A HUNDRED THOUSAND WAYS

Published in New View Magazine (January 2010 issue)

Pentecost, El Greco

“The heart has its own language. The heart knows a hundred thousand ways to speak.”
 Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī

Joseph Campbell, in his comprehensive exploration of mythologies found 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.”

    The mythologies of the world, often thought to be divinely inspired, are many-layered, rich, symbolic road maps of and for humanity, living in our imagination and speaking to the heart. The heart realm encompassing imagination is fertile ground for understanding what myths and stories in sacred texts speak to us. 

    Two stories, one from the Old Testament, and one from the New Testament reveals the hubris of humanity seeking power and fame, and the other the possibility of transformation through an open mind and heart to an awakened 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.” and confounds their common language into many languages, so they can no longer communicate to complete the tower. In essence, they were planning to "invade" heaven to display their power and to keep and expand their prominence and reputation. Their efforts were thwarted, as their motivation was not out of humility, faith, or toward moral development—all thought of in most religious traditions as the way to approach, know and/or experience the divine.
     A counter story to the Tower of Babel is found in the New Testament. On the third day after Christ's crucifixtion and death, it is told that he rose from the dead to walk again on the earth. On Shavuot, (an ancient Jewish holiday 50 days after Passover) Christ appeared to a  gathering of the Twelve Apostles, his mother, Mary, other female disciples, his brothers and a larger crowd (Acts 1:14). Earlier he had told his diciples they were to await a baptism, not from water, but from the Holy Spirit. On this day the Holy Spirit descends, and miraculously they beginto speak other languages, and diverse crowd hears and understands what is said  

    "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.” (Acts 2:8-11) 

    With the decent of the Holy Spirt, the apostles, for the first time, understood what they had been taught as diciples and now, what their mission would henceforth be. They received a new consciousness and would teach over the earth what they had learned in the three years as diciples. With humility, patience and devotion, they unknowingly built an “inner tower” (or temple) to divine knowledge. As simple fisherman, lovingly motivated, they had struggled to learn and understand, and 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 the seeds cast that had taken root. One could say they were blessed with understanding beyond words. Their hearts were held 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.”

    Today, Christians celebrate Pentecost the fiftieth day after Easter to mark the descent of the Holy Spirit.

    Metaphorically, the descent of the Holy Spirit symbolizes an open heart to spiritual awakening--a new consciousness and understanding that we are united in the global community, no matter what language, and our work is to serve others, our community--and the world.

“The heart has its own language. The heart knows a hundred thousand ways to speak.”

Note: The Masks of God, is a four-volume series of comparative mythology by Joseph Campbell.