The great mystics of the world have with an almost unanimous voice spoken of the necessity of cultivating detachment. Our meditation on this theme will consider the significance of the virtue in the overall philosophical and ethical teachings of Meister Eckhart (1260-1328), the great medieval German mystic “from whom,” as it has often been said, “God hid nothing.” The lecture will explore why it is that Eckhart considers detachment to be among the most important of virtues, and what he believes to be the marks or signs of the implantation of this virtue within the soul. The talk will end with some brief reflections on the relevance of his teachings to us in the 21st century in a rapidly expanding global culture marked by mass consumption and “attachment.”
Dr. Atif Khalil teaches in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Lethbridge. His area of specialization lies in the formative period of Sufism, with a focus on the early development of Islamic moral and spiritual psychology. He completed his doctorate at the University of Toronto in 2009 with a thesis on repentance in early Sufism. He has also had the opportunity to study in more traditional settings in Syria and Yemen.