4. “The soul does not grow by addition but by subtraction.”

The soul does not grow by addition but by subtraction.” ~ Meister Eckhart

This one is a puzzler because it seems to be counter intuitive. How can something grow by becoming less? The answer lies in understanding the significance of letting go. The more we hang onto non-spiritual, worldly matters, the less capacity we have for holiness. We must winnow out the non-essential so there is growing room for spirituality to be nourished and take root.

When I take stock of everything I think about everyday, I am astounded. The roar of daily living is truly stunning. From the first waking moment, I listening to the weather, thinking about all of the events planned for the day, thinking about what happened the day before. I read books and other material and have hobbies I enjoy that draw my attention and energy. I find it difficult to carve out 10 minutes a couple times a day to pray the hours.

Even in a good day, I devote only a couple of hours toward my relationship with God and even that is tacking down the corners of a much larger construct. If it is true, I must let go of more and more to subtract more and more of the distractions, and I believe it is, how do I go about it?

I think about the monks of Mount Angel. They have a consecrated life but even they have to contend with the work needed for the Abbey to function. Other than being a hermit or recluse, there is no feasible way to reach the goal set by Eckhart. Given the full life he lived himself, I question how much time he spent letting go. No doubt he was extremely adept at minimizing life but he also had choices to make.

If I consider 8 hours go to work and 8 hours go toward sleep, there are 8 hours a day for everything else. When I start subtracting necessary time spent preparing food and eating, time just keeps slipping away until weariness overcomes motivation and I give up for the day only to start over again.

There is another aspect to look at - the time spent in what I call holy study. This would include the reading I do about Church history, dogma, theology, social teaching and so on. I am learning more and more about more and more that I sometimes wonder if expanding in all directions at all times, even with the narrow focus of my faith journey is simply being wasted when I really need to focus on a much smaller target. My friend Janeen constantly reminds me I over think just about everything and it is not productive. My wife, would agree with her but after 40 years she learned to approach me from a different way. She doesn't tell when I am overthinking, she usually just says what she believes and I am left to ponder how she could so many different places before me.

The conclusion has to be the more I study Eckhart, the more I will know and perhaps understand about less. My curious, undisciplined mind will lead me off in myriad of directions as will happen to young dog who knows nothing other than to follow where ever his nose leads him regardless of the need for pursuit.