Jacob Bohme and Issac Luria

[arcanum]

Having read a bit about both of these mystic giants it struck me, here are two individuals from very different and separate traditions yet they both seem to be describing a very similar revelation about how a limitless infinite God was able to create a finite universe. Of course they aren't identical but the similarities can't be ignored. Has anyone else come to the same conclusion?

 

[WonderWho]

Having read a bit about both of these mystic giants it struck me, here are two individuals from very different and separate traditions yet they both seem to be describing a very similar revelation about how a limitless infinite God was able to create a finite universe. Of course they aren't identical but the similarities can't be ignored. Has anyone else come to the same conclusion?

Mystics talk from their (transcendental) experiences.
It doesn't surprise me one bit that mystics from different cultures describe the same things.

 

[Windwalker]

Having read a bit about both of these mystic giants it struck me, here are two individuals from very different and separate traditions yet they both seem to be describing a very similar revelation about how a limitless infinite God was able to create a finite universe. Of course they aren't identical but the similarities can't be ignored. Has anyone else come to the same conclusion?

I've only read a little about Bohme and none of Luria. I wouldn't surprise me at all they speak of God in similar ways as mystics. I'm not sure if Eckhart actually stated this but it is attributed to him nonetheless, "Theologians may quarrel, but mystics the world over speak the same language".

Can you summarize what Bohme and Luria say that you are hearing as similar?

 

[arcanum]

I've only read a little about Bohme and none of Luria. I wouldn't surprise me at all they speak of God in similar ways as mystics. I'm not sure if Eckhart actually stated this but it is attributed to him nonetheless, "Theologians may quarrel, but mystics the world over speak the same language".

Can you summarize what Bohme and Luria say that you are hearing as similar?

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around what they were each describing but both tried to understand and explain how an infinite God could have created a finite world. They both described stages and changes that God had to under go so as to bring forth limitation from itself. They both seemed to have granted a glimpse of something remarkable and were both transformed by their experiences and both tried to teach others about this spiritual reality that they had experienced. Trying to understand each of their paradigms is no easy task but we'll worth the effort. I think they both tasted something rare and profound that very few humans have. I'll provide a good link from a gnostic radio show on Luria when I get a chance that is quite good. Jacob Boehme is a little harder to comprehend but there is quite a few resources out there which explore his writings.
Here is a very cool radio program, Aeon Byte Gnostic radio which mixes a little humor in with a lot of interesting esoteric subjects. The host recently put a bunch of shows on youtube, this interview is on Issac Luria and his Kabbalistic vision.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlVe24kp6DI

 

[Vouthon]

I've only read a little about Bohme and none of Luria. I wouldn't surprise me at all they speak of God in similar ways as mystics. I'm not sure if Eckhart actually stated this but it is attributed to him nonetheless, "Theologians may quarrel, but mystics the world over speak the same language".

Can you summarize what Bohme and Luria say that you are hearing as similar?

It is a nice quote and true, however your suspicions are right. Meister Eckhart did not say this, the modern Hindu preacher Eknath Easwaran - who passed away in 1999 - said it in his book on Meister Eckhart and Christian mysticism, see here on google books:

Original Goodness: Elknath Easwaran on the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount - Eknath Easwaran - Google Books

Being familiar with both his works in the Latin and in the German vernacular, it just didn't sound like very Eckhartian language to me either. A medieval Catholic schooled in Scholasticism would not have spoken that way.

A later Catholic mystic did say this though, which is pretty similar:

"...All mystics speak the same language, for they come from the same country..."

- Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin (1743 –1803), Catholic philosopher, mystic and theosophist

Saint-Martin was the first person to translate the works of Jacob Boehme, ironically, from German into French.

I think this is the actual origin of the quote surfing around on the internet which purports to be from Eckhart. Whoever read it must have thought, "Oh Catholic mystic said this..." and then it got garbled through the Chinese whisper effect and somehow became attributed to Eckhart.

Doubtless Eckhart would have agreed though, for he did say this on a Treatise on Detachment that was written either directly by him or by a close disciple:

"...I have read many works of both pagan masters and prophets, and books of the Old and New Testaments, and have sought earnestly and with the utmost diligence to find out what is the best and highest virtue, with the aid of which man could be most closely united with God, by which man could become by grace what God is by nature, and by which man would be most like the image of what he was when he was in God, when there was no difference between him and God, before God had created the world. And when I search the Scriptures thoroughly, as far as my reason can fathom and know, I just find that pure detachment stands above all things..."

- Meister Eckhart (c. 1260 – c. 1327), On Detachment

He was ecumenical minded.