Church of the Heart

We struggle to get Westerners to see beyond a single unitary universe. We further struggle to get them to see various levels within that one universe. The native conceptual instinct of Westerners is to see everything on the same concrete, factual level as everything else. They recognize metaphor as a means of abstracting reality for mental consideration, but the multiple levels of thinking native to almost every other civilization in human history is quite alien to the West.

The heart-mind operates essentially in the moral realm. This is not the same as the factual realm of human concrete thinking. Because of the moral blindness of those who smother their heart, they are unable to recognize the living sphere of the heart. Even when you explain, only those who already have some inkling of a separate faculty above the intellect can grasp it.

We could say that the heart-mind operates in a parallel universe, if that imagery helps you realize how the moral and concrete realms interlock, yet remain so completely separate. Don’t confuse this with the Spirit Realm, something utterly ineffable. That isn’t a universe at all, but ultimate reality, within which our artificial universe exists as a confined space. Then again, the moral sphere is the higher reality that morally blind people can’t see right here and now. It’s as if Westerners live in yet another, more constrained bubble of illusion.

At any rate, given the nature of Western intellectual limitations, we struggle to explain how this heart-led living works in the mainstream religious organizations. When I suggest a radically individual and voluntary religion, I seriously doubt you could actually build a literal congregation on that. Rather, that is how the heart-mind operates regardless of the contextual setting.

So on the one hand, you must obey the moral fabric in your heart, but what your mind actually proceeds to implement with that is highly variable. You can bring heart-led religion into any existing religious institution anywhere, but you can’t easily alter the organization to submit to this higher moral demand. The requirements are so radical and alien that you would have to usurp the organizational control. The resulting human outrage would destroy everything. All the more so when people invest so much sacred devotion in long-standing institutions. Yet, so long as you are careful to avoid upsetting the applecart, you can implement a parallel religion within any religious setting.

God is the one who calls us and who decides where we shall serve Him. Only a fool tries to place limits on His calling. For most of us, the demands of heart-led living simply cannot be made to fit in the old structures. You don’t have to leave your comfort zone, but you won’t belong to it any more and it will eventually cease being so comfortable. Heart-led religion will change you in ways we can scarcely describe.

For most of you, I recommend you prepare yourself to start something new. True religion requires only warm bodies for infrastructure. Nothing else matters so long as you can merge your heart-fields in spiritual communion. The rest depends entirely on how those involved want to manifest that faith. Scripture indicates some broad generalities such as music and teaching, but little else that could be concretely applied. There are pointers for specific rituals (Lord’s Supper and baptism) but few genuine rules.

The flavor is whatever works for you, for all those involved. Nobody gets to boss the others around, but it’s rare when folks in communion don’t figure out a way to put someone into leadership for certain purposes. The Bible separates organizational leadership from ritual leadership most of the time, so keep that in mind. It also says organization must take its cue from Ancient Near Eastern feudalism in the sense of families of people. I’ve written plenty about such things, so I only mention them in passing here.

Anything we might call “church” is like the rest of what we find here in this realm of existence: It’s just a tool for His glory.