An Eckhart quotation (Jacob's
Ladder)
Leopard writes:
I was hoping you could tell me which Eckhart text is the
source for the now-famous quotation of him in the movie, Jacob's Ladder. The
quote runs: "The only thing that burns in hell is the part of you that won't
let go of your life: your memories, your attachments. They burn them all
away, but they're not punishing you, they're freeing your soul. If you're
frightened of dying and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your
life away. If you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels
freeing you from the earth."
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This is not a quotation, rather a (bad) attempt for
relevant teachings of Meister Eckhart to be interpreted and summarized for
the needs of the movie.
Here are quotations (which are indeed by Eckhart)
related with this subject:
"They ask, what burns in hell? Authorities [the
Fathers] usually reply: “This is what happens to willfulness” [to individual
will, self-interest]. But I say it is “Not” [it is the Nothing] that is
burned out [that burns] in hell. For example: suppose a burning coal is
placed in my hand. If I say the coal burns me I do it a great injustice. To
say precisely what does the burning, it is the “Not”. The coal has something
in it that my hand does not. Observe! It is just this “Not” that is burning
me – for if my hand had in it what the coal has, and can do what the coal
can do, it, too, would blaze with fire, in which case all the fire that ever
burned might be spilled on this hand and I should not feel hurt." (Speech
5b, DW É)
"Whatever state we find ourselves in, whether in
strength or in weak-ness, in joy or in sorrow, whatever we find ourselves
attached to, we must abandon. . . . You must give up yourself, altogether
give up self, and then you have really given up ... By renouncing yourself
first, you then have renounced all things. ... A man who loves God could
give up the whole world as easily as an egg." (Speech 30, DW II)
"What is the prayer of the detached heart? I answer
that detachment and purity cannot pray. For if anyone prays he asks God that
something may be given to him, or asks that God may take something away from
him. But the detached heart does not ask for anything at all that it would
like to be rid of. Therefore it is free from all prayer." (On
Detachment, DW V).
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Related:
•
The Meister Eckhart Site
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