Love's Soft Stillness

Across the arc of the high Middle Ages, a powerful vernacular “school” of mysticism emerged. Associated with the brilliant 13th century Flemish Beguine Hadewijch and, half a century later, the German Dominican Meister Eckhart, these voices charted new mystical paths for those daring to venture on “a wayless way” (Eckhart). We’ll weave a conversation with these two luminaries, exploring several of Hadewijch’s writings (from her poems, letters, and visions) and selections from Eckhart’s writings. On this journey we’ll explore the experience they shared of the “abyss” of love/God. Join us for the conversation as we dare to break-through, with them, to the “fruition of love.”
 

Facilitator: Rev. Mark Burrows, Ph.D.
Co-sponsored by Contemplative Outreach Chicago and the Siena Center

Rev. Mark Burrows is an award-winning poet, translator, and scholar. An historian of medieval mysticism, he is a much sought-after speaker and retreat leader in the US and Europe on spirituality and the arts as transformative channels of creativity. Together with Jon Sweeney, he has published three books of meditative poems inspired by Meister Eckhart’s writings, most recently Meister Eckhart’s Book of Darkness and Light which was awarded the Gold Medal by the Nautilus Book Awards in 2024. He also recently published You Are the Future: Living the Questions with Rainer Maria Rilke (2024), cowritten with Stephanie Dowrick. He lives and writes in Camden, ME.