MEISTER ECKHART
(1260 - 1328)

      Oh wonder of wonders, what noble suffering that is, that the essence of the soul can suffer nothing but the bare unity of God…! One master [St Augustine] says: 'If I had a God I could understand, I would no longer consider him God'. So, if you understand anything of Him, that is not He; by understanding anything of Him you fall into misunderstanding, and from this misunderstanding you fall into brutishness, for whatever in creatures is uncomprehending is brutish. So, if you don't want to become brutish, understand nothing of God the unutterable.
       — 'Oh, but what should I do then?'.
       You should wholly sink away from your you-ness and dissolve into His His-ness, and your 'yours' and His 'His' should become so completely one 'Mine' that with Him you understand His unbecome Is-ness and His nameless Nothing-ness.   

 

In their many different idioms the classical spiritual writers have attempted to throw light on the eternal question of union with God. 
Every month we give you a brief passage from a spiritual classic.