I love school. If I could get paid to be a full-time student, I would do that job in a heartbeat! But I wasn’t always like this. In fact, I hated school all through middle and high school. I wasn’t a great student and mostly got C’s and B’s. I struggled through math and English, and flat-out flunk Geometry. My reading wasn’t at a great level either and I found myself in the “special” classes much of the time. The thing that sparked my love for learning eventually was the Bible. It was a slow burn to start but it eventually grew into a full-on blaze. My love of learning didn’t truly begin until I learned of all the -ologies; Christology, Soteriology, Bibliology, etc. Then those poured right into Philosophy, Psychology, Anthropology, etc. I never did take a liking to Geometry which as a homeowner, has me buying too much paint or too few 2x4s for home projects. We all have our strengths, I guess.
As I have begun to learn about the Wisdom Tradition through teachers like Cynthia Bourgeault, I am struck by how knowledge becomes an obstacle to integrating my soul deeper into God. I live in my head. I over-identify with my thoughts so much so, they have caused me much anxiety in the past. I use to become positively giddy when I was about to showcase my knowledge and prove everyone else’s ignorance. I know, it’s terrible but for us heady people, you get what I’m saying.
Before I move on, let me give a little background concerning The Wisdom Tradition. First of all, it is not primarily a Christian tradition but is a thread, so to speak, that runs through many traditions. The Wisdom Tradition is not as concerned with knowledge as it is with inner transformation; integrating head with heart. The term “heart” is also not as we see it in the West as being the place of emotions or personal purpose. For wisdom, the heart is the place of seeing that recognizes the Divine in all things and people. The heart is the way we see The Kingdom of God. The Wisdom Tradition also tends to be more associated with contemplation and meditation, than with learning. It believes that when we turn inward to where God resides, we attain all that we need. This is difficult to believe for those who love to read and research but if you think about it long enough, it makes complete sense. If God is truly the Living Water springing up to eternal life1, we’ll completely miss it if we keep drinking from a firehose of -ologies.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:3
Recently I read a Zen story that wonderfully demonstrates what I’m talking about. A young student, full of fire for learning and gaining knowledge was invited to a meeting at the master’s house. The student sat down with the master and immediately began to share about all his learning. The student went on and on about the insight, skills, and training he was gaining. The master listened quietly and began to pour himself a cup of tea. Fuller and fuller the tea cup became, and when the tea began to overflow, he continued to keep pouring! Eventually, the student noticed and stopped his monologue to say “Stop pouring! The cup is full.” The teacher said, “Yes, and so are you. How can I possibly teach you?”
We are rich in knowledge in Western Society. Our houses are filled with books, our TVs are constantly relaying information, and our phone chimes over and over again read me, read me! When I began to read through the teachings of Jesus with a wisdom lens, a whole new way of learning opened into an unlearning. I have studied the Gospel thoroughly and at one point, I felt like I got Jesus. I had placed him in a tidy box of self-knowledge and gained the privilege to tell people who Jesus is. But the problem is, I don’t get Jesus. Instead, Jesus must get me. But what me is Jesus getting? Is it the rambling student unable to notice the overflowing of God? I sure hope not but I hate to admit, this is what Jesus gets much of the time.
The Beatitudes in Matthew 5 are well-known and beloved teachings of the church but frankly, a bit confusing. So many interpretations of these passages litter the world, yet few see these passages through Jesus’ profound wisdom lens of teaching. What is poor is spirit, anyways? Our literal brains simply cannot wrap our minds around what Jesus is teaching and yet, it’s quite clear through The Wisdom tradition: We cannot be full of God when we are full of ourselves. Eventually, one must give way to the other as Jesus states later revealing our inability to serve two masters.2
So are we to play dumb? Ha! Far from it. Instead, as St. Teresa would say, reason must give way to Love. There must be integration, where our head makes the slow, difficult descent into our heart. It’s not a death but an emptying that leads to a deeper knowing, an ability to recognize God in us and in the world. Cynthia Bourgeault makes an interesting point in her book “The Wisdom Jesus”. The disciples who first began to follow Jesus, didn’t know much about him nor did they know the full story of Jesus’s death and resurrection, and yet, they followed him anyways, why?3 What was it about Jesus? Was it his great personality or charm? Perhaps his teaching was compelling? (Remember many of them followed before they even heard his teaching) Was it the belief Jesus would overthrow the Roman empire? (If it was, he didn’t have much of an army.) Instead, something inside them recognized something in Jesus. This recognizing has less to do with what we know and more to do with what we sense in our souls, what we know with our heart is most true.
Blessed are the poured out for they will have the kingdom of God (when they are not full of themselves).
Matthew 5:3 (Colette’s interpretation)
For one to become poor, we must first realize how rich we are and move into a place of integration. Knowledging isn’t meant to be wielded but yielded. Yet much of what we see in the church today are battles between one’s knowledge over another, leaving very little room to give way to Love. It is the very act of self-emptying, yielding ourselves in humility in order to attain and see the Kingdom of God in this world. Moving from our heads into our hearts is like pouring out the cup of all that we think we know about ourselves, the world, and even God in order to be filled with a deeper knowing; One that cannot be articulated only recognized.
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Blessed are you who willingly pour out yourself for the sake of love, for you will be filled and overflowing with the Kingdom of God.
Much love,
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John 4:13
Matthew 6:24
The Wisdom Jesus by Cynthia Bourgeault, page 9.
Empty thyself of all selfish delusion, in not knowing, we know all