Rupert Spira reads Christmas through Meister Eckhart's 'eternal birth of the word in the ground of the soul', framing it not as a historical event but as the ever-present awakening of the pure I Am — divinity divested of every borrowed quality.
Transcript
Hello. I would like to say something about what I consider to be the the esoteric meaning of Christmas. I would suggest that Christmas represents the the awakening or the reawakening of the Christ principle within us. This is what Mr. Echart referred to when he said the eternal birth of the word takes place in the ground of the soul. What did he mean by the eternal birth? He meant the the everpresent birth not the physical birth that takes place once in time, but the everpresent ongoing awakening of the Christ principle within the soul. And what is the the Christ principle? It is the awakening of the pure I am in each of us as each of us. And what do I mean by the pure I am? I mean your very own being divested of the qualities that it borrows temporarily from the content of experience. Infinite being, God's being. And if infinite being were to say something true about itself from its own firsterson experience of itself all it would say would be I am. Anything added to the I am would reduce the infinite to the finite. When when we the the individual or finite mind refer to infinite being, we refer to it as infinite being, God's being, the divine, the absolute and so on. But these are the names that the mind gives to the infinite from its second person point of view. Even the word being is a word that the mind attributes to to well being. But being would never say of itself I am being. It would say only I am. Even referring to the infinite as infinite is a statement that the mind makes with reference to and in contrast with its normal experience of of finite things. But in being's own experience of itself it is neither finite nor infinite. It is only the mind that suggests that the infinite is is infinite that that God is God. But anything the mind says about the infinite is said with reference to its own limited experience and is therefore at best only relatively true. That is relative to the mind's limitations. But if the infinite is all there truly is, then then only its experience of itself can be ultimately true. And therefore only what it would say about itself can be absolutely true. That which truly is infinite self-aware being would never say of itself, I am infinite. I am God. I am eternal or or even I am being. All of these statements um they are the mind's attempts to define reality that which truly is with reference to its own limited experience. But in infinite beings experience of itself there is just itself. So there is nothing to contrast it with. So without reference to the content of experience, infinite being would just say I am. In other words infinite being doesn't even know that it is infinite being. God does not know that it is God. All God knows is I am. And this is why Misha Ekhart prayed to God to rid him of God. He understood that to know God as God one must stand apart from him as a separate self or being. And to do so is blasphemy. For to suggest that there is another being alongside God's being, let alone numerous other beings, is to render God finite. And if God were finite, God would not be God. So in praying to God to rid him of God Meister Ekhart was really praying to God to rid him of the distance implied in the subject object relationship so that the the last vestigages of selfhood that kept him apart from God's infinite being might be removed leaving only God's infinite being remaining. And God's knowledge of itself God's subjective knowledge of itself the only knowledge of God there is shines in you as your subjective knowledge of yourself. In other words, the experience to which you refer when you say I am is God's presence shining in your heart. The Christmas story is really a metaphor for this awakening of the I am within each of us. Everyone without exception irrespective of the content of their experience can say with absolute certainty that I am. To what experience do you refer when you say simply I am just to the pure experience of being before your being is colored or qualified by the content of experience. In other words, your seemingly temporary, finite, separate self or being when divested of the qualities that it borrows from the content of experience stands revealed as infinite being, God's being. That revelation is the birth of the word in the soul. And it is not something that happens in time. It is taking place eternally. It is not an event in time. Although it can be symbolized as the birth of a child. That is that is the birth of pure innocence in time. But it really points to something that is that is not in time. It is out of time. It is eternal. It is the everpresent shining of the word of pure being in each of us as our very own being. And this is what we truly celebrate in this season. And the reason we give gifts at this time is because there is no no division, no lack, no imperfection in infinite being. The mind says being is empty. But in its own experience of itself it is full. Full to the brim with itself alone. It does not possess anything. Yet nothing is missing. It gives without calculation because it knows no scarcity. And the giving and receiving of gifts is a symbol of this truth. It it mirrors the the fullness, the ficundity, the abundance, the generosity, the love that is the very nature of being. Our gifting at Christmas is thus a reflection and a celebration of the of the greatest gift of all. The gift that is freely and eternally given. The gift of being itself. We give because being gives itself without effort, without measure and without condition. St. Augustine said "God is closer to me than I am to myself." Everything you know of yourself as a person. Even your most intimate thoughts, memories, and feelings are not as close to you as your being is to yourself. your breath, your thoughts, your feelings and sensations, however intimate, unknown in subject object relationship. In other words, there is there is some degree of distance between yourself and everything that you know or experience. But in the knowing of your own being that is in the awareness of being that enables you to say with absolute certainty, I am. There is not even a hair's breadth of distance between yourself and yourself. In the knowing of your own being, you stand alone, divested of the qualities you temporarily borrow from the content of experience. In other words, you stand as the infinite. You stand in eternity. In that experience if we can call it an experience you stand as naked being, infinite being, God's being, the only being there is. This recognition, this revelation does not take place once in you at a moment in time. It takes place eternally. Christmas celebrates this awakening to the ground of being which shines in you as the amness of yourself and in the world as the isness of things. May the imperturbable peace the causeless joy and the unconditional love that are the very nature of being shine quietly and brightly in you today and always. God bless. Bye.