There is the message, and then we have the methods and means of that message.
Were our world not so hostile to heart-led living, we wouldn’t have to waste so much time and effort explaining it. Every blog post holds the potential for drawing a much wider audience than the regulars, and it requires balancing the language and tone between first time readers and those who already know the context. Such is the way of things for a blog like this in our world.
What kind of nifty little phrase can we use to replace that necessary explanation? Living in the consciousness of the heart-mind that arises from an awareness of the sensory wiring and the sensory field emanating from the heart is quite a mouthful. But we have to add to it that we take seriously what the Bible in particular, and the Ancient Near Eastern civilizations in general, say is the superior consciousness of the heart as the seat of the will, not mere human sentiment. Even then, we suffer the unexamined assumption of most Westerners that anything above the intellect would be more intellectual, or that we are blathering about some mythology of the East. At some point, you can’t afford to get too deeply entangled in explaining it more than once — “Look! There’s a brain in your chest!”
In the future, you’ll see me linking back to my most recent book, Heart of Faith, pretty frequently. In fact, I’ll be adding it to the advertising space on the lower right there with my other anchor book. It’s important to continue offering fresh insight into the contrast between Western moral mythology and biblical moral reality. Instead of endlessly restating that radical shift, we need to continue discussing the implications of it.
For example, most Westerners comprehend the notion of self-reliance, but that’s not exactly a biblical ethic. Rather, it’s reliance on God’s provision. Much of the time, that means you are obliged to engage Creation with your heart and lead your mind to formulate the right action for the context. Mankind has struggled since being kicked out of Eden, trying to get Creation to provide what his incompetent intellect can discern is necessary for life. The mind alone will screw it up. It won’t be catastrophic every day, but it will make you work extra hard “by the sweat of your brow” and you still get thorns and thistles along with a paltry harvest of the food you intended to grow.
Living by your heart-mind engages an entirely different scenario, teaching you to eat what God provides. If thorns and thistles don’t meet your needs, then learn how to commune with God’s provision to find out how to meet those needs with what does grow. And maybe you need to live somewhere else to be among those things He offers. Otherwise, you’ll be battling the very soil in a pointless war of dominance that ends up poisoning Creation and your children.
Time is short. Learn this and practice it, because the world is likely to change dramatically very soon. We cannot predict the shape of things to come, nor could you expect a useful answer from those who think they steer such events. Not every member of the plutocrat crowd is in on this “Path to Persia” business, but the crew heading up that project is not going to stop until every tool is taken from their hands (we call them “neocons”).
When things start coming apart for the rest of us who have no leverage to change these folks’ plans, we truly must be ready to exploit this huge mess for the glory of the Father. That means demonstrating heart-led living in the midst of the coming chaos, and reaping the blessings with joy.
