Appreciating Jacob’s Ladder
The truly frightening thriller ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ is a film I’ve enjoyed many times over and it continuous to amaze me whenever I see it. There’s a famous quotation from this movie that always gives me the shivers, like it hits a Big Truth or something…
“Eckhart saw Hell too. He said: The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won’t let go of life, your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they’re not punishing you, he said. They’re freeing your soul. So, if you’re frightened of dying… and you’re holding on, you’ll see devils tearing your life away. But if you’ve made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth.”
~ Louis (the chiropractic physician)
According to this page, the quotation is based on the writings of the philosopher Meister Eckhart. The lines in the movie reference the following actual quotations from the work of Eckhart. If you don’t like the word ‘God’, just replace it with something you do like. The core of the idea is what’s important.
“They ask, what burns in hell? Authorities [the Fathers] usually reply: “This is what happens to willfulness” [to individual will, self-interest]. But I say it is “Not” [it is the Nothing] that is burned out [that burns] in hell. For example: suppose a burning coal is placed in my hand. If I say the coal burns me I do it a great injustice. To say precisely what does the burning, it is the “Not”. The coal has something in it that my hand does not. Observe! It is just this “Not” that is burning me – for if my hand had in it what the coal has, and can do what the coal can do, it, too, would blaze with fire, in which case all the fire that ever burned might be spilled on this hand and I should not feel hurt.” (Speech 5b, DW Ι)
“Whatever state we find ourselves in, whether in strength or in weakness, in joy or in sorrow, whatever we find ourselves attached to, we must abandon. . . . You must give up yourself, altogether give up self, and then you have really given up … By renouncing yourself first, you then have renounced all things. … A man who loves God could give up the whole world as easily as an egg.” (Speech 30, DW II)
“What is the prayer of the detached heart? I answer that detachment and purity cannot pray. For if anyone prays he asks God that something may be given to him, or asks that God may take something away from him. But the detached heart does not ask for anything at all that it would like to be rid of. Therefore it is free from all prayer.” (On Detachment, DW V)
Who is Meister Eckhart? A fascinating guy if you ask me …
