Spiritual Heart Surgery For Moon Howlers

If, like me, you regularly howl at the moon, you might just be suffering from a severe case of what the Hebrews called hard-heartedness. 

In my last post I identified the emphasis that Aristotle, the father of western philosophy, placed on the heart, as the “seat of the soul and the source of reason”. When it comes to focus on the spiritual heart, however, the Hebrew scribes, it seems to me, are the surgeons supreme. 

Simply no life worth living outside of relationship with Yahweh (God).

Biblical scholars have identified over 1000 mentions of the heart throughout the bible. Without doubt, for Hebrews, the heart was the ultimate destination, source, and center of spiritual life.

It may be timely here to remember that for them, there simply was no life worth living outside of their spiritual relationship with Yahweh (God). And as the serious mover and shaker Jeremiah makes clear, right bang front and center of this intensely relational life with God was the heart, (Jer 24:7).

I mentioned one contribution to this heart-centeredness, by the wacky, out-there, prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 11:19), in my post on “Metanoia” (change your heart). And here is yet another of his profound heart utterances.

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). 

There were few things more concerning to Jewish prophets than the pitiful state of what they called hard-heartedness, (Isaiah 6:9-10; Jer 5:23-26; Matthew 13:13-15; Mark 8:17). This spiritual affliction renders its sufferers, with multiple manifestations of overt self-centeredness. As this condition worsens over time, they become increasing prone to the lures of the ego-self and effectively devoid of empathy, and blind, deaf and dumb to the needs of others

A hard-hearted person or collective, can no longer receive and transmit love.

This dark state of existence can apply to either an individual or an entire nation. The connotations of this are not too difficult to grasp, the hard-hearted person or collective, can no longer receive and transmit love. Now if God is love? (1 John 4:7-8), and a vital giver of breath and life to all (Gen 2:7). Then a heart that can no longer receive this life giving love and transmit it plentifully to others, is in a very bad place indeed.

It is easy enough to interpret these biblical insights about hard-heartedness, as only applicable to some Jewish folk from way back when. To do this, however, would be to seriously miss the point.

I do not write about this stuff as a casual observer, but as someone who has miraculously survived the ravages of hard-heartedness, to tell the tale. I know all about the dark places that a hard-heart can take you, because I’ve dwelled in them and I strongly suspect I’m not alone. 

Mercifully Ezekiel’s solution to this soul-destroying dilemma is just as relevant today as it was when he wrote it nearly 600 years before the time of Christ. And thankfully, it has almost nothing to do with pulling yourself together, or getting your chaotic act in order. It is something much more helpful and life transforming than that. Nothing less than a complete refit, serious surgery, a brand spanking new badass spiritual heart, is what’s on offer. Now it just doesn’t get any better than that, comrades, I’m in!