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Spiritual Warrior
We have been considering how to become Spiritual Warriors from the Interspiritual perspective. In the first article of this series, we defined a Spiritual Warrior as a person who has the strength to know who they are, what they stand for, where they are called, and how they are going to get there. Earlier in this series, we read that Tibetan Buddhist meditation master Chogyam Trungpa described a Spiritual Warrior in this way:
“Warriorship here does not refer to making war on others. Aggression is the source of our problems, not the solution. Here the word “warrior” is taken from the Tibetan pawo, which literally means “one who is brave.” Warriorship in this context is the tradition of human bravery, or the tradition of fearlessness.” — (from his book, Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior)
We are using Jesus’ list of the blessed from his Sermon on the Mount, as recorded by Matthew, as a guide to becoming Spiritual Warriors ourselves. In the last installment, we looked at “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” We came to the conclusion that to be merciful was to be forgiving and to have compassion. A truly compassionate person has come far along the path toward becoming a Spiritual Warrior.
In this article, we ponder the beatitude, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
Pure in Heart
What can that mean — “pure in heart?” A search of the words “pure,” and “purity,” provides thoughts related to a concept of sexual purity and innocence. How does this relate purity of heart? Purity of heart and sexual purity are related, but only as far as intent and purpose.
In other words, the current “fundamentalist” focus on virginity until marriage, “purity rings,” and “purity dances” have little to do with the purity and innocence inherent in a loving sexual relationship. Purity of heart has less to do with sex and much more to do with the relationships between people, and the relationships one has with God and with the universe.
In his book Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, Chogyam Trungpa wrote that “Decency is the absence of strategy. It is of utmost importance to realize that the warrior’s approach should be simple-minded sometimes, very simple and straightforward. That makes it very beautiful: you having nothing up your sleeve; therefore a sense of genuineness comes through. That is decency.”
One might say that a person who is pure in heart is accepting, loving, open, trusting, and honest. A person who is pure in heart is a person without guile. The intent behind their actions is free of an ulterior motive.
Purity in Jesus’ Time
In the world Jesus grew up in, the Jewish way of thinking about cleanliness of the heart involved rituals of cleaning, including times set aside for the purification of those considered unclean, such as those who have worked with the dead, menstruating women, and women who have given birth.
Jesus was challenged by those who did not support him because he did not insist that his followers wash their hands before eating. When they challenged him, he said, ‘Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.’
Then the disciples approached and said to him, ‘Do you know that the Pharisees took offence when they heard what you said?’ He answered, ‘Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.’ But Peter said to him, ‘Explain this parable to us.’
Then he said, ‘Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.’ (Matthew 15:11–20)
Nature and the Human Heart
Some have taught that by saying “but what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles,” Jesus is saying that the heart is inherently evil. I don’t think that Jesus meant that the human heart is in itself evil. I think he meant that it is human nature to live for ourselves, and that it is only by cleansing our hearts, by choosing to do the right thing and learning to live outside of ourselves that we will fulfill our fullest potential.
To cleanse ourselves is a kind of distillation process — to release the impurities and allow our clear, pure, Divine selves to live in delightful unity with All That Is. As a fine wine is decanted by candlelight to separate the impurities, so we become purer in our hearts. Having separated out the impurities in our hearts, we have the power to light the world on fire with Love.
Humans are naturally self-centered, not because they are inherently evil, but because humans are animals. It is natural to seek survival. It takes a strong identification with our Divine nature to overcome this natural drive to only take care of ourselves and to place our own preservation over that of others.
Caring for others; that is, to think first of others, to love openly, and to accept others as they are, will lead to having a “pure heart.” To become a Spiritual Warrior we must become an open, trusting, loving, person who possesses the strength to overcome these instinctual survival responses.
Cleansing of the Heart
John Wesley, an Anglican priest and founder of Methodism, wrote about what he called “circumcision of the heart;” that is, making the heart pure. The earliest Christians were Jewish first. In the early days of Christianity, as others began to be interested in following Jesus’ Way, there were arguments about whether or not they had to be literally circumcised and required to convert to Judaism before they could become Christians.
It was eventually decided that following Christ was not about the physical body, but the spiritual. Following this train of thought, Wesley’s idea about the “circumcision” of the heart implies a cleansing of the heart through humility, faith, hope, and charity. Charity is not just giving to the poor, or being kind because we are supposed to be kind. Charity is love; true, honest, deep, spiritual love. Wesley wrote that without such “circumcision,” humans are doomed to feel separated from All That Is by our own self-centeredness and conceit.
The Way
To become “pure in heart” is to live in the way we have been talking about. That is, to live in humility, in faith, in hope, and in charity. This is the Way of the Spiritual Warrior. A Spiritual Warrior works toward having a pure heart and toward living the kind of life that we are called to live.
Let us ask that the waters of the Eternal River of Life wash through us, cleansing us, distilling us, freeing us of the grime of jealousy, anger, hatred, and selfishness.
© 2022 by Suzy Jacobson Cherry
