The temple of the heart is where we are constantly to dwell, offering the oblation of self without end, in an incessant identification with the Lord Jesus. “The Kingdom of God is within you,” but you do not encapsulate it. Because the ever-presence of God is not merely external, the Lord says “it is within you,” that is, it is at the essence of who you are and you are not only a “self,” you are an individual who may chose to acknowledge the fountain of life within you, the source of all. Where do you wish to dwell? Within yourself? No! Seek to dwell in the presence of God and to not remove yourself from Him. The greatest delusion is, perhaps, that we can escape God! Why would we want to?
By dwelling in the temple of the heart we dwell truly in the presence common to all but of which not all are aware. To come to dwell as members of the eternal Kingdom we constantly call upon the name of Jesus, uniting ourselves to Him, yes, that we would be one with Him as He and the Father are one.
From an old notebook
March 19, 2011 by Jeremiah-Symeon
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If I keep the temple of my heart attended to regularly, and am sure to organize the rest of my heart in relation to this temple in the right way, can I then be assured that all of my heart (all of my “self”) has been sacramentally lifted into union with Christ? Then I live in the Kingdom, whether in or out of my heart’s specific temple. Or is there no part of my heart meant to be outside of its “temple”? Or have I now totally confused everything? Either way I’m glad to know that it’s not so much about finding God as surrendering to his presence finding me.
Please forgive me; perhaps it’s time that I visit my own website again.
This is somewhat of a paradox, a mystery, even beyond my ability to articulate. The dwelling within the “heart” is to call to return the scattered facets of the fragmented person. The facets that comprise the whole of the human person, as created by God, find unity in Him by virtue of the incarnation of Christ. When we find ourselves to be “dwelling” therein, rather than being constantly fragmented, then we discover that the heart isn’t our home in and of itself; to refer to “the heart” is ultimately to reference the simplicity of the state of the God-created person, the unity of the human person as created by God, a being who is not merely a container of sorts, but a unique life constantly sourced by the loving God Whose Kingdom is eternal and accessible to those who seek to find it “within.” Ultimately we find that we do not encapsulate it (as mentioned above) but that we participate in it by coming to a humble awareness of the fact that it is “within,” that is, essential to our very being (yes, the unique personhood of each on created by God), and also common to all. Yes, I think to become unified within the “heart” is the segue to being “sacramentally lifted to union with Christ.
Maybe you and I can talk sometime and define what we mean in speaking about the “heart” in particular.
Again, please forgive me.
I hold you in my heart!
jv+
You have articulated the ideal quite faithfully I think. I was running with the metaphor of the temple to imagine the longterm defragmentation process as being transcended through the sojourner’s regular (though merely periodical)offering of self. Knowing how “cessant” my own identification with Christ can be from day to day (moment to moment,even), I long for reassurance of union, and keep formulating such machinations. Ultimately, you have reminded me that, in a sense, the Christian life is about realization more than it is about production, and this is the greatest assurance I know of as I learn to “dwell”, to abide without end.