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Institute |
March 12, 2006
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Mainstream Christian churches and evangelical groups emphasize the worship of Christ as an external historic personage, and as a living being who overcame death. In contrast, a central mystical Christian teaching is that "the kingdom of heaven is within," and attaining Christ Consciousness involves a process of the mystical awakening of the heart. This teaching is suggested in both the Old the New Testament and numerous Christian writings, hymms and church doctrine, but is generally not understood in its significance as a principle of psychology-a science of the soul. .In the New Testament, the heart is depicted as an organ of thinking, reasoning and feeling, with the potential for harbouring evil or loving thoughts and feelings. Christ knew and perceived in spirit what was within peoples’ hearts: But when Jesus perceived their thought, “What think ye evil in your hearts?” Matthew 9, 4 Jesus perceived in his spirit
O generation of vipers, how can ye,
Christ was a reader of hearts, intuitively
knowing and feeling what was within the hearts of the disbelievers, the
hypocrites and scribes. Although scientists consider telepathy a mind-to-mind
process, spiritual teachings regard emotional, intuitive and spiritual
knowledge as being related to the dynamics of the heart. Christian teachings
also describe the heart as a deeper level of mind, related to the life
of the soul, to Christ and to God.
there will your heart be also. Luke 12, 34 The sower soweth the word.
This people honoureth me with their lips,
For the people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing,
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Christ’s message entails the healing and awakening of the heart, in order
that we might know and love God. The sower sows the word in their hearts,
so that we might come to "understand." The deepest desire of the
heart is to know God, but our hearts are far from the Lord, and instead
filled with innumerable personal desires and ill feelings.
The verse from Mark 4, 15 suggests that the 'word' was sown in their hearts.
The following image depicts the Word, the Hebrew four letter name of God,
as sown within the Heart. Further, it depicts the Christos principle
within a human being, surrounding the heart with the word 'Christus.'
(The illustration is from Manly Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages.)
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Saint
John Eudes, a mystical Christian of the fifteenth century,
explains that the heart has varied meanings in sacred scripture. In The
Admirable Heart of Mary, the Saint elaborates upon these mysteries:
Thus, within Christian
mysticism and scripture, the Heart is a sacred space. St. Eudes distinguishes
three major hearts within the individual: firstly, the heart of flesh,
the mechanical pump which empowers and enlivens the body; secondly, the
spiritual heart related to the higher faculties of the soul and spirit;
and lastly, the divine heart, "the point of the spirit," the interior
most source of consciousness within the mystical dimensions of the heart.
In the
Aquarian Gospel of Jesus
the Christ (Levi,1907) similarly elaborates upon
the mysteries of the heart in verses attributed to Christ. Levi was
an American preacher who maintained that these verses were read from the
Akashic records–a realm retaining cosmic or universal memory–in which all
of human history and experience is recorded. Some verses of the
Aquarian
Gospel are very close to the standard New Testament, while others recount
more of Christ’s esoteric teachings:
The light of life
is obscured by the murky veils of the heart–that is by the impurities
of false ego, selfishness and ignorance. Christ is within the heart and
this is the human meeting place with God: --the inner temple of the Lord
of life.
Early sects of the Gnostic Christians taught that to know oneself at the
deepest level was simultaneously to know God, or the Father, as the source
of the divine, spiritual and soul life within oneself. This is evident
when one examines the Gospels of the Nag
Hammadi Library–manuscripts discovered in Egypt in
1945–which provide a rich source of esoteric Christian teachings. In the
Gospel
of Truth, Christ encourages the disciples to gain the light which is
within themselves, instead of living in outer darkness; and to “proclaim
the things that are in the heart of the Father in order to teach those
who will receive teaching.” The roots of the Self are within
the heart of the Father, and within the pleroma:
Those of “interior
knowledge” have realized their spiritual nature and know of the perfect
light within the heart. The “seeds of the Father,” the perfect light of
the heart, are within the “pleroma,” the divine mother. The term
pleroma, like that of the divine plenum, refers to the fullness of things,
or the infinite potential latent within God. The “point of the spirit”
exists within the sacred space of the Pleroma–that is, within the mystical
depths of the heart, and the underlying plenum. The conjunction of
the spiritual Father and the heart space of the Divine Mother is the marriage
of the divine/spiritual and material principles, the heaven and earth with
a human being.
In the Gnostic gospel of The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles,
the disciple explains that “the physicians of this world heal what belongs
to the world. The physicians of the soul, however, heal the heart.”
(Robinson, 1981, p. 170) Mystical Christian literature depicts the heart
as the bridal chamber, wherein the soul is healed and then wedded to the
Lord, or the individual might attain Christ.Consciousness.
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 Christian mystic John Francis, author of The Mystic Way of Radiant Love: Alchemy for a New Creation, (Heart Blossom Books, Los Altos, California, 1998) writes, "My mission is to help uncover the forgotten, deep heart teachings of Jesus." Francis explains that "the mystical parables and sayings of Jesus have either been ignored or given superficial intepretations that miss their original deeper, intent." (p. 6) Francis provides a valuable perspective on the anatomy of the soul as suggested by an esoteric interpretation of key Christian scriptures. Christ states, "the Kingdom of God is within you," (Luke 17:21) and further, that "the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed." Francis explains that the "mustard seed" is an ancient metaphor for the Center Point of the soul. Francis writes:
Even the word meditation
translated from the Latin "mediari," literally means "being
returned to the center."
Francis draws upon other sacred verses to illustrate: "The Kingdom of
Heaven is like a treasure hid in a field," which leads the man to 'sell
all that he had to attain it.' (Matthew 13:44) This is a priceless
thing within a large expanse of space, and Francis suggests that similarly
we "must go beneath the surface of our field of awareness to discover
the soul's buried treasure."
In the next verses of Matthew, the kingdom of heaven is compared
to 'a pearl of great price' and the mechant similarly sells off everything
he has to attain this pearl. Christ then compares the Kingdom of heaven
to 'leaven,' as the living substance, which is 'hid in three measures
of meal,' suggesting that the life principles is mixed into the three
modes of nature- the mental, emotional and physical lives of human
beings, and hidden there.
Francis then quotes Matthew 6:22, Luke 11:34: "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." Francis notes that Jesus did not say the plural "eyes" because this eye is not in the usual mode "as a perceptual receptor" but rather it is "a point source of light." (p. 16) St John of the Cross thus wrote: "With no other light or guide, Than the one which burns in my heart," in the Ascent of Mount Carmel. Francis notes that other saints have similarly referred to "this interior star," --as "the star of love," the star "that nourishes and heals" and "expands."
Francis concludes:
"... the mustard seed," the "one pearl," the "single eye," and the "star" in the heart are all metaphors that can be used to represent the Center Point of the soul. Each one reveals a different attribute of this wondrous point." (p. 17) The I-existence originates
from a point source, and then as a seed of the Father within the cave of
the heart. The significance of the esoteric teaching is hidden within
the parables, and Church literature.
Even the word meditation refers to finding one' centre, within such a single I, the magical 'star' nature, and being able to experience the light and love of God within oneself. The Kingdom of God is within you, Christ states, so perhaps we might wonder where, and what is the significance of this within our lives.
Christ states in the parables, that "It is easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom
of God." (Matthew 19, Mark 10, or Luke 18) Francis interpretes
this passage:
Francis explains that
"this holy sanctuary" of the heart is referred to metaphorically as a "cave,"
and that the mystical path is one of "entering the Cave of the Heart."
Christian mystics describe varied 'shells' or 'layers' which surround the
divine spark, such that
"the inner spark of the soul is trapped in these
concentric shells." Meister Eckhart thus wrote: "A man has
many skins in himself covering the depths of his heart." and Teilhard
de Chardin spoke of the "incandescence of the inward layers of being."
Francis writes:
"The inner process
of entering the Center Point of the soul is like threading the eye of a
needle." (p. 46) It is passing through and transcending
these veils, sheaths, layers or bodies, which serve to bind the soul, like
the rich man, to the external phenomena of life.
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 Francis also provides some interesting comments on the "Inner Tree of Life." He writes: In the Book of Genesis ... by eating of the Tree of Life humans can live forever. ... this Tree is a metaphor for an inner structure within the soul. This inner tree is "rooted and grounded in Love" (Ephesians 3:17) this is also expressed by Jesus in the parable of the greatest tree in the garden which grows from the tiniest seed. ...According to esoteric Judaism and Kabbalah, the Tree of Life is indeed a metaphor for the inner structure of the soul. Our roots are from above, or within heaven, and we are embodied below within seven worlds, with a central Point at the heart of being, with a vacated Space surrounded by shells or veils or knots, as described within the mystical literature. Mystical Christianity certainly supports the essential teachings of the heart doctrine. |
