‘There’s a place in the soul where you’ve never been wounded.’
For those who, in their being, know the scars of existence, these are thrilling words from Eckhart.
Here is the idea that within us is a place untouched by the damage of life.
Perhaps we are sceptical, but the clues are there; faint echoes down the corridors of our existence.
I see it often in my encounters with people – the appearance of insight or shift, the origins of which are unexplained.
‘Where did that come from?’ is the unspoken question. As if a different voice has suddenly declared on our behalf.
Beyond our damage lies extraordinary health, which sometimes we glimpse; which sometimes reveals its hopeful hand.
Here is our truer selves, quite unwounded; a buoyant, vibrant spirit.
There are times when we feel only the wounds; and imagine them the only story and the end of it.
As John Lennon sang, ‘One thing you can’t hide is when you’re crippled inside.’
But beyond our scars, and beneath them, and prior to them, is our innocence, our nous, our light and our joy.
As Eckhart reminds us this Advent –
‘There’s a place in the soul where you’ve never been wounded.’
