A crisp, breezy high pressure system moved in before dawn — a welcome change after the frequent downpours of the weekend. Today there remains some flooding here and there, and, as you can see in the video, rainwater continues to flow along the streets in parts of our neighborhood.
Yesterday’s rendezvous was with a patch of colorful columbines If you take a close look at the flower shape (in yesterday’s post photo), you’ll see why common names for the columbine include “granny’s nightcap” and “granny’s bonnet.” The post closed with words from Meister Eckhart, “no multiplicity can disturb the Divine.” I’ve been thinking a lot about this phrase, and about multiplicity and fragmentation.
The full quote is:
“… just as no multiplicity can disturb [the Divine], nothing can disturb or fragment this man, for he is one in that One where all multiplicity is one and is one unmultiplicity.”
Meister Eckhart, Counsel 6
I love they way Eckhart contrasts multiplicity with fragmentation, and in turn contrasts those two with oneness. The tension of paradox provides the energy which enables us to reach new consciousness. But how does one become this “man,” this person that nothing can disturb or fragment? Eckhart argues that this can happen only through detachment — the kind of detachment that is more a clearing away than a denial, a letting go of any attachment to, any possessing. It’s a shedding of the clutter in the Marie Kondo sense.
Perhaps that is why my attention today was drawn to the flow of rainwater along Englewood Avenue. In the flow of water, the tiny leaves and debris move hastily along the surface, no two moments the same. They show up, are present, and then just as quickly vanish, are past.
As I seek to open to that One where all unmultiplicity is one and one unmultiplicity, can I let thoughts and other momentary idols of attraction come and go, unpossessed — as leaves on the surface of a flowing stream of rainwater?
It will take practice.
