In my previous post (to Know Nothing), I did not delve into the aspects of thinking with the head and thinking with "the heart".
St. Paul did say that while among the people of Corinth, he did wanted to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and went on to expound upon not speaking sublimely from human wisdom but rather to demonstrate to them of and with the power and spirit of Christ.
I have this dilemma of which most of us might, in that in our temporal lives, we do tend to think with our heads primarily, or at least there is the temptation to do so. I was needing to get myself out of a difficult situation (i.e. an old farmhouse/hermitage not as it appeared, having been misled by a Catholic real estate agent and the (I learned later) nice but incompetent house inspector she enlisted, plus a disreputable contractor whom she highly recommended.
In the five-plus years it has taken to turn the place around from needing to be gutted to now a lovely dwelling that took all my finances and then some, I did have to use what we might call human wisdom, or at least my intellect, use my "head", to learn all manner of construction terms and skills.
Yet, as I am easing back into predominately the spiritual purpose and realm of which thinking with the heart--or as St. Paul would put it to know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified--or to rely upon the wisdom that is actually the power and spirit of Christ--I am wondering about a thought that came to me while hooking up the water source hoses to the soaker hoses this morning.
It is tempting to consider wisdom in two parts: worldly and spiritual. I did so, in essence, in referencing how my mind had to learn to think in terms of construction skills, measurements, facts, how-to instruction in plumbing, electrical framing, siding, insulating, drywalling, tiling, painting, and window/door and stairway installation.
My mind seemed to have to switch gears--back and forth--between temporal and spiritual. When, all along, perhaps it did not need to do so.
What if I knew nothing except Christ and Him crucified all along? What if I did not think in terms of words but rather in demonstration via the wisdom and power of God? Could it be that the temporal needs and activities would have unfolded and been accomplished as well or better than as is sometimes said, I'd "put on my thinking cap"?
I am reminded of years ago--23 this past July, in fact, when the Lord made it clear to me with temporal proof, that I'd bi-located (traveled in spirit but also in actuality) in the night to a nearby city and had been in my uncle's hospital room in the night.
The purpose of God allowing the bi-location seemed to have been as an act of charity, so that I could comfort my ailing uncle but also to help his sisters (my mother among them) who had been to see him the day before but were going to return the day I awoke having been "away in spirit" during the night. (Also, I realize now years later, that the experience helped me grasp and cooperate with other such bi-location events since then.)
I awoke in the morning hearing the words being pronounced emphatically: Think with your heart! Think with your heart! Think with your HEART!"
I realized in faith and surely with the wisdom and power of Christ, that I truly had been in that hospital room where my uncle had been tied down to his bed--something that his sisters had not known nor mentioned in their talking after they returned from seeing him prior. I knew from within that I was to gently tell them that they would find him thus, that day, however, and not to be upset by this change in his circumstances.
One aunt in particular was adamant that was not so, and my mother, also, said no, he was not tied down and why would I even think or suggest it? However, upon their return from visiting him in the hospital that day, my mother came to me and apologized, and said when they arrived, her brother (the first of eight siblings to be terminally ill) was restrained. The nurse told them it was to keep him from pulling out his IV's and oxygen. My mother said it helped them to not be shocked, for I had mentioned it even if they thought I was somehow ridiculous in suggesting such a thing. She asked how did I know?
I told her, and she trusted in the numinous experience the Lord had allowed. My mother always did seem to trust, usually sooner than later, what I had to say regarding spiritual matters. She had the capacity to experience the type of faith that comes by the power and spirit of Christ.
While out hooking up soaker hoses a bit ago, and pondering the thought that perhaps the mind and heart do not need to be separate when it comes to faith, the idea of knowing nothing except Christ and Him crucified took on greater significance. I will continue to pray about it, and to listen, and to ask for more faith of the power and spirit of God.
Maybe thinking with the heart, in essence and for those who can grasp the numinous aspects of this, is far more inclusive and potent of all thought and knowledge, so that the temporal "things" we think we need to be thinking about, do not need to be so focused in our intellect.
Perhaps we do not need to switch our brains back and forth from head to heart and heart to head--as this is the way I now am trying to describe it. Perhaps we ought give over to "thinking with the heart" in the way St. Paul was describing knowing nothing except Christ and Him crucified, and to demonstrate the power and spirit of Christ rather than think or speak in sublimity of human words. Perhaps in this union, it is a thinking with Christ's Head and Heart!
Well, just sharing. Trying to clarify if some take objection to knowing nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified and letting faith in the power and spirit be our head and heart in daily and nightly temporal life, with the intellect flowing and unfolding from that faith. Come to a oneness in spirit and union with Christ, and we will function in the temporal, far exceeding human wisdom and words.
God bless His Real Presence in us!
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