A HUNDRED THOUSAND WAYS ~ HEART PICTURES

Published in New View Magazine (January 2010 issue)

Pentecost, El Greco

Joseph Campbell, in his comprehensive exploration of mythopoeia, observed that, for the ground of human existence, humanity has “chosen, not the facts in which the world abounds, but the myths of an immemorial imagination.” Indeed, the mythologies of the world, often thought to be divinely inspired, are many-layered, rich, symbolic road maps of and for humanity which speak in and to the heart.

     The heart realm encompasses imagination--fertile ground for knowing and understanding, but in different ways at different times in an individual's, as well as humanity’s evolution. Two stories, one from the Old Testament, one from the New Testament suggest a shift or transformation of human consciousness.
     The Old Testament story of the Tower of Babel tells of the descendants of Nimrod in the land of Shinar who sought to build a tower to reach heaven. God responds, “Now, nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do.” He confounds their common language into many languages, so they can no longer communicate to complete the tower, and they are to be scattered over the earth. In essence, they were planning a "raid" on the Holy, an invasion of heaven to display their power and to keep and expand their prominence and reputation. Their efforts were thwarted, as their motivations were not out of humility, faith, or spiritual practice toward moral development—all thought of in most religious traditions as acceptable and necessary ways to approach, know and/or experience the divine.
     A counter part to the Tower of Babel story can be found in the New Testament in which, perhaps, the chosen people are those whose hearts open to “other than words.”
     After Christ's crucifixtion and death, on the third day, it is told that he rose from the dead to walk again on the earth and appeared before his followers on Pentecost, meaning "fiftieth," or approximately seven weeks after harvest/Passover.  The gathering included the twelve apostles, his mother Mary, other female disciples and his brothers (Acts 1:14). He had told his diciples they were to await a baptism, not from water, but from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit descends upon the group, usually portrayed as a white dove hovering above and a flame of enlightenment over each of the heads of those gathered. They begin to speak in tongues, as again language is confounded, but miraculously, they hear and understand each other in their own language.

     "Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs – we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” ("On Pentecost: What language Was Heard?" Fr. Ted Bobosh).

    Now, for the first time, the diciples understood who Christ was and what their mission would henceforth be. They received understanding and would teach over the earth what they had learned in the three years as diciples. With patience and devotion, they had been unknowingly building an “inner tower” (or temple) to reach the heavens. Simple fisherman, lovingly motivated, they had struggled to learn and understand, but in a moment they were enlightened, not though the letter of the law, but through its Spirit. 

     In the end, they harvested the fruits of Christ's parables and other teachings—seeds cast that had taken root in imagination and were felt in the heart. One could say that in freedom they were blessed with understanding beyond words. They had held themselves open to what Martin Buber describes as, "…the unconditional mystery which we encounter in every sphere of our lives and which cannot be comprised in any formula.”