“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8
As a Jungian psychotherapist, I work with people to help them understand their dreams. In the Jungian framework, symbols of wholeness in dreams are sometimes understood as “Self” figures. The Self can appear as a mandala in stained glass in the Cathedral De Notre Dame. It can appear as a mandala in the form of a sumptuous pizza with a symmetrical design of toppings. It can appear as a fossil of a fish embedded in stone, as Moby Dick the great white whale, or as a terrifying gigantic catfish. It can appear as a piece of petrified wood. It can appear as a pair of ornately beaded shoes. The images and emotional tone vary greatly depending on the person and circumstances. But in all of these cases the Self appears to the dreamer with a message, an inspiration, or a push toward change. People from all walks of life dream of the Self, whether they believe in the sacred or not.
Jung wrote that dreams are generated by the Self, for the purpose of each person’s self-actualization. He described the Self as a presence of the divine in each human – akin to the Apostle Paul’s concept that each person carries part of the body of Christ. “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” 1 Corinthians 12:12
Jesus teachings as related by the Christian Bible encourage people to see the difference between a life lived for satisfaction of basic appetites, and a life lived for development of their soul. As related by Matthew:
“Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” 7:13-14
I feel this passage carries the spirit of the sixth Beatitude. In my experience, the Creator appears often in life and in dreams. But it’s when someone sacrifices an ego-oriented lifestyle, that greater clarity comes. In the midst of this, ecstatic and inspiring surprises support further progress. Further sacrifices lead to keener perception. This vantage point facilitates vision. The increase in sensitivity that also comes with such sacrifices generates greater capacity for both empathy and ecstasy.
The writings of the Taoist Chuang Tzu express similar sensibilities:
From Chapter 32 of his self-titled book on Taoism: “The intelligence of the mean man does not rise beyond bribes and letters of recommendation. His mind is beclouded with trivialities. Yet he would penetrate the mystery of Tao and of creation, and rise to participation in the One. The result is that he is confounded by time and space; and that trammeled by objective existences, that he fails apprehension of that age before anything was. But the perfect man, – he carries his mind back to the period before the beginning. Content to rest in the oblivion of nowhere, passing away like flowing water, he is merged in the clear depths of the infinite.”
From Chapter 26: “Only the perfect man can transcend the limits of the human and yet not withdraw from the world, live in accord with mankind and yet suffer no injury himself. Of the world’s teaching he learns nothing. He has that within which makes him independent of others. If the eye is unobstructed, the result is sight. If the ear is unobstructed, the result is hearing. If the nose is unobstructed, the result is smell. If the mouth is unobstructed, the result is taste. If the mind is unobstructed, the result is wisdom.”
Watson, Burton (translator). Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings. Columbia University Press, 1996.
May, Herbert G. & Metzger, Bruce M. (editors). The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha: Revised Standard Version. Oxford University Press, 1977.