Meister Eckhart & the Mystics on Detachment

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.”