An exchange of hearts : Meister Eckhart and Jacques Maritain on the nature of human-divine ‘oneness’

Abstract

What, exactly, does it mean to become ‘one’ with God? Is such an act possible? And how, if at all, does such an act contribute to self-flourishing? This dissertation shall attempt to grapple precisely with the nature of such questions, particularly in light of the incisive reflections produced by Jacques Maritain and Meister Eckhart. Both thinkers acknowledge and emphasise the possibility and the valuable nature of the mystical life. Both affirm that the mystical life is, ultimately, the culmination of self-flourishing. Still, although the positions of both thinkers complement each other, they also depart significantly. Although both thinkers uphold a ‘trinitarian’ (i.e. ‘relational’) notion of Self, although both thinkers also affirm that true freedom and true Selfhood can be realized only through a radical apophaticism of Self – in which Self and God become “one” – in certain respects, the manner in which Eckhart and Maritain conceive of “mystical union”, “Self”, and “God”, starkly differs. Whereas, throughout, in a Personalist fashion, Maritain emphases more the primacy of “love” and “personality”; because of his more Neo-Platonic framework, Eckhart gives more primacy to “apophasis” and “detachment”. It is to this point of divergence specifically that this thesis shall be primarily directed. Here, the questions become: in mystical theology, what, if any, is the relationship between “love” (agape) and “nothingness” (apophasis)? Are they, in any way, complementary? And can they, in some way, substantiate each other?