[Excerpts from “Psychological Types” from Meister Eckhart. Dr. Jung’s surrounding text is quite illuminating.
It is also of value to read these passages in connection with Dr. Jung’s conversations with his Soul in The Red Book.]
“For this reason god is willing to bear the brunt of sins and often winks at them, mostly sending them to those whom he as destined for great things. Behold! Who was dearer and nearer to our Lord than the apostles?
Not one of them but fell into mortal sin; all were mortal sinners. In the Old Testament and in the New he has shown this to be true of those who afterwards were far dearest to him; and still today one seldom finds that people come to great things without they first go somewhat astray.” Meister Eckhart
“For man is truly God, and God is truly man.” Meister Eckhart
“Whereas he who has not God as such an inner possession, but with every means must fetch him from without, in this thing or in that, where he is then sought for in vain, in all manner of works, people, or places; verily such a man has him not, and easily something comes to trouble him. And it is not only evil company that troubles him, but also the good, not only the street, but also the church, not only vile words and deeds, but the good as well. For the hindrance lies within himself, because in him God has not yet become the world. Were God that to him, then all would be well and good with him in every place and with all people, always possessing God.” Meister Eckhart
“He that is right in his feeling is right in any place and in any company, but if he is wrong he finds nothing right wherever or with whom he may be. For a man of right feeling has God with him.” Meister Eckhart
“…by this kingdom of God we understand the soul, for the soul is of like nature with the Godhead. Hence all that has been said here of the kingdom of God, how God is himself the kingdom, maybe said with equal truth of the soul. St. John says, “All things were made by him.” This is to be understood of the soul, for the soul is all things. The soul is all things because she is n image of God, and to such she is also the kingdom of God…So much, says one Master, is God in the soul, that his whole divine nature depends upon her. It is a higher state for God to be in the soul than for the soul to be in God. The should is not blissful because she is in God, she is blissful because God is in her. Rely upon it, God himself is blissful in the soul.” Meister Eckhart.
“Christ says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hid in a field.” This field is the soul, wherein lies hidden the treasure of the divine kingdom. In the soul, therefore, are God and all creatures blessed. Meister Eckhart.
“If any should ask me, Wherefore do we pray, wherefore do we fast, wherefore do we do all manner of good works, Therefore are we baptized, wherefore did God became man, I would answer, So that God may be born in the soul and the soul again in God. Therefore were the Holy Scriptures written. Therefore did God create the whole world, that God might be born in the soul and the soul again in God. The innermost nature of all grain is wheat, and of all metal, gold, and of all birth, Man!” Meister Eckhart
“by being created, the soul created God, for he did not exist until the soul was made. A little while since I declared, I am the cause that God is God! God is gotten of the soul, his Godhead he has of himself.” Meister Eckhart.
“God comes into being and passes away.” Meister Eckhart
“Because all creatures declare him, God comes into being. While yet I abode in the ground and depths of Godhead, in its flood and source, none asked me whether I went or what I did; none was there who could have questioned me. But when I flowed forth, all creatures declared God…And why did they not declare the Godhead? All that is in Godhead is one, and of that there is nothing to declare. Only God does; Godhead does nothing, there is nothing it can do, and never has it looked for anything to do. God and Godhead are as different as doing and non-doing. When I come home again in God, I do nothing more in myself, so this my breaking through is much more excellent than my first going out. For truly it is I who bring all creatures out of their own into my mind and make them one in me. When I come back into the ground and the depths of Godhead, into its flood and source, none asks me whence I came or whither I went. None missed me. God passes away.” Meister Eckhart.
“When I flowed out of God, all things declared, “God is!” Now this cannot make me blessed, for thereby I acknowledge myself a creature. But in my breaking through I stand empty in the will of God, and empty also of God’s will, and of all his works, even of God himself-then I am more than all creatures than I am neither God nor creature: I am what I was, and that I shall remain, not and ever more! Then I receive a thrust which carries me above all angels. By this thrust I become so rich that God cannot suffice me, despite all that he is as God and all his godly works; for in this breakthrough I receive what God and I have in common. I am what I was, I neither increase nor diminish, for I am the unmoved mover that moves all things. Here God can find no more place in man, for many by his emptiness has won back that which he eternally was and ever shall remain.” Meister Eckhart.