We read in Holy Scripture, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,” which is certainly a very good thing to have happen to any one of us. That said, from the same Holy Scripture, the incomparable, Kahlil Gibran, encourages us, with his translation, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall be one with God.”
What does it mean to be pure of heart? To be pure of heart, is to find deep within our psyche the resourcefulness and the moral integrity to control and to master our personal ego, and thereby to replace ingrained selfishness and the concept of “me, me, me” with the overriding mindset that each one of us is part of a greater whole, and it is that whole, or the One, that we owe our total commitment and loyalty to. In other words, to live a life in which we are bounded or enthralled to our own personal desires and wishes, is to always live a life in which we will to some degree, and perhaps to a very large degree, do what we have to do to get what we think we so desire and want. That therefore doesn’t represent a person that is pure of heart, but represents someone instead, who has forsaken their pureness of heart, for that which is temporal, at best.
Because we have been gifted by our Creator, with free will, the choice of what we do or don’t do in our actions is in our hands. Those then, that are pure in heart or are indeed making it their principle to become that, are truly blessed, for they have sacrificed personal ego gratification, for something that is bigger than their own individual self, and thereby are well on the way to becoming one with God. After all, those that do not have the necessary characteristics that are in harmony with God, are going to find it problematic to find oneness with God, because of their inability to be in accordance with the very core principles of our omnipotent and eternal God.
While, it must be said, it isn’t easy to be pure of heart, we should, as devoted students to our God, at least want to make the attempt to be pure of heart. It may seem a very difficult thing to give up our selfish and self-serving desires; but it has to be recognized and validated within our being, that God, does not have and never will have selfish or self-serving desires, and yet does not lack a thing. In this world, we have, far too often, become besotted by the temptations of this planet, never seeming to realize that even those things that we believe will bring us the most lasting happiness, are in almost every case, ultimately found to be counterfeit.
Our hearts long to rest in the only sanctuary that will ever completely satisfy our most inner needs – which can only be fulfilled when we become pure in heart and thereby one with God. The road back to God, is fraught with perils, but those obstacles and difficulties, are meant to be a test of the purity of our faith; and those that thereby rise up and accomplish their noble tasks, are those that are truly pure in heart, and thereby one with God.