Be Before You Do
People should not think so much about what they ought to do, as about what they should be. If only their being was good and noble, then their works would shine brightly.
Meister Eckhart spoke these words to young Dominican novices in Erfurt around 1298, guiding men eager to prove their devotion through visible acts of piety. He warns them that a flurry of good deeds means nothing if the person performing them has not first become good within. For Eckhart, true discernment starts inward, examining the state of the soul from which every choice and action flows. It remains a sharp corrective for a world that mistakes constant doing for genuine wisdom.
Reflection
Eckhart insisted that being good matters more than doing many things. What is one thing I can be today rather than just do?