Select Works, Section 48
Body As Obstacleanthropology
The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.
[auto] The passage dismisses bodily advantages as irrelevant to wisdom and virtue, implying the body is an obstacle to true happiness.
All passages →Detachment Gelassenheitpraxis
Eckhart's Abgeschiedenheit/Gelassenheit — radical letting-go of will, image, and grasping that opens the soul to God; distinct from inner_silence (quietness) and from material renunciation, and adjacent to Sufi tark and Buddhist non-grasping as a practice rather than a metaphysical claim.
The Sage has 'quitted all trifling with such things' and maintains confidence in his own nature regardless of external circumstances.
All passages →Evil As Privationtheology
Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.
The text asserts that 'evil can never touch him', implying evil lacks power over the perfected soul.
All passages →Kingdom Withinanthropology
The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation.
[auto] Happiness is described as internal confidence in one's own nature, immune to external evil or fortune.
All passages →Love Of Neighbourethics
Active compassionate care for others as a central spiritual obligation or expression of divine love.
The Sage is described as 'giving freely to his intimates' and being the 'best of friends'.
All passages →Mystical Unionsoteriology
The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
[auto] The sage becomes 'as it were another being' through the vision of the noblest, suggesting a transformation or union with the divine.
All passages →Opposites Transcendedanthropology
The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.
[auto] The wise man transcends the binary of fortune and misfortune, remaining fearless regardless of external conditions.
All passages →Paradox As Teachingethics
Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.
[auto] The passage uses the paradox of two wise men with opposite fortunes having equal happiness to challenge ordinary understanding.
All passages →Renunciation Of Wealthethics
The spiritual danger of attachment to material possessions; wealth as a spiritual obstacle.
[auto] The text advocates quitting 'trifling' with practical advantages and boons to achieve true happiness.
All passages →Return To Sourcesoteriology
The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.
Union with the Intellectual-Principle implies a reconnection with the divine origin of the soul.
All passages →Self Knowledgesoteriology
The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.
[auto] The wise man possesses confidence in his own nature, recognizing his true self beyond external circumstances.
All passages →Spiritual Ascentpraxis
A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.
References to the 'vision of the noblest' and 'being the highest' imply an upward movement toward a higher reality.
All passages →Theosis Deificationsoteriology
The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.
The text describes the wise man as having 'become as it were another being' through wisdom and virtue.
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