumerism, technological gizmos, and frenetic activity, people of all stripes are exploring the mystical realm. We all resonate with moments of elevated wonder triggered by a beautiful sunset, rapturous music, or the birth of a baby. In a depersonalized age, image bearers are searching for relationship with something or Someone larger than themselves that will ease the dullness of daily life and energize the soul. Christians, in particular, hunger for more intimate experience of Jesus Christ and greater awareness of the Spirit’s ministry within.

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To understand mysticism I find it helpful to distinguish between hard, occult, and soft forms of mysticism. Hard mysticism alleges the merging of human nature with the essence of the Absolute or God, in such a way that self-consciousness is lost. The Buddhist seeks absorption into Nirvana (an egoless state), and the Hindu, merging of the self (Atman) with Brahman (universal deity). Meister Eckhart (1260–1327) was one of the few Christian mystics who made statements that border on hard mysticism. Occult forms of mysticism (e.g., est, New Age, Psycanics) seek transcendent insights and experiences through mind-altering substances and/or esoteric practices. Both hard and occult forms of mysticism are fundamentally opposed to orthodox Christianity.

While I appreciate his division of mysticism into soft, hard and occult forms, I find that it is too artificial a division. To limit 'soft' mysticism to orthodox Christianity, 'hard' mysticism to Buddhism and Hinduism, and 'occult' mysticism to New Age is to limit our understanding of mysticism.

Demarest is right to point out the numerous mystical experiences in the biblical records. However, as he also points out, Meister Eckhart and the Rhineland mystics may be included in 'hard' mysticism and if I may suggest 'occult' mysticism (as defined by Demarest) too. The ascetic practices of the desert fathers and mothers are dangerously close to 'occult' mysticism. Would we exclude Meister Eckhart and the desert fathers and mothers from 'orthodox Christianity'?

Buddhist mysticism seeks awareness of the non-self rather than 'absorption into Nirvana.' Hindu mysticism seeks a transcendent insight that will leads to a better karma. Christian mysticism seeks intimacy with God. Personally, I will prefer describing mysticism as from the traditions such as Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Sufi, Native American etc rather than soft, hard and occult.

The taxonomy of Christian mysticism will include Presbyterian, Methodist, Anglican, Lutheran, Roman, Orthodox, Pentecostal...

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Science and the Mystic

Image by Amanda Duffy

Science and the Mystic What are we to make of the variety of spiritual experiences? By Mark Galli

Science and the Mystic

Image by Amanda Duffy

Science and the Mystic What are we to make of the variety of spiritual experiences? By Mark Galli

Harmless on Mystics

Books & Culture, May/June

Raids on the Ineffable
A lucid account of eight mystics refutes the notion that "all religions are the same at the top."
Reviewed by Nathaniel Peters posted 06/23/08

Mystics by William Harmless, S.J.Oxford Univ. Press350 pp., $18.95, paper


But true mystics are far from amorphously spiritual. As Bernard McGinn has put it, "no mystic (at least before the present century) believed in or practiced 'mysticism.' They believed in and practiced Christianity (or Judaism, or Islam, or Hinduism), that is, religions that contained mystical elements as part of a wider historical whole." McGinn's work serves as the starting point for William Harmless, a professor of theology at Creighton University, whose new book Mystics is a walk through the lives and teachings of eight great mystics: Thomas Merton, Bernard of Clairvaux, Hildegard of Bingen, Bonaventure, Meister Eckhart, and Evagrius Ponticus from the Christian tradition, as well as the Sufi poet Rumi and the Buddhist divine Dogen. read more


A good review. I look forward to reading this when my book arrives.

Harmless on Mystics

Books & Culture, May/June

Raids on the Ineffable
A lucid account of eight mystics refutes the notion that "all religions are the same at the top."
Reviewed by Nathaniel Peters posted 06/23/08

Mystics by William Harmless, S.J.Oxford Univ. Press350 pp., $18.95, paper


But true mystics are far from amorphously spiritual. As Bernard McGinn has put it, "no mystic (at least before the present century) believed in or practiced 'mysticism.' They believed in and practiced Christianity (or Judaism, or Islam, or Hinduism), that is, religions that contained mystical elements as part of a wider historical whole." McGinn's work serves as the starting point for William Harmless, a professor of theology at Creighton University, whose new book Mystics is a walk through the lives and teachings of eight great mystics: Thomas Merton, Bernard of Clairvaux, Hildegard of Bingen, Bonaventure, Meister Eckhart, and Evagrius Ponticus from the Christian tradition, as well as the Sufi poet Rumi and the Buddhist divine Dogen. read more


A good review. I look forward to reading this when my book arrives.