Truly, it is in darkness that one finds the light, so when we are in sorrow, then this light is nearest of all to us.

The saying expresses a central theme associated with Meister Eckhart’s mystical theology: divine illumination is often discovered not through comfort or worldly success but through inner emptiness, suffering, and unknowing. “Darkness” and “sorrow” function as spiritual conditions in which ordinary supports fall away, making a person more receptive to God’s presence (“the light”). The paradox—finding light in darkness—echoes apophatic (negative) spirituality, where God is encountered beyond concepts and sensory consolations. Read this way, the quote reframes grief not as mere absence but as a threshold: when one is stripped down by sorrow, the possibility of transformation and nearness to the divine becomes most immediate.