21. To be empty of things is to be full of God.

“To be full of things is to be empty of God. To be empty of things is to be full of God.” ~ Meister Eckhart

“Whoever wants to receive everything must also renounce everything. That is a fair bargain and an equal return … Therefore, because God wants to give us himself and all things as out own free possessions, so he wants to deprive us, utterly and completely, of all possessiveness.” ~Meister Eckhart

I struggle with really grasping this idea. It is as if there is no room for anything else in our souls except God. In reality, to be empty is more conceptual than literal. We are human and we have in a world in which we have exist. We need food, shelter, clothing, companion ship and whole long list of things which we really can't just ignore. I don't think Eckhart is truly saying we should just withdraw and sit around all day expiating. There are very few of who would have the luxury of doing so rising great harm. Indeed just yesterday I reflected on the need to engage the world in order to allow Christ to bring us into his peace sustained by love, grace and mercy.

So what does he mean by empty? Perhaps it means we should not mistake wants for needs. Do I need to have a collection of fly rods, fishing gear, firearms and firearm accessories simply because they bring me pleasure? Surely I don't need them in any sense but finding pleasure can be an overpowering and intoxicating addiction which pulls me into an unbalanced relationship with material things.

Finding God requires us to be empty of being dominated by our possessions. I am feel like the young man in the scripture who when told by Jesus that he must give away all he owns simply went away sad because he had many things. To think about the need to give away all of my belongings gives me pause and fills me with the angst. I like my things. I worked hard to buy them. Fair enough but are they keeping me from being bound to my creator, an entity with whom I have more of an abstract relationship than one of defined reality? Yes.

Now what? Coming to grips with that fact is the first step. Now it has to take root so I can move toward renouncing things of this world to find God and experience his love.