The Shepherd, April 2007
Orthodoxy: The Answer to a Suffering Heart, 4
The part of us which is mainly concerned with objective things and objects is our mind, not our heart. Our mind collects, collates and reflects upon our sensory experience and is concerned with logic and reason - I remembered days of old; I meditated upon Thy works; I pondered upon the creations of Thy hands (Ps 142:5). Our heart is concerned with our wants and needs - my soul thirsteth after Thee like a waterless land (Ps 142:6). Therefore, trying to substitute what our heart desires with an object does not work - observe how pitifully we strive to quell the feelings in our heart with physical pursuits and addictions which never satisfy us. It is safe to say that the question is not what our heart desires, but whom our heart desires. The summit of our heart’s desire is for personal relationships, not impersonal ones.
Secondly, we must ask how much our heart desires this sort of relationship with another person. We have already examined the folly of seeking to quell our heart’s desire with objects. Therefore, we have to settle with the reality that our heart seeks personal relationships. The next part we have to consider is how much our heart desires this sort of relationship with another person. The question here is what sort of person is it we desire? If another person were enough, would we have so much infidelity in marriage? Is it not that another human being is not enough for us? The argument about compatibility does not really work. If our desire were satisfied with another human being, then we should be satisfied. Clearly, with the high rates of divorce, bigamy, perversion, and infidelity, this cannot be said to be true.
So can we go back to objects to satisfy this desire? Again, no. We see again that this relationship with objects only sets up an addiction which deepens over time and sucks us into its passionate embrace - but every man is tempted…and enticed; then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death (James 1:14-15). We end up completely and utterly dependent on seeking this object, be it drugs, gambling, prostitution or the like, wanting more and more until we either burn out, or it destroys us. We only have to observe the lives of those people who seek these things to understand how powerfully this desire takes people over, and how indelibly it leaves its imprint on that person’s life. Doesn’t this tell us something though? It tells us that objects and other human beings do not satisfy this desire - they merely hide its presence for a time. Yet the desire still exists in us. The alternative we are faced with is that we desire a personal relationship, but that finite, human relationships do not fulfil this desire.
Our desire is for someone who is not finite. Lastly then, we must ask ourselves, if this person for whom our heart is in pain for, is not finite, where do we go for this relationship?
It should be obvious at this point why the first two of the three approaches above that we offered to address the suffering of our hearts will not work. The physical approach is primarily concerned with finding a physical means to get rid of the suffering, when in fact this suffering is not concerned with objective, physical, things - the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 Jn 2:16). Physical pain is concerned with physical things, but physical pain is not the whole story. Also, simply hiding or trying to end suffering does not address its origin. The intellectual approach distracts us with thinking about things but again is only concerned with the conception of objects and not about the inward suffering that we are experiencing. It serves well only as a form of distraction.
Finally, then, we are left with the spiritual approach, but again this is fraught with pitfalls. We pointed out above that our search here must be concerned with the truth above all else, and we must not, and will not, be satisfied with anything less. Fr. Seraphim (Rose) took a long, tortuous time searching for this answer before he came across the Orthodox Church. One of the things that lead him to this understanding was the discovery of the work of the French philosopher René Guenon. Guenon, and later the Orthodox apologist, I. M. Andreyev, clearly pointed out the pitfalls of seeking answers in the spiritual and philosophical realm. The only true reason, they said, for seeking answers in the spiritual realm is the truth and nothing else. Seeking pleasure or a form of feeling or experience or psychological security in this realm clearly leads to serious problems.
Evidently, the desire of our heart is fulfilled in personal relationships, but the personal relationships we have with other human beings are finite. If we are seeking a person, but with whom we can have a relationship which is not finite, we find that this search pulls us into the spiritual realm. St. Augustine said: “My heart will not rest until it rests in Thee.” This is clearly a sign of the search which we undertake if we are intellectually honest with ourselves, to find the Person that fills this gap. The question is: who is this person, and how do we find them?
…to be continued in the next issue.
Contributed by Martin Smith 
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