The man in the soul: Eckhart on intellect as the soul's husband

Vir mens serous tuus mortuus est (4 Reg. 4, 7), 'my husband thy servant is dead.' The woman said to the prophet, 'My husband your servant is dead and the creditors have come to take my two sons as slaves for the debt, for I have nothing but a drop of oil.' Then the prophet said, 'Go borrow empty vessels and pour a little in: it will increase and multiply and will pay your debt and free your sons. You and your children can live on the rest.'

The spark (that is, the intellect, the head of the soul), the so called husband of the soul, is nothing other than a spark of the divine nature, a divine light, a ray, an imprint of divinity. A woman asked our Lord for the water that he gives. Whoever drinks of this will never thirst. Theologians say the best gift of God is the Holy Spirit, in whom God gives all his grace and favor, his living water, namely: 'whom I give this to shall never thirst.' This water is grace and light rising up in the soul to everlasting life.

The woman said, 'Sir, give me this water.' And our Lord replied, 'Bring me your husband.' She said, 'I have no husband.' Our Lord said, 'You have spoken well; you have none, you have had five, and the one you have now is not your husband.' St Augustine asks, why does our Lord reply, 'You have spoken well'? What he means is this: your five senses, these were the five husbands you had in your youth, after your own heart; now in your age you have one, not your own, the intellect, and this you do not obey. When the man in the soul, the intellect, is dead, unchecked evil takes over. To separate soul and body is bad enough, but for the soul to be divorced from God is a far worse matter. As the soul is the life of the body, so God is the life of the soul. As the soul fills our members, so God fills the powers of the soul and is passed on through them in goodness and love to everything around, so that they may know him as flowing at all times, that is above time, in eternity and in the life they live.

The woman said, 'Sir, my husband your servant is dead.' Servant means one who receives, who receives what belongs to another; one who keeps something and keeps it for another. To keep it for himself would make him a thief. Intellect is a servant, more so than will or love. Will and love fall on God as being good: if he were not good they would pay him no mind. But intellect pierces right through into essence, without regard for goodness, for power, for wisdom, for any such things, accidental whatever they are, added to God. Not looking for these, intellect gets them in him when, merged into his essence, she knows God simply as existence. Even if he were not good or just, she would still enjoy him as pure being. Here intellect is like the highest rank of angels, of which there are three choirs. The Thrones receive God into themselves and keep God within. In the Cherubim God rests; they see God continually. The Seraphim are burning: the God-bearing intellect is like these. With these angels the intellect catches sight of God, in his entryway, naked, as one without distinction.

The woman said, 'Sir, my husband your servant is dead, and the creditors have come for my two sons.' What are the two sons of the soul? St Augustine, and with him a pagan philosopher, speaks of the two faces of the soul. One is turned toward this world and toward the body; in this she works virtue and wisdom. The other face looks straight into God; the divine light is always in it, and this shows on her unless, through being away from home, she has it without knowing. When the spark of the intellect reaches right into God, then the man is alive. The birth takes place. It does not happen once a year, nor once a month, nor once a day, but all the time, beyond time, in the open, where there is no here or now, no thought, no nature. That is why we speak of sons, not daughters.

Now, to speak of the two sons in another sense: as understanding and will. Understanding springs out of the intellect first, and will follows after, from them both. But no more of this. These two sons of intellect can be taken in yet another way: one as potential, the other as actual. One pagan philosopher says that it is in this potential power that the soul becomes all things, in idea. In her actuality she is, like the Father, making all things new. It pleased God to seal her in the nature of all creatures, before the world, when she did not yet exist. God made this whole world in spirit, in every single angel, before he made the world itself. An angel has two kinds of understanding. One is morning light, the other is evening light. In the morning light he sees everything in God. In the evening light he sees things in the light of his own nature. When he goes out into things, it grows night for him. As long as he remains within, he has the evening light. We say the angels rejoice when a man becomes good. But our best teachers ask, do the angels also grieve when a man sins? We say no; they see into the justice of God and take joy in all things as they are in God. So they do not grieve. Intellect in its potential power is like the angel's natural light, that is, the evening light. With her actual power she lifts all things up into God, where all things are bathed in the morning light.

The woman said, 'The creditors have come to seize my two sons for their slaves.' Then the prophet said, 'Go borrow empty vessels from your neighbors.' These neighbors mean all creatures, and the five senses, and the powers of the soul with her inner faculties, which work in secret and are angels. From all these neighbors, borrow empty vessels. Let us borrow empty vessels; filled with heavenly wisdom, these will give us the means to pay our debt and, on the rest, to live eternally. So help us God. Amen.