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January 04, 2012
New Year letter
Below is my new year letter to all those on my 'Contact' list. (You join by clicking 'contact' on the site and following some simple instructions. I write letters every six weeks or so.)
If you're already on this holy list, then how blessed you are and you will have the letter already.
But if not, you may want to postpone taking the decorations down for a moment and have a quick read...
Dear Web friend,
Welcome to this wind-swept and rain-spattered New Year letter. And a particularly vigorous nod to you if this is your first such email; you join a community of daily search and occasional discovery; a monastery without walls... and habits only you know about.
But my New Year hero knew both walls and cowl. Meister Eckhart was a 14th century monk - Don't leave! Come back! - who like no other writer before or since combined the Eastern ideal of mindfulness with the Christian concept of grace. It's a marvellous fusion which allows him to explore silence and emptiness with both joy and daring and frees him to insist that we leave our false selves for the purifying silence we knew before time began.
Here are some of his words on the subject:
'When I preach, I am accustomed to talk about detachment, saying we should become free of ourselves and of all things.
He who would be serene and pure needs but one thing: detachment. Human perfection consists in becoming distant from creatures and free from them; to respond in the same way to all things, not to be broken by adversity nor carried away by prosperity, not to rejoice more in one thing than another, not to be frightened or grieved by one thing more than another. You could not do better than to go where it is dark; that is, unconsciousness.
We must sink into oblivion and ignorance. In this silence, this quiet, the Word is heard. There is no better method of approaching this Word than in silence, in quiet: we hear it and know it aright in unknowing. To the one who knows nothing it is clearly revealed.
Start with yourself and take leave of yourself. Truly, if you do not depart from yourself, then wherever you take refuge, you will find difficulties and unrest, wherever it may be.'
A couple of years ago, I worked on a book called 'Conversations with Meister Eckhart' in which my questions were imagined but his words were not; they were all Eckhart's. I didn't know him well when we sat down together, apart from a few well-quoted quotes. But three months later, when I left his side, I realised that no other individual had had such a profound effect on me. Perhaps most of all I appreciate the link he makes between humility/self-emptying and understanding.
So it's nice to see that seven centuries later, the good Meister is winning new friends, even becoming a regular in someone's ruck sack! As a recent Amazon reviewer says:
'I have tried a number of books on Eckhart... but there is something about the immediacy of this book - and the conversation is a brilliant concept, very well executed with this difficult subject. I carry the book around with me in my rucksack and open it often. I can't lavish higher praise! Thank you Simon.'
Another reviewer was coming to Eckhart for the first time:
'This was the first time that I've taken a journey with Meister Eckhart... this book, in this conversational format, was a joy from the very beginning. Simon Parke has found a way to highlight the meaning that lies beneath the text, his prompts and probes take you deeper into the message that Eckhart is expressing. Some of the questions I might have asked myself had I had the opportunity but most I would have missed. The intimate bond that Simon has with these teachings is obvious and my journey without his help would have been much, much poorer.'
If you'd like to make a friend of my German New Year hero, book or e-book:
http://amzn.to/ttlu3B
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Meanwhile, three frequently asked questions over the past month:
1. Are there still places on the March 'Beautiful Life' retreat in Glastonbury? Yes, there are. Six, I think.
2. If I came to see you, how much do you charge for consultancy? I ask for £45 for an hour and a half meeting.
3. How come there are two glaring misprints on the first page of 'Solitude'? Because I'm a rather average proof reader. OK?
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And now to the finale. In my last letter, I asked you to send me tweet-length (140 character) pieces about your self or something that mattered to you. Like an insanely greedy person - or perhaps a vulnerable Oliver Twist - I want more. So do send yours.
For now, however, here's some 140-character wisdom from Karen Daly: 'Live well. Trust in goodness & let life be your teacher. Respond in imaginative & skilful ways. Forgive the mistakes. Receive & share love.'
Thank you, Karen and a kind New Year to you all. We'll warm each other in the cold. A monastery without walls is wonderful but can get chilly in the early months of the year.
Simon X
P.S. Oh, and if you're gaunt and inconsolable at having missed my Boxing Day piece in the Daily Mail on Solitude, then weep no more, my friend. When you can't get to the mountain, the mountain comes to you.
http://bit.ly/rL1wIl
Posted by Mr Bojangles at January 4, 2012 11:01 AM