Ethics

Talks of Instruction

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Meister Eckhart

c. 1294–1298

Composed early in Eckhart's career when he served as prior of Erfurt, the Talks of Instruction records his conversations with young Dominican friars seeking spiritual guidance. Practical and intimate in tone, it addresses obedience, self-knowledge, the will, and the relationship between outer works and inner transformation. Behind its pastoral simplicity lies a radical thesis: what matters is not what we do but from where we do it — the quality of the will determines the worth of every act.