Gelassenheit
A disposition of the soul that, freed from all selfish attachment, surrenders to the divine will. It is neither passivity nor renunciation, but an active openness in which the being empties itself to allow the work of God to come about within it. In this nakedness, man attains an equality with the divine—not through fusion, but through participation in its light.
une illumination intérieure : dans cette illumination intérieure ils se hissent par-delà eux-mêmes vers la ressemblance divine, tous se tiennent face à Dieu dans la lumière divine, à ce point égaux qu’ils opèrent œuvre divine.
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Gelassenheit names that state in which the soul, having released its grip on desires and representations, rests in pure availability. It is not the Stoic indifference that masters passions through reason, but a more radical detachment: one that consents to no longer will for itself, so that God may will within it. This is not an annihilation of the will, but its transfiguration, where man becomes the site of an action that surpasses him. Eckhart’s words illuminate this movement: inner illumination is not acquired knowledge, but an elevation in which being transcends itself (beyond themselves) to enter divine light. There, it no longer acts as an individual, but as an instrument of a work that precedes and encompasses it.
This detachment is not an escape from the world, but another way of being present within it. Gelassenheit does not abolish human activities, but purifies them of their weight of possession. The one who experiences it does not renounce action, but acts without claiming its fruits. In divine light, they become equal to others (so equal), not through passive uniformity, but because all partake of the same source. The divine work they accomplish is not their own, but God’s within them. This equality is not a dissolution of the person, but its fulfillment in surrender.
Thus, Gelassenheit differs from mere resignation. It is not a state of submission, but a liberation: one that allows the soul to stand before God without intermediary, in a direct relation where nothing intervenes. It demands constant vigilance, for the ego always seeks to reclaim its rights. Yet when it comes to pass, it reveals that detachment is not a loss, but a gain: that of a divine likeness in which man, emptied of himself, becomes capable of receiving what surpasses him.