Living in Simplicity
Discovering the Deep Wisdom Of Meister Eckhart
With Mark S. Burrows, Ph.D.
Participate in one or both: Dinner conversation and onsite weekend retreat co-sponsored by The Eckhart Center at Albertus Magnus College and Mercy by the Sea
Part 1: Free Dinner and Conversation: Thursday, March 27, 2025 from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m.
At Albertus Magnus College, Hubert Campus Center
831 Winchester Ave., New Haven, CT
Meister Eckhart scholar and author Mark S Burrows, Ph.D. will join us for a dinner conversation about what we can learn from Eckhart about living simply and embracing a more expansive awareness of God. Moderated by Edward Dunar, the director of the Eckhart Center, the Q&A will also touch on Burrows's process of adapting Eckhart into poetry. A free dinner will be provided.
Part 2: Weekend Retreat – Friday, March 28 to Sunday, March 30, 2025
Mercy by the Sea, 167 Neck Road, Madison, CT
$475 Single, $430 Double (includes an ensuite bathroom and all meals from Friday dinner through Sunday breakfast)
$275 Commuter (includes Friday dinner, Saturday lunch & dinner)
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About this offering
What would it mean to live into simplicity to the point that “all things become God” for you? This startling claim, made by the medieval mystic Meister Eckhart, addresses those who seek to live into what he called “fulness of being.” We will consider, with Eckhart, how we might learn to “break through things and grasp God in them,” by letting go of our need to know, manage or control our lives. Simplify, Eckhart reminds us. Go to the “ground” of your life, he insists. There you’ll find that freedom is not the goal but the journey of our lives. Join us for a weekend retreat that invites us to discover “Gelassenheit,” the inner state of “letting-be-ness”— simplicity — by which we learn to embrace what is and let go of worrying about what was or what might be. Together, we will explore passages from Eckhart’s remarkable sermons together with readings from Burrows’ recent collection of meditative poems inspired by Eckhart, Meister Eckhart’s Book of Darkness and Light (2023).
About the presenter
Mark S. Burrows is an award-winning poet, translator, and scholar. Well known for his work on medieval mysticism, he has coauthored (with Jon M. Sweeney) three books of meditative poems inspired by Meister Eckhart’s writings, including Meister Eckhart’s Book of Darkness and Light (awarded the Gold Medal by the Nautilus Book Awards in 2024). Learn more about Mark at www.msburrows.com.
Co-Hosted by The Eckhart Center at Albertus Magnus College and Mercy by the Sea.