Saturday, March 31, 2012

Clarification

I would like to make a clarification concerning this blog and all past and future blog posts. While at times it may seem that my posts claim to state an absolute truth, that is the wrong impression. In reality, all of my posts are merely my opinion. In fact, they could be completely false.

So, if I say in a future blog post "this is so", realize that I do not actually mean what I write. I am always open to the possibility that I could be wrong. Keep that in mind.


Monday, March 5, 2012

One Eye: Meister Eckhart and D&C 76

Eckhart von Hochheim, also known as Meister Eckhart, was a German mystic and theologian who lived in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Highly controversial in his own time, his ideas are a beautiful interpretation of the time's Christian faith. One of the my favorites of these ideas is as follows:

“The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God's eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love.” 

This wonderful quotation expresses an idea I hold very close to my heart, that God experiences what we do. He thinks our thoughts, hears the things we hear and sees the things we see. Interestingly enough, the D&C expresses almost exactly the same idea in Section 76 (verse 94):

"Those who dwell in his presence are the church of the Firstborn; and they see as they are seen, and know as they are known, having received of his fulness and of his grace." 

This expresses that those who dwell in God's presence shall "see as they are seen" and "know as they are known". These expressions, although they may seem cryptic, are actually quite clear. For what does it mean to "see as you are seen"? I would imagine that it signifies my potential ability able to see through God's (or anyone else's) eyes and look at myself. Because I potentially perceive the world through the eye with which God is already looking, we would have "one seeing".


The above scriptures also has another implication. Namely, if we "see as we are seen", the vision "in-to-out" and "out-to-in" are the same. This means that inside and outside are really just two ends of the same thing. This scripture magnificently unifies subject with object, signifying that they are one. This personally brings me immense comfort, as I oftentimes feel cut off from the rest of being.

Thank you for reading. Please comment!