The Transforming Heliotrope: An Introduction to Sanctification

Man is the unity of body and soul. As a subjective experience of himself, his body is experienced via sensation. His soul is experienced via its three primary faculties, which are mind, heart, and will. The mind is chiefly associated with the powers of attention, thought, reasoning, and knowledge, with which we also include judgment (assessments). Annexed to the mind are memory and imagination. The heart is chiefly associated with emotions, feelings, intuition, and attitude, in which we also include passions, moods, and disposition. The will is chiefly associated with choice, conscience, and desire, desire being the inclination of the will towards some object. 

The path of active transformation begins with the intentional directing of awareness to the activity that is already occurring in these faculties. Firstly, awareness of the mind refers to the capacity to notice where the attention is being placed, what thoughts are passing through the thought-field, what knowledge is being accessed, the presence or absence of understanding, an awareness that includes our reasoning process and the judgments (assessments) we are making.

This awareness of the mind, moreover, notices how the memory and imagination are operating at any given moment. In relation to the mind, it is thus also vital to direct awareness to the activity of the memory and the imagination. It is not simply that we “have” memory and imagination, but also that we “do” them. We often utilize our memory in subtle ways to inform ourselves of who we are, who others are, and so on, reinforcing or even creating false internal narratives. Similarly, we frequently use our imagination to say who we ought to be, how others ought to be, or what the nature of certain kinds of situations are. By becoming aware of these we can begin to understand just how much we are influenced by memory and imagination, and in startling ways.

Secondly, awareness of the heart refers to the capacity to notice one’s emotions and feelings and to notice what one’s emotions and feelings are. In other words, it is the ability to be aware of anger as anger, of lust as lust, of fear as fear, with increasing subtlety as to their various modes of admixture. It also includes awareness of one’s attitude, mood, and disposition, which is to say the ways in which some emotions come to dominate the field of one’s emotional life.

Thirdly, awareness of the will refers to the capacity to notice one’s choices, many of which are so habitual that they are almost imperceptible. This awareness includes an awareness of one’s desires, as desires influence will and therefore decision-making in subtle but profound ways.

Without awareness of the actual state of one’s mind, heart, and will, one’s efforts to change will be idealistic and unsustainable. But with this awareness, one is already on the path of transformation, for awareness itself bears within itself an implicit energy of change. 

The next dimension of transformation is the development unto “maturity” of each faculty. In other words, firstly, in regards to maturity of the mind, it refers to the capacity to identify and release distraction, ignorance, and delusion. It furthermore includes the capacity to increase the skillfulness of one’s use of attention, which is the capacity to focus one’s mind in both narrow and open ways. It includes, moreover, the increase in true knowledge (as distinguished from the mere accumulation of information), logical prowess, and rational discernment. The “perfection” of this faculty is the capacity to sustain a mind of wisdom. 

As regards memory and imagination, maturity of these refers to the skillful use of memory and imagination to inculcate truth and open possibilities for insight. The “perfection” of these is learning to see ourselves as God in Christ sees us, knowing the entire course of our life in the light of God’s providential care and grace. 

Secondly, in regards to maturity of the heart, it is the capacity to release attachment to the negative emotions of anger, lust, fear, and discontent, including their variations, such as irritation, impatience, greed, and unforgiveness. This does not necessarily mean their eradication, rather it means ceasing to hold onto them or to live from them or for them. Moreover, maturity of the heart refers to the capacity to cultivate, paradigmatically, feelings of love, joy, and peace, and to live from them and for them. We actually aim to have a heart filled with love, joy, and peace, which is the perfection of the heart. This manifests as a deep intuition, guiding man along paths of peace. 

Thirdly, in regards to maturity of the will, it is the capacity to identify and surrender non-virtuous choices and to, contrarily, identify and cultivate virtuous ones. It includes, moreover, the increased capacity to sustain these choices over time and in the midst of adversity, what is otherwise called moral resilience. It is important to reiterate the increasingly subtle nature of the operations of this faculty in coming to or harboring any given choice, and so the importance of bringing into awareness the drawings of desire in relation to the known choice. The perfection of this faculty is the desiring and free willing of virtue, conscience being calibrated to goodness.

Further levels of awareness include deeper insight into the ways in which the principle faculties of the soul mutually interact with each other. For example, someone may have a ruling imagination which animates their sense of desire and therefore influences their will such that their negative emotions are amplified in a case where they fail to live up to their ruling imagination, or that their positive emotions are amplified in a case where they succeed to live up to their ruling imagination. It is also worth noting how emotion and desire interact, and how these influence the mind in its capacity to think clearly and to form judgments. 

Lastly, the role of the body, as a subjective experience, and its sensations, is not to be ignored or underestimated, as feelings and emotions are also body states, having corollaries, for example, with the body’s nervous and endocrine systems. Awareness of sensations may seem like a strange phenomenon to ascribe significance to, but in reality they are an incredible source of information involving primary modes of perception, giving access to states of awareness that are frequently prior to thought, emotion, and will, and thus opening deep insight into their operations. The maturing of the body refers to increased sensitivity to sensation and the development of strength, flexibility, and stamina. 

Although we have not touched on the role of the human spirit it is important that we touch on it briefly here, not as a third together with body and soul but as the central iris of the soul that opens onto the awareness of God’s presence. This is where the devotional energy of man is found, his capacity to relate to God and organize his life as a whole in relation to Him. As a Christian theology, we affirm that this aperture of the soul is closed until awakened by God’s Spirit working through His Word by grace alone. Being justified through faith alone, man thus partaking of the divine nature, this life of God in man correspondingly works in man to transfer him from darkness to light, regenerating him and enabling him to intentionally walk the path of sanctification. 

In conclusion, the path of transformation must be grounded in the fundamental realities constituting human nature, intentionally addressing, accounting for, and incorporating body and soul, including mind, heart and will. It is not enough simply to list a set of helpful “spiritual disciplines” or “practices” and then tie them together in a haphazard way. Understanding the nature and interactivity of the various primary faculties of the soul enables a person to maintain balance and increase one’s capacity to be fruit-bearing. 

-Rev. Joshua Schooping