Outward and Inward Morality

Outward and Inward Morality

by Meister Johannes Eckhart, Dominican Mystic

Supernatural Order
(Resides in the Depth (Essence) of the Soul)

Human Being/Person (A Unity (1) of Body and Soul) Natural Order Supernatural Order Natural Body (Subordinate-Partner) Natural Soul (Dominant Partner) Supernatural Grace/Infused Virtues and Gifts of the Holy Spirit Man is born a Rational Creature, with Body and Soul, into the Natural Order. God first elevates Man to the Supernatural Order via the Sacrament of Baptism, which infuses Sanctifying Grace into the Essence of the Soul. The other Six (6) Sacraments can then elevate the Soul even Higher. The Supernatural Order is the Ensemble of Effects exceeding the Powers of the Created Universe and Gratuitously produced directly by God for the purpose of raising the Rational Creature above its Natural Sphere to a God-like Life and Destiny. Mortal Sin destroys/kills Man's entire Supernatural Order/Life. Man is no-longer a Temple of God. God is gone & resides no-longer in the Soul. Only God can raise the Soul back-to-life from the Dead, via the Sacrament of Penance.

Grace is from God, and Works in the Depth-of the Soul whose Powers it Employs. Grace is a Light which Issues-forth to do Service under the Guidance-of the Spirit. The Divine Light Permeates the Soul, and Lifts it above the Turmoil-of Temporal things to Rest-in God. The Soul cannot Progress, except with the Light which God has given it as a Nuptial Gift; Love Works the Likeness-of God into the Soul. The Peace, Freedom and Blessedness of all Souls Consist-in their Abiding-in God's Will. Towards this Union-with God, for which it is Created, the Soul Strives Perpetually. Fire converts Wood into its own Likeness, and the Stronger the Wind Blows, the Greater Grows the Fire. Now by the Fire, understand Love, and by the Wind, the Holy Spirit. The Stronger the Influence-of the Holy Spirit, the Brighter Grows the Fire-of Love; but not all at-once, rather Gradually as the Soul Grows. Light causes Flowers and Plants to Grow and Bear Fruit; in Animals it Produces Life, but in Men, Blessedness. This comes from the Grace of God, Who Uplifts the Soul, for if the Soul is to Grow God-like, it must be Lifted-above itself.

To produce Real Moral Freedom, God's Grace and Man's Will must Co-operate. As God is the Prime-Mover of Nature, so also He Creates Free-Impulses towards Himself, and to all Good-Things. Grace Renders the Will Free, that it may do everything with God's Help, working-with Grace, as with an Instrument which Belongs-to it. So the Will arrives-at Freedom through Love, nay, becomes itself Love, for Love Unites-with God. All True Morality, Inward and Outward, is comprehended-in Love, for Love is the Foundation-of all the Commandments.

All Outward Morality must be built-upon this Basis, not on Self-interest. As long as Man Loves something-else than God, or Outside God, he is not Free, because he has not Love. Therefore there is no Inner Freedom, which does not Manifest itself in Works of Love. True Freedom is the Government of Nature in-and-outside Man, through God; Freedom is Essential Existence unaffected by Creatures. But Love often begins with Fear; Fear is the Approach-to Love: Fear is like the Awl which draws the Shoemaker's Thread through the Leather.

As for Outward-Works, they are ordained-for this purpose, that the Outward-Man may be directed-to God. But the Inner-Work, the Work of God in the Soul, is the Chief Matter; when a Man finds this within himself, he can let-go Externals. No Law is Given-to the Righteous, because he Fulfills the Law Inwardly, and bears it in himself, for the least-thing done by God is Better than all the Work-of-Creatures. But this is intended-for those who are Enlightened by God and the Holy Scriptures.

'School Time' at Our Lord's Feet

But here on Earth, Man never Attains-to being Unaffected-by External Things. There never was a Saint so Great as to be Immovable (only God is Immovable). I can never Arrive-at a State when Discord shall be as Pleasing to my Ears as Harmony. Some People wish to do without Good Works. I say, "This cannot be". As soon as the Disciples received the Holy Ghost, they began-to Work. When Mary sat at the Feet of Our Lord, that was her School Time. But afterwards, when Christ went to Heaven, and she received the Holy Spirit, she began to-Serve and was a Handmaid of the Disciples. When Saints become Saints, they begin to Work, and so Gather-to the Refuge-of Everlasting Safety.

How can a Man Abide-in Love, when he does not keep God's Commands which Issue-forth from Love? How can the Inner-Man be Born-in God, when the Outer-Man Abides not in the Following-of Christ, in Self-mortification and in Suffering, for there is no being Born-of God , except through Christ. Love is the Fulfilling-of all Commands; therefore, however-much Man Strives to Reach this Freedom, the Body can never quite attain thereto, and must be Ever in Conflict. Seeing that Good Works are the Witness of the Holy Ghost, Man can never do without them. The Aim-of Man is not Outward Holiness by Works, but Life-in God, yet this Last, Expresses itself in Works-of Love.

Outward, as well as Inward Morality, helps-to Form the Idea of True Christian Freedom. We are Right to Lay-stress on Inwardness, but in this World, there is no Inwardness without an Outward Expression. If we regard the Soul as the Formative Principle of the Body, and God as the Formative Principle of the Soul, we have a Profounder Principle of Ethics than is found in Pantheism. The Fundamental Thought of this System is the Real Distinction between God and the World, together with their Real Inseparability, for only really Distinct Elements can Interpenetrate each other.

The Inner-Work is, First of all, the Work of God's Grace in the Depth-of the Soul, which subsequently distributes itself among the Faculties of the Soul, in that of Reason appearing as Belief, in that of Will as Love, and in that of Desire as Hope. When the Divine Light Penetrates the Soul, it is United-with God as Light with Light. This is the Light of Faith. Faith Bears the Soul to Heights Unreachable by her Natural Senses and Faculties.

As the Peculiar Faculty of the Eye is to See Form-and-Color, and of the Ear to Hear Sweet Tones and Voices, so is Aspiration Peculiar-to the Soul. To Relax-from Ceaseless Aspiration is Sin. This Energy-of Aspiration, Directed-to and Grasping God, as far as is Possible-for the Creature, is called Hope, which is also a Divine Virtue. Through this Faculty, the Soul Acquires such Great Confidence that she deems nothing in the Divine Nature beyond her Reach.

The Third Faculty is the Inward Will, which, always Turned-to God like a Face, Absorbs-to itself Love from God. According-to the Diverse Directions in which Redemptive Grace through the Holy Spirit is Imparted-to the different Faculties of Men, it finds Corresponding Expression as One of the Spirit's Seven Gifts. This Impartation Constitutes Man's Spiritual Birth, which brings him out of Sin, into a State-of Grace, while Natural Birth makes him a Sinner, (i.e. Original Sin).

As God can only be seen by His Own Light, so He can only be Loved by His Own Love. The merely Natural Man is Incapable-of this, because Nature, by itself, is Incapable-of Responding-to the Divine Love and is Confined within its own Circle. Therefore it is Necessary-for Grace, which is a simple Supernatural Power, to Elevate the Natural Faculties to Union-in God, above the merely Temporal Objects of Existence. The Possibility of Love to God is Grounded-in the Relative Likeness between Man and God. If the Soul is to reach its Moral Goal, i.e. God-likeness, it must become Inwardly like God through Grace, and a Spiritual Birth which is the Spring-of True Morality.

The Inner Work that Man has to do is the Practical Realization of Grace: without this, all Outward Work is Ineffectual for Salvation. Virtue is never mere Virtue, it is either from God, or through God, or in God. All the Soul's Works, which are to Inherit an Everlasting Recompense, must be Carried-on in God. They are Rewarded-by Him in Proportion-as they are Carried-on in Him, for the Soul is an Instrument-of God whereby He Carries-on His Work.

The Essence-of Morality is Inwardness, the Intensity-of Will from which it Springs, and the Nobleness of the Aim for which it is Practiced. When a Good Work is done by a Man, he is Free of it, and through that Freedom, is Liker and Nearer-to his Original, than he was before.

The Moral Task of Man is a Process-of Spiritualization. All Creatures are Go-Betweens, and we are placed in Time, that by Diligence in Spiritual Business, we may grow Liker and Nearer-to God. The Aim-of Man is beyond the Temporal -- in the Serene Region of the Everlasting Present (i.e. Eternity).

In this sense, the New Birth of Man is the Focus towards which all Creation Strives, because Man is the Image-of God, after the Likeness of which the World is Created. All Time Strives-towards Eternity or the Timeless Now, out of which it Issued at Creation. The merely Temporal Life in itself is a Negation of Real Being, because it Depends-on itself, and not on the Deepest Foundation of Life; therefore also, Natural Love is Cramped, Finite and Defective. It must, through Grace, be Lifted-to the Highest Sphere of Existence, and Attain-to Freedom Outside the Narrow Confines of the Natural. Thereby Love becomes Real Love, because only that is Real which is Comprehended and Loved in its Essence. Only by Grace, Man comes from the Temporal and Transitory to be One (1) with God. This Lifting-of Manifoldness to Unity (1), is the Supreme Aim of Ethics; by thus the Divine Birth is Completed, on the Side-of Man.

This Passage from Nothingness to Real Being, this Quitting of Oneself, is a Birth Accompanied-by Pain, for by it Natural Love is Excluded. All Grief, except Grief for Sin, comes from Love of the World. In God is neither Sorrow, nor Grief, nor Trouble. Wouldst thou be Free from all Grief and Trouble, Abide and Walk-in God, and to God alone. As long as Love-of the Creature is in us, Pain cannot cease.

This is the Chief Significance of the Suffering of Christ for us, that we Cast all our Grief into the Ocean-of His Suffering. If thou Sufferest only regarding thyself, from whatever cause it may be, that Suffering Causes Grief to thee, and is Hard to Bear. But if thou Sufferest regarding God and Him alone, that Suffering is not Grievous, nor Hard to Bear, because God Bears the Load. The Love of the Cross must Swallow-up our Personal Grief. Whoso does not Suffer from Love, for him, Sorrow is Sorrow and Grievous to Bear; but whoso Suffers from Love, he Sorrows not, and his Suffering is Fruitful in God. Therefore is Sorrow so Noble; he who Sorrows Most is the Noblest. Now no Mortal's Sorrow was like the Sorrow which Christ Bore; therefore He is Far Nobler than any Man. Verily, were there anything Nobler than Sorrow, God would have Redeemed Man thereby. Sorrow is the Root-of all Virtue.

Through the Higher Love the Whole Life of Man is to be Elevated from Temporal Selfishness to the Spring of all Love, to God: Man will again be Master over Nature by Abiding-in God and Lifting her up to God.

May the Truth of which we have Spoken, Lead us to the Truth.

Amen