Dec 17, 2017

Follower of Jesus (42)

Blessed are the pure in heart

For they shall see God (3)

Matthew 5:8

If we take Jesus at his word, and all the translations put this beatitude with similar words inferring that those who are ‘pure in heart’ will, indeed see God, right now, at this time. The problem is, few of us would recognize God when we see God. In truth, we see God every day; and to put it literally, every time we open our eyes. As the prologue of John’s gospel states, everything that has been created has been created through God, and contains God as the core of all that exists. Particle physicists have startling news: nothing material exists. Electrons are all part of the electron field, upper quarks are part of the upper quark field, and so on. Everything is a field, or a potential waiting to occur.

The body of God is all the fields (and more) put together. Nothing defines what God looks like, as all things are at the same time part of the “All in All” as St. Paul talks about. indeed, as the prologue to the Gospel of John puts it, “ All things came into being through the Word, and apart from the Word not one thing came into being that has come into being.” (John 1:1-3). When something “comes into being through the Word”, that thing is indeed part of the parent, just like my seven children contain a part of me buried into their being, or their DNA.

Immediately we wonder how a person who ‘sees God’ functions in the everyday ordinary world. Well, as I understand it, everything looks the same but different. What I mean, is that a person who sees God in all things sees the same as everyone else, but with a slight difference; not in the content, color, or any physical element, but in the basic understanding of what they are seeing represents.

When we see an apple, for instance, we can see the apple as something good to eat or to bake a pie with, or we can see that apple imbued with the love of God giving us sustenance; of course even then we see that apple as something good to eat or to bake a pie with – it seems like an extra sense plays along with what we are seeing. The apple is still an apple, but the apple also has an indwelling of God (or the Word, as John’s gospel put it). What has happened is that an inner eye has opened up to reveal the essence of all creation – God.

John’s gospel prologue puts it bluntly: “and apart from the Word not one thing came into being that has come into being.” ‘Not one thing’; that excludes nothing. Everything we see contains God, and it is so common that we just do not see that basic fact. It is at the perceptual level that our understanding of what we see can change. Do we see just the outer veneer that represents what is in our memory bank as ‘apple’ or do we see, again in our perceptual level, that deeper reality as ‘apple = God’. Both see that same red glowing thing on the table, but one sees more than the other. It is our perception that must change from viewing everything we look at. If we take that opening statement as it sounds as the truth of reality, and if we can take that truth into the basis of our perceptual process, we will see things as they really are – God made manifest.

The basic difficulty we of the western world has is that we see only with our left brain, where facts and figures are what counts. Only the surface gets any credit, but the right side, that intuitive and the side that the heart speaks to, is still interactive. We in the western world have learned to shut down the right side of our brain, and our religions have, unfortunately, worked right along side of the western way of thinking. Plato would feel more at home with the teachings of Christianity than would Jesus. I believe strongly Jesus would be rolling his eyes at the majority of silly commands (don’t get me started) we have placed upon our people.

When was the last time you heard extensive teachings on the Beatitudes? And yet, as stated in Matthew 25, these are the only things that count.

Next I will discuss the one thing we have been warned to avoid at all costs: personal experience. But first I will talk a little of Christmas and New Year’s.

Meditation

Oh Spirit of the Word, I surrender to your Love and call. I know that You are present in all things, even in these poor fingers that let Your words pour onto this sharing. And indeed, You are present even in the computer and screen that I am using, for nothing that has been created has been created apart from You. I ask to be transformed so that I can be a useful outlet of Your love that is so transforming. Countless times You have showed Your love for me in so many hidden ways, but especially in the love I have sensed from so many over the years. I know I am blessed in all my undertakings, and I understand that everything helps me to open my spirit up to be more of what You created me to become. I bow in gratitude for all You have done, and open myself up for all the future that is mine to uncover.