The Human Will in Meister Eckhart’s Understanding of Deificatory Event

Abstract

This paper shall explore the human will in the context of Meister Eckhart’s understanding of deificatory event. Contrary to Eckhart’s view that deificatory event does somehow need no will, I shall argue that willing is required in the said event. The reason for this is that any intentional act necessitates the operation of the will. Second, in connection to the first, taking cue from Heidegger, Gelassenheit or letting-be or releasement as a condition for deification remains within the domain of the will. Third, in post- deificatory event, a deified person still functions as divinely human creature and so thus the will remains operative. This is because the will serves, as this paper argues, as a ‘hinge’ where any form of human act is informed by the will.