Analogue 17: The Birth of the Divine Heart

 ANALOGUE 17

Birth from the Divine Heart

All those born in this world are begotten physically, but there are those who are also born of Spirit. Those begotten in God’s heart are called and nourished there in order that they might reach the promised destiny of transcendence. Grace flows from his mouth—the source of the Logos, which also nourishes us in order that we might become complete. Fully realized human beings are, thus, conceived through a kiss, and then they are born. We should desire, therefore, to kiss one another and assist in each other’s conception through the love we mutually share.

• The doctrine of spiritual birth proceeding after physical birth. 
• The metaphysical begetting at the beginning from out of God's mind or heart, the birth into this world, and the calling back to return into that same relationship of deep intimacy within the heart of divine Consciousness. 
• This cycle or journey of eternal return is the path toward the destiny of transcendence. 
• The mouth of the Logos as wisdom speaking—Logos speech—the Word spoken from the mouth of God as that which helps make us whole or complete. 
• The mouth is both for speaking and for kissing, the image of love and intimacy. 
• The thought of God's heart, the Sacred Spirit, and the intimacy of kissing are all brought together in this Analogue as part of a larger metaphor for the transformative act and method of bringing the divine offspring—the manifestations of God—forward into their ultimate destiny of transcendence. 
• Everything described in this analogue is deemed necessary for that process to complete itself.
• The Sacred Spirit is being introduced here as a part of the Philippian Trinity: Source, Manifestation and Energy (also described as Father, Son, and Sacred Spirit, the last later being identified as a feminine principle). 
• The double and triple assistance of Source, son, and other siblings. Also heaven and earth collude to assist in the spiritual evolution of humanity. It is a work that is shared collaboratively. 
• These are the secrets of the deep conspiracy which unfolds to bring humankind to its ultimate destiny.
• The powerful images of the love energy at work in the creation and restoration of humanity reveal what might be seen as an “erotic universe.” 

COMMENTARY

Images of Transcendent Love and Cosmic Birth

The strange and powerful images spoken about in this analogue express an understanding of the context in which we are born into manifestation as an expression of an erotic universe full of the divine energies of love and love making. This analogue continues the themes of Analogue 16: the sacred anthropology of humanity’s origins in eternity, its trajectory through temporality on Earth, and its continuing evolution into the future. Philip here describes this energetically through metaphors of love which bring into being a class of humans who are both born of earth and   born of Spirit while residing on the earth. This implies that there are those who, while here on earth, do not actually come to experience spiritual birth. If one does, however, it is a sign of the beginning of an increasingly intimate relationship with divine Reality which began in the ancient past in the heart of God and is moving forward towards a transcendent destiny of even greater intimacy. That origination is made manifest now in a particular and unique way which will continue to bear fruit, the consequences of which are a destiny of ultimate transcendence. 

This text says that the divine heart has held humanity eternally, and in particular holds those individuals who awaken to it now so that they may begin to understand their destiny of return to that Source, knowing it perhaps for the “first time” or at least with full consciousness. This is seen as a the Journey of Eternal Return which entails both a sending forth and a calling back, moving from the divine heart or Source out into the manifest universe and then the call to return in order to both know and enjoy it in the fullest possible way. This promise of journeying out of transcendence into time and back into transcendence was made in pre-eternity. It was meant for all humans who take this journey whether or not they wake up to this realization while on Earth. 

All are ultimately destined to learn of their Source, which birthed them into existence, and are brought here to be birthed again as spiritually awakened beings. For some, however, this remains unfinished, and their ultimate fate is in the hands of divine Mercy. It is suggested later in this text that these too will be reborn at another time, becoming a part of the Great Reconciliation. This coming together of all things is described as a divine, sacred and eternal Sacrament in this text—a covenant made with humanity for its ultimate fulfillment. 

The Act of a Kiss

The spiritual evolution of human beings clearly comes in stages, and is, therefore, a complex process starting in Eternity and continuing through time and back towards the transcendent Source (said here to be God’s heart). What assists us now is clearly stated: the grace flowing from the mouth of the Source, the wisdom being spoken by the Logos meant to nourish and encourage our growth toward completion by means of a sacred and holy kiss. These are perhaps startling and unexpected metaphors! 

Daringly, a mouth that speaks wisdom is also used for kissing, suggesting a deep spiritual intimacy between God and humankind. This is the beginning of what we might call a tantric movement within this Gospel which explores the metaphors of courtship, growing intimacy, and sexual union as an expression of the divine-human relationship. This analogue continues to speak of the mystery of the divine conspiracy to bring humanity to completion through erotic love—acts of love-making between the human and the divine. 

Restoration is a loving act and the crowning achievement of love itself. It is intimate, erotic, and we are to know this as a personal form of companionship. We are also meant to enter this relationship as a continuing practice which will be the theme of many of the future analogues. Love is a private nearness which assists in moving human beings toward maturation and completion. Without it we languish and are undeveloped in our growth into the mysterious affairs of the divine-human relationship. The secrets of a cosmic love-story being told. It is not a doctrine about damnation, fall and redemption but is about being born and reborn out of Love, and then moving through the currents of love flowing through the cosmos, restoring us by love back into an even deeper intimacy with the Source itself. 

Personal Participation for the Soul of the Cosmos

We are each a part of this cosmic story and, more than that, we are each given the task of assisting in its completion for one another. Love is an agency and we are ourselves to act as its agents through the practice of loving compassion. Our care and help in bringing each other to birth is part of that same divine intimacy. This appears to be a mutual act of partnership in which we give loving assistance. In such work we become co-workers in the divine conspiracy: actors in the love story, participants with the divine Heart and the Sacred Spirit. This is truly a very different vision from the western tradition’s story of fall and redemption as a shame-based theology in which we are rejected until we come to accept a system of right belief.  

The western telling of the Gospel is replaced here with one that imagines a visionary secret which is very very Good News. This is Philip’s version of the Gospel, apparently learned at the feet of the Master of such visionary seeing. It is remarkable how different it sounds from its occidental counterparts. Its recovery is refreshing in our day as a counterbalance to the traditional teachings of conventional Gospel. Furthermore we are also introduced to a different Trinitarian theology which includes the Source, its manifestation as the Logos, whose energies come from Sacred Spirit which allows the divine destiny to unfold in time.  Later in the text the Sacred Spirit will be defined as a feminine energy. 

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. Have you ever heard such Good News, or the Gospel story described in these terms? What is your reaction and response to it?
2. Do you ever think of yourself as a divine “intimate” — kissed into existence and being continually loved in just that way until you reach your destiny?
3. Can you see yourself as conceived in the divine Heart and perpetually nourished from there through the grace and wisdom flowing from the divine mouth? 
4. What do you make of the two metaphors, the mouth is made for speaking and it is also used for kissing? There is an intimacy implied here that we have never heard before. Is it difficult for you to think of things in this way? 
5. Can you talk about the Gospel as a kind of divine Romance?
6. In the eastern traditions, such descriptions use a term called “tantric theology” which understands the erotic energies to be a part of God, associated with our generative and creative becoming as we move into eternity. Could we call this Christian tantrism? What words would you put to these ideas?
7. How is the Philippian Trinity different from the Pauline Trinity? There is more to come in its description, but this is the beginning point. 
8. How do you understand your role to be of “kissing” others? Is this difficult to understand or describe? Are there dangers involved here? Are these possibilities we have never considered in the West, or they also latent here? Explore the Middle Eastern customs of kissing as a greeting. 
9. Are you disturbed that some may fail to be born of Spirit while on the earth? Is this punishment or destiny? How could it be destiny?

Notes for Reference and Study

1. The subject of new birth and being born again (or more accurately, born from above) is a topic that was introduced by Yeshua to one of the religious teachers of his day in Palestine (John 3). It s a well known discourse, though the various translation often obfuscate the meaning. The Greek text clearly indicates that such a birth is spiritual (from Spirit) and that it involves birth not from this world or dimension, but out of a higher dimension—from transcendent realities which are above or beyond us. In this Gospel, a similar description is made, but is expanded saying that such a birth takes place in (and comes out of) the “divine womb” described also as God’s heart. Human beings are invited into intimate relationship into and then birthed from there as creatures born from Spirit. 
2. So what is the divine Heart? What are the womb-like characteristics of the divine Mind or “Being?” Clearly this is an anthropomorphic metaphor that is designed to help us understand that in the Divine there is both depth and nurturance and that it is out of that depth that we created and spiritually born. This whole sequence can be understood to be a second act of creation. For a human being to be called to and enter that space means that he or she is aware of it consciously. This may be why this second creation, this second birthing, takes place after a human has been born into higher consciousness itself here on earth and then called upward to experience that divine space. Some greater transformative process is happening after one is born as a human being on earth. This appears to be a further step in the spiritual evolution of a human soul, giving it wider access into other divine realms. This is all clearly mysterious and mystical language based upon a vision of humanity moving into greater and greater transcendence, all a part of what is being promised here. 
3. Grace and wisdom are said to flow from the mouth of the Logos. These are themes also used in the Gospel of John where Yeshua, the spokesperson of the divine Logos, both brings great grace to humanity (John 1: 16) and also offers living water flowing from his mouth and being. The image suggests that there are overflowing springs issuing out of the Logos, eternally offered as grace and wisdom that never runs dry (John 4:10-26, 7:35-37). 
4. In this analogue, Sacred Spirit is presented as the divine, feminine agency active within Ultimate Reality. She is mothering us into transcendence. Language appears to be struggling here with these different energies and realities difficult to describe in the human realm.