Caterpillars
'Every creature is a word of God
If I spent enough time with the tiniest creature -
even a caterpillar -
I would never have to prepare a sermon. So full of God
is every creature.'
- Meister Eckhart
Nick is currently writing an essay on Eckhart. He was a very interesting man, I can't believe they were all set to burn him for heresy before he conveniently died. I was reading some of his writing today, as Nick sat opposite me, working hard in short bursts. After reading the passage above, I looked up to unexpectedly witness a mass exodus of caterpillars from a bunch of lavender on the kitchen table. Reach, slide, hover, consider; they slowly made their way up and out of sight. We watched them go.
In keeping with the theme of the day, I decided to make a birthday card for a friend's 21st tomorrow featuring a caterpillar, which said, 'Caterpillars, ringed and wrinkly, rainbows on a day that's sprinkly.' The caterpillars on my window were so small that I'm not sure if they were wrinkly. Either way, they certainly had a lot of feet.
After Eckhart's caterpillar section I read this...
'Why is it that some people
do not bear fruit?
It is because they are so busy clinging
to their egotistical attachments
and so afraid of letting go and letting be
that they have no trust
either in God
or in themselves.
Love cannot distrust.
It can only await the good trustfully.
No person
could ever trust God too much.
Nothing people ever do
is as appropriate
as great trust in God.
With such trust,
God never fails to accomplish great things.'
If I spent enough time with the tiniest creature -
even a caterpillar -
I would never have to prepare a sermon. So full of God
is every creature.'
- Meister Eckhart
Nick is currently writing an essay on Eckhart. He was a very interesting man, I can't believe they were all set to burn him for heresy before he conveniently died. I was reading some of his writing today, as Nick sat opposite me, working hard in short bursts. After reading the passage above, I looked up to unexpectedly witness a mass exodus of caterpillars from a bunch of lavender on the kitchen table. Reach, slide, hover, consider; they slowly made their way up and out of sight. We watched them go.
In keeping with the theme of the day, I decided to make a birthday card for a friend's 21st tomorrow featuring a caterpillar, which said, 'Caterpillars, ringed and wrinkly, rainbows on a day that's sprinkly.' The caterpillars on my window were so small that I'm not sure if they were wrinkly. Either way, they certainly had a lot of feet.
After Eckhart's caterpillar section I read this...
'Why is it that some people
do not bear fruit?
It is because they are so busy clinging
to their egotistical attachments
and so afraid of letting go and letting be
that they have no trust
either in God
or in themselves.
Love cannot distrust.
It can only await the good trustfully.
No person
could ever trust God too much.
Nothing people ever do
is as appropriate
as great trust in God.
With such trust,
God never fails to accomplish great things.'
posted by becrowe at 11:56 pm
2 Comments:
I can understand that the medieval "church" with is rigid hierarchy would have been afraid of Eckhart's controversial theology. To be honest, I disagree with some of it. To wish to kill anyone over this though is the biggest heresy of them all!
That aside, those words that he wrote are true and full of beauty. If thats all I learn today, it will have been an excellent lesson.
Everything in me longs to trust more. I love watching your trust in God grow and, in turn, your fear diminishing.
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