“This is a time for truth-tellers,” M. Ali Lakhani said last night in a panel discussion hosted by the Edinburgh International Centre for Peace & Spirituality on Meister Eckhart, the Medieval theologian, philosopher and mystic who drew on metaphysical principles to teach about the nature of existence. The German died in 1328, yet his message that the truth resides innately within one’s self remains fresh.
Lakhani’s statement excited me, yet it spoke to the challenge we face in a seemingly ever-polarizing world: There is an urgency to seek truth, to come to know it, and to apply it.
Each of these steps today is like climbing a steep staircase in roller skates. We’ve entered an age where the faux is ubiquitous. Between the harm by deep-fake videos, “hallucinating” AI agents, petroleum-based skincare products, and EMF radiation from Bluetooth ear buds and headphones, the notion of truth-seeking these days can be as simple as reading the nutrition label on your favorite protein bar. Warning: Say goodbye to all your fun snacks!
Once you’ve experienced the truth of a matter, life is different.
I know I’ll never again twist off the top of another Oreo because I know “high fructose corn syrup” and emulsifiers like soy lecithin do not align with my values ~ or my gut. Bitter side note: Major manufacturers are using AI, under the guise of R&D, to engineer cheaper alternatives for “chocolately” flavor, rather than use genuine chocolate, as the Today show reported. Just more evidence that it’s getting harder to connect with what’s natural, actual and genuine.
Living at a time when “the system” is designed to distract, dysregulate and disempower our natural ways makes any effort to resist akin to mounting a mutiny for personal peace and wellbeing. Or playing a never-ending game of Whack a Mole. Or strapping on the skates to go upstairs.
Timeless Wisdom
In the online midst of half a dozen scholars sharing their impressions on the sermons of a Medieval Mystic, I wondered that throughout history ~ in times of great distress, change and uncertainty ~ people must have hearkened back to earlier times and wondered how their forebears coped and hoped. Would they have recalled previous generations’ hardships and felt bolstered by the survival of their own kin from a plague or a fire or massacre? If they could survive that, we can survive this, they may have reasoned.
Perhaps we can look back 700 years or so to find Meister Eckhart’s message is perfectly primed and timed for our moment: It’s a call to step back from the noise and into one’s self.
“Above thought is the intellect, which still seeks: It goes about looking, spies out here and there, picks up and drops. But above the intellect that seeks is another intellect which does not seek but stays in its pure, simple being, which is embraced in that light.” ~Meister Eckhart, German sermon 19b, translated by M.O’C. Walshe (Source: EckartSociety.com)
What he means is that we cannot think our way to the truth and we cannot find it outside of ourselves. Rather, we must detach from things, thoughts and even ideologies to open our awareness and trust our intuition. The truth emerges, and it is perceived rather than reasoned in the mind or felt through emotion. This gnosis ~ direct experiential knowledge ~ comes to us through metaphysical means, rather than learning or devising through intellect. Very Zen.
Truth-Finding
Meister Eckhart wasn’t the first to articulate this pathway to truth. It has been proffered by the ancients from all corners and all religions, as mentioned by Lakhani, who is a British-born scholar, writer and lawyer who founded Sacred Web, a journal exploring “traditional metaphysical principles from the world’s faith and wisdom traditions, and their application to the contingent circumstances of modernity.” The journal counts King Charles III and His Holiness Dalai Lama among its fans.
Lakhani drew lines between the synergies between teachings, vocabulary and evangelists across a variety of wisdom traditions. They seem in sync on process to come to know the truth, even if they use different framing.
“Philosophy is knowledge of the things of nature and the soul that is innate in human beings or acquired through their own efforts, whereas theology is knowledge of heavenly things that is based on faith and divine revelation,” according to Britannica.com.
Regard for our non-physical aspects and phenomena were accepted as natural dynamic mysteries it seems, until the Industrial Revolution slammed on the brakes. This development of mechanization started in Great Britain (1760), spread to Europe and then America (1840), and profoundly elevated a focus on the physical over the esoteric. It sparked Scientism, which is a belief system that holds that the truth can be known only through scientific inquiry of the natural sciences (biology, chemistry, etc.).
Look around ~ we’re living the effects of that now.
Industrialization. Automation. Economics over humanity. Machine over man. Man over nature.
But something is shifting. I can feel it. Can you?
Lexicon of Truth
I was struck how Meister Eckhart left room for the truth to become known through one’s self, rather than take a dogmatic stance that it could be known only through an anointed disciple of the church or a formal religious ritual. And I would’ve expected a Dominican priest’s default setting to be theology-speak. Yet he did neither.
In fact, he seemed to speak in neutral terms, relatable terms, accessible terms, to the point that I had to ask:
“Do you think Meister Eckhart might have felt limited by the use of the word ‘God’ when speaking about the eternal truth? Perhaps another word ~ creation, nature, the sacred, the divine, potentiality ~ could have fit?”
Meister Eckhart didn’t get caught up in language, Lakhani replied. In fact, he was regarded for his lack of rigidity with words and distinguished for his fluidity around language and his extensive use of analogies. He often substituted “God” for “truth,” I learned.
How refreshing! I also noticed how Meister Eckart noted the trinity of the intellect, of feeling and of intuition ~ which maps directly to mind, body and spirit. That’s contemporary phrasing that’s been in use for decades, has currency in the mainstream, and even is mentioned in U.K. Parliamentary documentation.
If Meister Eckhart we here now, I wonder if he would have talked about our holistic nature and about how mind, body and spirited are connected. He sounds surprisingly earthy for a theologian, philosopher and mystic.
Truth Supercedes Ideology
“Truth is something so noble that if God could turn aside from it, I could keep the truth and let God go.” ~ Meister EckhartThat quote reveals a pragmatic man. He also teaches that one cannot go searching for the truth, but be it. The answer, again, is not “out there,” is an awareness.
Interestingly, the premise in Meister Eckhart ~ in all thought around existence ~ is that there is but one truth about the nature of reality.
I believe this*, yet there are unlimited ways into it; each person’s journey and realization is unique. We each have our own lens, filter and perspective on what is accurate about anything. One’s view is shaped by culture, circumstances, genetics, and other factors. The chasm between us is of our own making.
My Take: Our non-physical aspect ~ consciousness, energy, soul ~ exists in oneness. It’s through the process of individualizing into human form on this physical plane that we forget this inherent interconnectedness with each other and all that is. Here on earth we long for connection, acceptance and love, and we suffer for lack of it. The loneliness of what feels like a solo existence is part of the human experience. While we remain part of the oneness, this amnesia causes a mirage. It’s the human condition, not an object of The Truth. And it feels like suffering.
But it doesn’t have to.
Choosing Courage
As we wake up to the wisdom of Meister Eckhart and to our own true nature, we ought to incandesce with hope. Hope that we may find, “The truth [that] is inscribed on each person’s soul,” as Meister Eckhart wrote.
After all, emotions are energy, and hope is a higher frequency than despair; 310 points to 50 points on a 1000-point scale, respectively, according to Dr. David R. Hawkins’ Map of Consciousness. When we hold that vibration, it will connect us with the larger field of hope and it will attract more of the same. Hope precedes harmony, wisdom, and love on that Map. It’s a great starting point, and it is a choice.
For a mind-body-spirit philosopher whose teachings cross Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Sufism, and more, Meister Eckart’s lessons on truth have been relatable to many for eons. Let’s give his approach a try now.
“Faith is a form of intelligence,” Lakhani said toward the end of the panel discussion. Another quote I love. However, he noted, this type of intelligence is overlooked in our quantitative world where intelligence is regarded as, “the ability to predict and control,” as La Salle University Prof. Robert J. Dobie (another panelist) put it.
Next Steps
We can move toward truth by stripping back the faux. That’s finding ways to quiet the noise of distraction, to switch to natural products over processed ones to better regulate our bodies, and to exercise our agency for empowerment. That’s finding time, space and place where we can just exist, even for five minutes, in an organic state of being without doing.
Perhaps it will detox the pollution and clear the overwhelmed, sensitive energy receptors and reset the innate intuitive toolkit.
Perhaps it will reveal that we are conscious, connected eternal energy (“the eternal now,” according to Meister Eckhart).
A side effect may be greater alignment and harmony within. It’s worth a try.
We can cope. We can hope. And we can rise to the call for truth-tellers.
*Through my study, work and experience, I’ve come to learn: Everything we experience is a mental construct. Everything is energy, and we are capable of perceiving only that which is within a certain range of our own frequency ~ like the spectrums of colors and sounds. I like how physicist and engineer Federico Faggin puts it: “We are consciousness experiencing itself.” The former materialist, who I met at The Galileo Commission summit a couple of years ago, invented the microprocessor and years later, feeling hollow despite his great success, experienced a spontaneous spiritual awakening.
IMAGES Andrea di Bonaiuto; Raimond Spekking; Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.
Recommended reading
Meister Eckhart entry on Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Medieval Philosophy on Britannica.com