Finding God Through Subtraction

God is not found in the soul by adding anything but by a process of subtraction… Love God as God is– a not-God, a not-mind, a not-person, a not-image.

Love God as God is pure, clear One who is separate from all two-ness…

From Miester Eckhart Cited in Christian Mystics

These are brief words of reflection by Matt Fox on this often cited phrase from Eckhart… and an affirmation of the one-ness and inability to be separate from the all-ness of God…

“Letting go leads us to a God experience. Finding God is not about piling spiritual experiences on top of spiritual experiences, but about letting go, subtracting, taking away. Breathe in and breathe out. The breathing out is letting go. As Eckhart says elsewhere, “God is at home. It is we who have gone out for a walk” When have experiences of subtraction in your life revealed to you  a deeper presence of God? 

… God is beyond all definitions of God, or mind, or person or image. God is “pure, clear One who is separate from all two-ness. God is all – encompassing, yet the ultimate in intimacy. Love is that way. It is a oneing, a communion into which no two-ness can enter.

No distance. No separation. … This is the essence of the mystical experience– the experience of union, or non-duality.”

The gift of simplicity and the virtue of simplicity come together in the words of Eckhart. Of course, simplicity is the answer to the seeming Gordian knots of complexity our current society seems to thrive on; however that thriving and striving function as the chief discouraging and distracting factors to living a more simple God-centered life.

In more mature spiritual circles, we have witnessed a movement called “intentional simplicity” which ranges from being a far more mindful shopper, to living in tiny houses, and on a vegan diet… as I understand the most valid concerns of this movement, it is to avoid any per-occupation with materialism, consumerism, and amassing those social or societal trappings of success and achievement. 

These golden handcuffs or social shackles come in many forms- so delicious and enticing, others demanding and onerous…  but regardless of their origins or effects, they act as obstacles to developing the depths of our spiritual perception and realizing the value of our more soulful and compassionate practices. 

It really does not matter if your busy-ness and preoccupations find their identity or attached purpose in your professional or personal life, in your relational or seemingly soulful identities etc. They serve as distractions and complexity, and can strip or take away the time, energy, focus and attention needed to experience the nearness/allness of God.

For me, and this was even before Covid hit, my life was forced to become smaller due to insufficient funds- a mixed blessing to be sure! So I was faced squarely with the glaring need to move all of my intellectual and household sprawl into simpler, more concise, and limited spaces.

This beneficial coercion which became, in retrospect, a clearing and compelling gift for the sake of spiritual renewal, has benevolently resulted in giving/making time for more focused inner work which continues today… And I expect, will accompany me through whatever additional “down-sizing” I will do based on the increased demands of health and aging. 

Some people have remarked to me about giving away most of my library, more than half my clothes, possessions etc., that you are aiming at choosing a more Shaker style of life. Some observers say, you are preparing to become a Sannyasin or monk. Other friends have remarked that I am becoming more Franciscan. My reply to all of them is: Thank you!