Being Mothers of God

Here's a short and sweet post for you. And no, it is not the one I said I was working on in my announcement. That one's still in the works.

Meister Eckhart was a German theologian, philosopher and mystic from the 13th and 14th centuries. His views were quite unorthodox (much like mine), and he was subsequently brought up on charges of heresy against the [Catholic] church by the local Franciscan-led inquisition and was tried before Pope John XXII. He published his famous Defense as a challenge to his accused crimes. However, he died before his verdict was received. However, today he is considered "a good and orthodox theologian" by the Catholic Church.

Anyway, there is a quote of his that I really like. It is as follows:

"We are all meant to be mothers of God, for God is always needing to be born."

I had my own understanding of what this means, but it was enhanced by something I heard today in my English class.

We are reading Ceremony, a book by Leslie Marmon Silko about a Native-American man trying to retain his cultural identity in a white world. In an introductory poem, it says the following:

"He [it is not stated who] rubbed his belly./I keep them here (he said)/Here, put your hand on it/See, it is moving./ There is life here/for the people. And in the belly of this story the rituals and the ceremony are still growing."

When he read this, my teacher made a connection. He pointed out the obvious, that it was talking about pregnancy, or at least some form of it. But, interestingly enough, it is a man who is pregnant. To explain this, my teacher pointed out that many religions (Mormonism in particular) emphasize a very physical, spiritual sensation in the belly. In Mormonism, it is called the burning of the bosom. So perhaps that is what Ms. Silko meant,

But I made an even bigger connection. To me, this meant that when we are filled with the Holy Ghost, we are figuratively becoming pregnant with God. We are filled to the brim with God's goodness, love and light. At least to me, this means that God is born in you. It also means that everything that is good about God (his love, his light and his happiness) grows out of you and spreads into the world like grass, improving and permeating everything that you come into contact with.

Right here, I could make a connection with the idea of the hierarchy of Gods, but I trust that you can see the connection for yourselves. Plus, it is late, and I am tired. Here's hoping that you learned something when reading this post. I certainly did while writing it.