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When is a "Heart" not a "Heart?"
Condensed from Jesus: A New Vision by Marcus J. Borg
Jesus spoke frequently of the heart - of good hearts and bad hearts, hardened hearts and pure hearts. In modern times, the heart is primarily an organ for pumping blood. But within ancient Jewish psychology, heart had a quite different connotation.
In Biblical times, the heart was a level below the mind, the emotions, and the will. It was the psyche at its deepest level, the innermost spring of individual life, the ultimate source of all physical, intellectual, emotional, and volitional energies.
This notion of the heart as a deep level of the self and as the fundamental determinant of both being and behavior was central to the teaching of Jesus. He spoke of the good man who produces good out of the treasure of his heart, and the evil man who produces evil out of the evil treasure of his heart. He illustrated what he meant by using a metaphor: No good tree bears bad fruit, neither does a bad tree bear good fruit.
When Jesus applied this common-sense observation to the heart and its behavior, it was a radical change to conventional wisdom. What matters is the kind of heart you have, what kind of tree you are. And you cannot change the kind of tree you are by dealing only with the fruit. That would be like trying to change a thorn bush into a fig tree by hanging figs on it.
Jesus' words not only affirmed the centrality of the heart but also subverted conventional morality and wisdom which tended to overlook this deeper level of self by focusing on externals, on the fruit. Concern with conventionally sanctioned belief and behavior became identified with correct doctrines, a code of behavior to be followed, leaving the heart untouched. Beliefs and behavior can remain second-hand religion, religion passed on by tradition and socialization. The self can continue to be selfish even while it believes and does the proper things; indeed conventional morality and wisdom, with their rewards and punishments, subtly but powerfully encourage us to be selfish.
The tension between correctly following tradition and the importance of the inner self was a central theme in the teaching of Jesus. He said: This people honors God with their lips, but their heart is far from God. The things that come out of a person (from the heart) are what defile him. Cleanse the inside and behold, everything is clean.
The struggle between Jesus and the practices of his time was not a struggle between a new religion (Christianity) and an old religion (Judaism), but a struggle between two ways of being religious that run through Judaism and Christianity alike. The conflict was between a way of being religious that depended upon observance of externals and a way of being religious that depended on inner transformation. Indeed, this conflict is found in all major religions, institutionalized and non-institutionalized.
Thus, according to Jesus, what was needed was an inner transformation of the self at the deepest level. The fruit of an anxious heart concerned about its own well-being is bitter. What is needed is a new heart, a pure heart, for such a heart produces good fruit. Said Jesus:
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
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