The Eye with Which I See God is the Same Eye with Which God Sees Me: Meister Eckhart on Divine Awareness

Abstract

This essay seeks to elicit the complexity, profundity, and subtlety at work in the title, so as to gain a more genuine understanding of what constitutes mystical knowledge and divine awareness for Eckhart. In part one I explore what Eckhart means by this line, and in the process disclose what he does not mean. In part two I explore the mystical implications of the line’s meaning. Throughout I draw from Eckhart’s own sermons and treatises, as well as scripture and works that have influenced his thinking. I also incorporate examples from other mystical traditions as analogies that help us to grasp what Eckhart is saying. My aim is to show the varying ways in which the mystical can be understood in Eckhart, and the extent to which these ways are significant to him. To conclude, I elucidate what Eckhart’s famous line in essence says and what it achieves.