The true image of Christ is elusive

There has been an odd assortment of items purchased on Internet auction sites that made news because they reportedly were imprinted with the image of Christ. The items included such things as burnt toast, a fried egg and a cracked rock. Though seemingly humorous at first, it could denote a longing to see evidence of Christ in the everyday world.

This could also be said for the crowds of believers and unbelievers who rush to building sites around the country where shadows on a wall appear to form a portrait of Christ or the Virgin Mary. A picture of clouds taken from a plane during WWII was widely circulated after the war. At first glance, it was just clouds, but after a few seconds, a very detailed image of Christ appeared. Once your eyes focused on the image, it was always immediately visible each time you looked at the picture.

The images of Christ that we hold in our mind are the result of artists’ paintings and sculptures created years after the crucifixion and vary according to the artist’s style and culture. Emperors and other influential people have had their images carved on coins or statuary, but none were made of Christ during His lifetime. Even the apostolic writers fail to give a description of Him. The imprint of a crucified man on the Shroud of Turin that has been the reference for many artists has failed carbon-dating tests.

What is stated in Scripture is that the appearance of the risen Christ must have changed considerably because Mary Magdalene does not recognize Him when he appears to her at the empty tomb. Perhaps she was just shocked and could comprehend only what had occurred after he began speaking to her.

In a similar vein, the apostle Thomas cannot believe that Christ appeared to the other apostles and Christ’s mother in the locked upper room. It is only when Christ returns and allows Thomas to place his hand in his side wound that Thomas believes he is facing the risen Christ. The appearance is not in a transparent ghostly form but one in flesh who is capable of eating, drinking, and conversing with the group.

Understanding the nature of God in his various forms can prove difficult. St. Augustine, who lived in the fourth century, tells us that a desire to know God is a way of loving him but that the truth of God can be revealed only through the eye of the soul and not by our physical senses. Professor Phillip Cary, director of the philosophy program at Eastern University, has written a scholarly text titled “Augustine’s Invention of the Inner Self.”

In his book, Cary states that Augustine believed that an understanding of God is not something one finds in a text. Nor does Augustine ever suggest that the soul of Christ actually dwells in our hearts. Instead, his concept of the inner space of the soul emerges as an alternative to the literal space of the bodily world.

St. Theresa of Avila, like Augustine, was declared a doctor of the Church for her insights about God gleaned through the inner way of knowing. Since Theresa lived in the 16th century in a walled city surrounded by the castles of Spain, she described her inner self as an interior castle with God at the center. Caroline Myss recently wrote a book about Theresa and continues to give lectures and workshops on her style of prayer. Myss said that as she travels about the country, she meets people who are longing to connect with the sacred but know it can’t be made through the intellect.

When Christ talked about his indwelling presence in our souls, he used the metaphor that he was the vine and that we are the branches. In this image, we maintain our individuality and uniqueness as a separate leaf on a specific branch while we are being nourished and maintained by Christ’s presence in the vine. The process evokes a sense of unity and community with others as well.

The Swiss psychologist Carl Jung developed a perspective of the inner self that is known as Depth Psychology. He suggested that each individual had a taproot or well drilled into an underground stream of the collective unconscious. He believed this was the source of dreams, insight and creative endeavors in addition to spiritual knowing. Jung’s image is similar to the one Christ used. Jung included dream interpretation and creative expression in his treatment and strongly supported the importance of the creative arts in maintaining a wholesome life.

Edgar Mitchell, the sixth astronaut to walk on the moon, left the program after the completion of his mission in order to form The Institute for Noetic Sciences. Mitchell had mystical experiences during the space flight and wanted to know more about how knowledge is acquired noetically or outside the physical senses and rational mind. Mitchell, like Einstein and Emerson before him, felt that the exploration of inner space was even more significant to human kind than the exploration of outer space. The work of the Institute appears, somewhat disguised, in Dan Brown’s recent book, “The Lost Symbol.”

When Mitchell talked about his plans at a conference in New York in l973, he did so with such enthusiasm and conviction that those of us in the audience felt as if a radical change in human behavior would occur next week, next year, or at least within the next decade. Unfortunately, the daily news is still full of violence and tragedy. However, the themes of unity, community, compassion, care of the planet and reverence of all life do seem to appear more frequently. Perhaps the son of God will break through the clouds of unknowing and enable us to enter into a new era of humanity through equal participation of body and soul.

Dr. Agnes Martinko attends St. Edward Church in Youngstown.