Attention & Focus · “You Become What You Hold”
Finding God in All Things
To carry one steady inward attention to God into every ordinary task and place — so that work, walking, and daily duties become the field of presence rather than an interruption of it. ‘He who has God rightly has Him in all places… and in all his works.
In 5 lines: Set one steady inward turning toward God — and keep it in whatever you do. Don’t reserve presence for church or quiet; practise finding it in the street, in company, in your work. Let the task be the practice, not an interruption. When attention drifts, gently bring it back. Act for its own sake, “without a why” — and let it become a habit that travels everywhere with you.
What it is
Against any idea that holiness requires a special place, posture, or withdrawal, Eckhart teaches a strikingly practical, everyday attention: carry one steady inward turning to God through whatever you are doing.
In The Talks of Instruction he insists, “He who has God essentially. has Him in all places, and in the street and in company with everyone, just as much as in church or in solitude.” The work is not to add religious activity to your day but to keep the same inward presence in all of it — sweeping, walking, working, talking — so that ordinary action becomes the very field of God rather than a distraction from Him.
He warns against the beginner’s error of needing the right setting: a person who must go to a quiet church to find God “has not yet learned” the deeper way; the goal is to find Him “in all things alike.” This is distinct from his silent-ground contemplation (a withdrawn sit) and from his letting-go disposition: here the doable form is a continuous attentional habit threaded through active life — what later contemplatives call practising the presence.
The Method
From The Talks of Instruction (faithfully described, short quotes only):
- Form one inward intention toward God and keep returning to it. Eckhart says to “learn to keep God in all things” — set a steady inner orientation and bring attention back to it whenever it strays, rather than reserving God for prayer-times.
- Do not depend on a special place or method. If you can only find God in quiet or in church, you are still leaning on a “way.” Practise finding Him equally in the street, in company, and in work.
- Let the activity be the practice — not an interruption of it. Don’t wait for tasks to end so you can be spiritual; bring the presence into the task. The work itself becomes “wrought. by God” when done from that inward ground.
- Carry the inner stillness outward. The recollection gathered in silence (his “ground”) is meant to be kept amid action, not lost the moment you stand up. Stillness travels.
- Practise persistently, like a skill. Eckhart treats this as something learned by repetition: at first you must “earnestly” hold the intention; in time the presence becomes habitual and effortless, “imprinted” so it accompanies you everywhere.
- Act “without a why.” Do the ordinary task freely and for itself, not as a transaction — which keeps the attention clean of grasping. (Sourcing note: attributed paraphrase and short quotation from The Talks of Instruction; not full reproduction.)
Source & Lineage
Meister Eckhart (c. 1260–1328), German Dominican preacher and mystic of the Rhineland. The Talks of Instruction, addressed to young Dominicans, is his most accessible, practical work, full of counsel on finding God in everyday life rather than in extraordinary states.
Its teaching that God is found “in all things alike” became a touchstone for later practical mysticism.
The Traditions' versions
The same move — hold one continuous inward attention to the sacred while doing ordinary work — recurs across the practical-mystical streams: - Brother Lawrence — the practice of the presence of God. Keeping a loving attention on God amid kitchen work and chores.;
- Emmet Fox / New Thought — practice of the presence. Steady turning of attention to the indwelling Presence through the day.
- Nicholas of Cusa — seeing God in all things. God’s presence “enfolded” in every creature.
- Eckhart’s own silence of the ground. This carries the silent inwardness into action.
- Mindful daily activity. Sustaining present, engaged attention through routine tasks.
Common refinements
Waiting for the “right” conditions. The whole point is not needing quiet, church, or a special posture; practise in the street and in company.
- Splitting life into sacred vs. secular slots. This makes the day’s work the field of presence, not an interruption to be endured until “real” prayer.
- Gripping the attention rigidly. Straining to “hold God” every second breeds scrupulosity and strain; let the return be gentle and frequent, not white-knuckled.
- Expecting it instantly. Eckhart treats it as a learned habit — clumsy and effortful at first, natural with repetition.
- Using “God is in everything” to bypass discernment. Sacramental attention does not mean ignoring genuinely harmful or unjust situations.