The Wisdom of Meister Eckhart, Namaste Village Morning Session, May 11, 2026

Added: 2026-05-16

[00:00:01]Welcome to this recording of our Namaste Village morning session. [music] We're so happy you could join us and we want to invite you to join us as a resident of Namaste Village or even as an investor. So if [music] you want more information, just go to our website www.namaste-village.com.

[00:00:22]Good morning and welcome back to the Namaste Experience on a beautiful Monday morning. I am here in Ashland as you can probably tell. But it doesn't really matter where we are physically. We could be at Namaste Village. We could be in Ashlin. We can be in New Jersey.

[00:00:40]Anywhere is here. Anywhere is right here in the experience of love. That is what we share. That is why we join to awaken to unleash to allow that experience of love to expand in every direction completely uncompromising love.

[00:01:06]So we're going to be sharing a little bit more about that experience as we do and as we have been for a while. But first I want to tell you a little bit about my weekend. So, I spent uh the weekend at a Trappist monastery outside of Portland uh as a way of just having a personal retreat and also just getting into the rhythm of the Trappist way of being. I was able to be with them as they chanted the office and walk their beautiful grounds. And then on Saturday, yes, on Saturday, I was able to spend about 45 minutes or so with the abbott whose name is Father Scott. And that was a really interesting experience for me. Uh lovely man, uh about 10 years younger than me, which surprised me. I always expect, you know, this old wisened uh white bearded abbott and he was kind of a a cool young guy. had been the abbot only for a couple of years and in the community for I think he said 17 years and we had a really lovely talk and obviously he didn't know Thomas Merin but he did know um some monks from other monasteries who did know him who did live with him and of course they love to tell their stories of their experiences and in my conversation with father Scott there was One thing in particular that took hold of me uh that I felt I could use in developing the character of Thomas Merin for this movie. He told me that Merden was the kind of novice master who would get really excited about a particular book that he was reading and he would come to the noviceses with that book and he would say this is the most important book and we're going to be sharing about this and we're going to just focus in on this one book and he would be very [snorts] very excited to share everything that he had read. And then about a week later, he would come in with a new book and he would be very excited about this new book that he had been reading. And he would say to the noviceses, "This is the book that we have to spend all of our time focusing on."

[00:03:42]And as he as I was told this story by Father Scott, I began to immediately feel I can really see myself in this.

[00:03:52]This sounds like me. to get really excited to come to the morning session and to share something about the beginnings or whoever else it may be and say this is what we're going to focus on.

[00:04:04]But then to be reexited to be reinvigorated by another aspect of this awakened consciousness and to say this is the only thing we're going to focus on. And ultimately there is only one thing to focus on and we can find that in all of these examples.

[00:04:23]And that is to focus on the revelation and the experience that we are one.

[00:04:31]The revelation and the experience that only love is real. And of course that can be through the seen through the lens of any of the great mystics and any of the great stories that come to us to remind us that we can have a direct experience of that love. In fact, it's required. If there is a required course, that's it.

[00:05:01]to know that it's inevitable for us to step into the full revelation of reality or of love itself.

[00:05:11]And that's why we're here. That's why we join together for these morning sessions. That's why we have been impassioned ourselves by all the different things that we've read or experienced, whether it be a course in miracles, a course of love, what anything else.

[00:05:26]Just like with Thomas Merin, there are access points that suddenly we feel the the the the ground swell of love and grace and we follow. So today I thought maybe for the next few days actually we would leave the beines a little bit but not totally because there was in the 13th and 14th century this groundswell of mysticism and direct experience that produced some of the great mystics that we still have with us through their writings and through their examples. The Begins of course being some of them. And last week we we looked at people like Margarite Pored and others who were the women of the beginning movement who had entered so deeply into the mystical experience that the that the barrier between themselves and the one love or God, however you want to express that had dissolved.

[00:06:36]And that is really the ultimate that we are joining in that that disillusion the dissolving of all that seems to separate us from the one until we come into the experience that there is nothing separating us from the one because the one is the one. Love is love and we can separate ourselves in consciousness. We can make decisions that seem to separate us, but our goal is simple. To dissolve all of those seeming blocks to the awareness of love until we come into a direct whole experience that only love is real.

[00:07:25]So today we're going to focus on another one of my favorite mystics from that time. Someone that you have likely heard of Meister Echart. So let's talk about Meister Recordard who was a contemporary of the Begins worked and lived in areas where the Begins had big uh communities uh and he would have definitely been very influenced by them and they would have been influenced by him. So let me get start off by giving you just a little bit of background. So in terms of the time we're talking about, Echart lived from 1260 to 1328.

[00:08:08]So right there in the heart of the most important period for the Beine movement.

[00:08:16]And he would have been traveling around different parts of Germany uh through Strawburg, Cologne and the Rhineland.

[00:08:23]And these were all areas that had large bein communities. Uh areas that were very strong in lay mysticism. In other words, mysticism that was relying upon direct experience and not the hierarchy of the church. And that's going to be important as you'll see. They were all involved in sharing, teaching, writing in the vernacular, in the language of that area because they wanted everyone to be exposed to this instead of everything having to be written in Latin. And of course, only well educated and priests could speak Latin. So the average person was never able to read.

[00:09:04]But when they began to write in the vernacular, in this case German or French, then this information, this mystical teaching could be shared with the masses.

[00:09:16]And of course, a focus on a direct experiential approach to the divine.

[00:09:25]This was the goal to have a direct and lasting experience that we are one.

[00:09:35]So my S Eart's teachings centered on the the disillusion of the self, the dissolving of the self or we might say ego, union with God beyond all images, beyond all concepts, which obviously would have been challenging to the Catholic Church at that time. And of course the soul remembering that it is one with the divine. Not becoming but remembering that it is one with the divine. So here's the interesting thing about Meister and what was going on at that time because as as you know at that time uh the the church had become of the strongest force in Europe and much of the world to the point that if you strayed even a little bit from the tradition or from the hierarchy or from the control you were brought back into place often in very severe ways. This is a time of the inquisition. Uh remember this is right after Francis as well. Francis was was someone who worked within the system but there were others say the Cathars who did not and unfortunately we knew what happened to many of those groups.

[00:11:01]So in in that sense it was a dangerous time to say we can come into a direct experience of love itself and in doing so be completely awakened and being completely awakened there's no need for us to depend upon rules dogmas all of these other things because those things are inherent. Love carries with itself all appropriate behavior. We don't have to we don't have to have a hard focus on the rules when the rule of love has taken over. This was the the basic premise of all mystics but in particular the beginnings and Meister Echart. So what happened was in 1326 Meister Echart was arrested by the Inquisition and he was tried for heresy.

[00:11:57]You know, of course he was. And his defense, however, because he was such a very smart theologian, his defense was so strong that the Inquisitor couldn't take up any issues with him.

[00:12:12]And they tried and tried because, of course, they were determined to have him end in probably the same way that people like Margarite Pored ended. But they couldn't make anything stick because he was able to show how the things that he believed and that we believe go back to the very foundations of the great theologians and mystics of the church. So this was already part of the history of the church. So finally he when in in 19 or 1328 when he died and the inquisition uh was still going on uh they couldn't do anything with him. So they actually just waited for him to die. And then after his death, the pope excommunicated him when he couldn't defend himself anymore. This is how insidious the ego is. Let's just wait for him to die, then we'll condemn him.

[00:13:07]But you can't condemn love.

[00:13:10]And this reminds me also of something that I experienced way back in the beginning of my own ministry when I wrote the book Emissary of Light. And they said there were three things that they focused on in in that book and I think this is very apppropo to the beginnings and to Meister Echard and to any mystic of any century and that was surrender trust and be grateful surrender everything that's the dissolve to give up even my attachment to the self [snorts] I have claimed espec Especially that my attachment to the self that I have claimed thinking this is who I am when in reality I am one with God.

[00:14:00]That's who I am. This mystical awareness of my oneness, the oneness that I share with all that is. So surrender. Trust that. Don't worry about a thing.

[00:14:13]Everything's going to be all right. I sound like Bob Marley. And if I can live in that trust and finally roll into the experience of deep and lasting gratitude for every moment, no matter how it presents itself, the challenges, the blessings, and to know that they are all drawing me into that infinite ocean of grace, that we can say all is well, and all is well, and all manner of things shall be well.

[00:14:46]So before I bring Vicki and Penny on, I I want to read a few very short quotes from Meister Echard just to give you another example of the pulse of his own life and his own mysticism. The first is my favorite and you may have heard it before. The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me.

[00:15:16]Isn't that beautiful? You could just lose yourself in that one quote. The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me.

[00:15:30]It's the same. It is one.

[00:15:35]Here's another.

[00:15:36]I pray God to rid me of God.

[00:15:42]rid me of all of these illusions of this separate deity, God.

[00:15:48]This separate idea that there is a a force of love outside of me that I'm somehow trying to reclaim. Rid me of all of those concepts so that I can come into a direct experience of that which has always been true.

[00:16:06]The soul must lose itself to find itself.

[00:16:12]We have to surrender. We have to give up every illusion I hold of myself. I have to lose all of those ideas, concepts, and illusions in order to come into a direct experience of that which directly experiences me.

[00:16:31]That's the key.

[00:16:34]Here's another. Detach yourself.

[00:16:39]Detach from yourself and all things and you will be free.

[00:16:45]Detachment. Let go. Don't cling onto anything, literally anything.

[00:16:53]Move with wholly empty hands through the world, accepting everything exactly as it comes to you. Every person, every relationship, every experience. Don't be attached to it. Let it flow.

[00:17:09]Okay, I've got three more.

[00:17:12]What we receive in contemplation, we must give out in love.

[00:17:20]In other words, these gifts which we receive, these insights, these beautiful teachings that we share have to be given and shared in love. Not necessarily in words, but in love. The way we love one another.

[00:17:34]Jesus said that they will know you by your love. They will know you by how you love one another.

[00:17:41]And that just that doesn't mean just the people who were in their little clan.

[00:17:45]Everyone. Because everyone is included in this Christthood, this experience, this love. So give it away.

[00:17:57]When the soul has become empty, only when the soul has become empty will God fill it.

[00:18:07]Empty yourself of everything you think is true or every idea or illusion that you've made. Empty yourself completely and come with wholly empty hands unto God.

[00:18:19]I think a course in miracles is is the beginning or the ancient mysticism expressed today.

[00:18:29]One more. The knower and the known are one.

[00:18:37]One.

[00:18:38]It all comes back to that. There is only one expression of the love and the loveliness of God.

[00:18:48]It's you.

[00:18:50]That's who you are. Not your identity.

[00:18:52]Not the you that you've claimed until now. But [snorts] as you expand, dissolve, release, the you with a capital Y, the holy perfect child of God is revealed.

[00:19:07]And this is the mystical experience.

[00:19:09]Whether we're looking at the mystics of the 13th and 14th century or any other time, this is who you are. This is who you've always been. This is who you couldn't stop being if you tried. And boy, have we tried. It's the greatest failure.

[00:19:25]Greatest failure we've ever known. And thank God for it because we failed at doing the impossible.

[00:19:32]The ego is going to try and continue to do what could never be done. But now we have come to the point, I have come to the point, all of us have come to the point where we surrender it all and come with wholly empty hands.

[00:19:47]So, my dear Vicki, I'm going to turn it over to you and let you take it from there. Good morning.

[00:19:53]>> Good morning, brother James. Thank you.

[00:19:56]And it was so wonderful. Hi, everybody.

[00:19:58]To hear about your weekend with the Trappist. Uh, Brother Brooks is going to be very happy to see here this when he listens this afternoon. And I want to do another shout out to several many of our YouTube family who write in and mention different things and how helpful and give extra information. So all you YouTube guys, this is a great big shout of love and thank you to you for joining us and it's one of the ways that you that you love by loving all of us. So thank you. But um I loved Meister Ehart.

[00:20:34]First time I heard him, I remember I was in eighth grade and I can't remember the quote that hit me, but I thought, "Oh my gosh, this is it." And what I would emphasize today, those three steps you said, surrender, trust, and gratitude, they're a way of life. Gratitude is how love expresses itself and gives of itself. a great when you're when you're grateful you're naturally giving in any way available to you. The harder part might be the surrender and then trusting it in the in the place of trust. As soon as we let our mind wander back into temptation, temptation is wander back into the idea there are two powers. The power of the world, the power of the ego. Oh, this is going to get me. Oh, this is a problem. I've got to get this solution and that. Soon as our mind wanders, we've shut down. We're no longer in surrender. We're now in taking over again. I can handle this again. That's exactly what we want to let go of. Because the original error was wanting to handle things on our own.

[00:21:49]The original error is I want to be the boss of me. I can be in charge. I can handle this. So the original simple solution is I don't want to do that anymore. It's like I'm done with that.

[00:22:02]And that's what surrender is. All my ideas, your ideas, his ideas, all of them. And the living in trust is the way of the devote. Someone that's got a dedicated devotional practice. Maybe this is why it calls to me so much.

[00:22:22]Whether we have these holy instance of direct revelation and a shift out of time into timelessness that is eventually required because it stabilizes us and it gives us direct experience that there is a total other reality and no one can shake you from that doesn't matter what they do to you I mean pillars of fire and all the rest of it no one can shake any of us that have that experience but Sometimes that experience is not common enough or we don't have it. So it doesn't mean we can't live in the love of that of the heaven that's here right now. And this step of trust is the passageway. If we stay in trust and this is a devote someone that just okay I am going to trust CC constant contact constant contact with spirit with love whatever you call it constant contact because I trust you there's a big billboard in Boston says Jesus I trust in you I very excited to see that in Boston but it's that living in trust And then what happens? Because we're in a state that's true.

[00:23:41]True starts happening in us. It may not be an experience out of time. It may well be an experience in time. Joel Goldsmith speaks about it as a click where you just relax and you know what he says, God is on the field. You just shift. Everything relaxes. It may not be a mystical moment where the waters part and you're out of this. It is a true moment of love expressing itself and being received.

[00:24:15]So tr in this area of trust, receive that shift where you relax and know it's everything. It may not be everything in our immediate awareness, but it is everything anyway. And by our appreciating it and trusting it more and more opens up because this the what we've surrendered our own ideas no longer allowed in to block it. So what's already there flourishes. Love flourishes. And love flourishes as as except you be like a little child. A child that has no cares, that knows that everything is being cared for and taken care of and we're provided for and we're here just to give of the love that fills us. And the more we give of that love, it is inevitable that we're grateful and we witness the kingdom of heaven all around us because that is what the kingdom is. It's a kingdom of love.

[00:25:20]Thank you, brother James. Thank you everybody. Love you all.

[00:25:25]always amazing. Thank you, my dear. What a blessing we share together here. So, I'm going to turn it over to Penny, honey, and let her finish us off and take us home. Good morning to you.

[00:25:38]>> So, you know, I just must not have much to say this morning, [laughter] shall I? So, you can hear me now? Yeah.

[00:25:46]And James is frozen again, so we must be having a little challenge. So, let's just take a deep breath around that.

[00:25:52]Yeah. I like what Vicki said about live in the heaven that is here right now.

[00:25:57]Yeah, here it is. Technical issues, maybe a little noise in the background, whatever that might be. But our work is to live in the heaven that we're in right now.

[00:26:09]And the cool thing is we are the only interior decorator on that heaven that we experience. It's an inside job. Pick your color. Pick your palette. What do you want heaven to look like that you're living in right now? And of course, we jump around. We jump around from place to place and this book and that book and this study because we are so porous.

[00:26:34]You know, the creative and the porous are the ones that bring us those new thoughts and those new ideas.

[00:26:45]So, take a breath. We just have a little technical challenge here. We're still right here and so is God.

[00:26:54]That stimuli that we feel that being porous, that's because we're swimming in love.

[00:27:00]>> Yeah.

[00:27:01]>> And we start responding accordingly.

[00:27:04]We start having a deeper connection, a direct experience.

[00:27:11]And we talked about surrender, trust, and gratitude. This is a quote by Meister Meister. I did it last time too.

[00:27:19]Meister Eckert. This is my favorite quote of his. He said, "If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, that'll be enough."

[00:27:32]>> I'm right here, right where we have always been together in the one.

[00:27:37]Where else would we be?

[00:27:40]There is no other place but this that we share where love is wholly present. So take those three words into your day.

[00:27:49]Surrender, trust, and gratitude. They are like magic words like spells that the wizard and and the the what do you call a female wizard? I can't remember in Harry Potter. [laughter] We're all wizards. There's Vickiy's magic wand. Take all of those experiences, everything you hear here into your day, like magic words, like spells that release the love that is forever whole within us. And it is to this love that we say, "Amen."

[00:28:25]Amen. Amen.

[00:28:28]Eunto.

[00:28:30]Have an amazing day. We love you all.

[00:28:34]Namaste.