Love everything, here and everywhere, that moves you closer to God. For if you desired to see a foreign land by crossing the sea, you would want a ship to carry you there. But then having crossed the wide ocean, you would no longer have need of a ship, even though you loved it with the love of God, because after loving a thing in such a way, you turn inward again and say, with the Song, My Beloved is mine and I am his.
*"Love of God." In Jon M. Sweeny; Mark S. Burrows; Meister Eckhart. Meister Eckhart's Book of Darkness & Light.
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Meister Eckhart (Dominican, b. ca. 1260) says there is a time to leave a "ship." A ship brings you into intimacy with the Beloved Life: "you turn inward again." Hence, the Way leads you to a life turned right-side-up rather than up-side-down. Our natural inclination is intimacy-within the Fount, enjoyment of the closeness, Water in Water.
Christians speak of "spiritual disciplines"; Buddhists refer to "skillful means." These are ships. Ships usher us into sacred intercourse, manifesting as one-in-two-loving - often referred to in Christian spirituality as "mutual indwelling." One is the oneness; two is oneness creating the other to love.
Eckhart uses scripture from the Hebrew Bible. The bride speaks of the bridegroom: "My beloved is mine and I am his" (Song of Songs 2.16).
Suppose you keep engaging in a spiritual practice that does not now support the intimacy with Life you have been ushered into. In that case, the means needs to be let go of. Some means that helped lead you into intimacy can continue, helping stabilize you in the intimacy and guide you more deeply into it.
In intimacy, the inner attitude when using a practice that helped bring you to a realization of oneness-in-communion is different than prior. In that sense, the ship sails with a different purpose; you are not trying to be intimate but acting out of intimacy. The means can even celebrate the intimacy that is. You cannot become one when you are, but communion can be a celebration. Before, you were aiming at oneness with the Beloved. Now you are acting from being one with the Beloved.
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You do not get intimacy; you do not make it happen. A ship takes you there. Grace is the energy that moves the ship across the waters of time-and-space, of felt-separation, to the timeless non-place of union. You let the ship, moved by the Wind, take you to the there-less place.
At the thereless-place, there is no place to go. You may often feel lost and confused on the way - Where in the heck is this ship taking me?! ... Trust and keep yielding to the wisdom of the Grace. Do not let go of a ship until you no longer need it.
Then, in intimacy, you may experience difficulty adjusting to this union. You may be threatened by it, feeling the urge to flee to the safety of the world of ships. Give it time. Keep trusting. Relax. You will relax into this new but ancient way of being. It has always been in your bones, alive inside your skin. You will adjust to the habitat. Soon, you will not even be able to think of going back.
*Use of photography is allowed accompanied by credit given to Brian K. Wilcox and title and place of photographs.
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse.
