Not Made With Hands

There is mention in the letter to the Hebrews of a Temple that is “not made with hands.” It is described as a celestial Temple after which the earthly Temple in Jerusalem is a mirror or dim reflection. The day we met on the Mount of Olives to begin our tour of Jerusalem, our guide pointed to the gate to the Temple, that is now blocked by a cemetery and cemented wall, that it was through this gate tradition says the Messiah will come. It had been blocked up precisely to prevent such an event—and so Jill mentioned that in a more esoteric understanding, a bridge of light would span the valley from the Mount of Olives to the Temple Mount, and across that light-bridge the Messiah would stride into Jerusalem. It made some sense.

One of the reasons for our journey to the Middle East, in fact one of its keynote themes, was to explore the meaning of temple and temple structure. So we visited magnificent ancient Temple sites like the stunning site of Baalbek high in the Bekaa valley built by both an ancient culture and the later Roman empire. What was clear in all the ancient, medieval and contemporary shrine, Mosque, Church, Temple, and Synagogue sites was that there is an underlying pattern or structure that is represented by all. The proportions are almost identical (the ratios), though the dimensions themselves may change. There is some kind of sacred architecture or geometry that they are all trying to reflect. It was fascinating. We saw it in Churches, Mosques, Temples, and Shrines in each of the four countries we visited. It was replicated on the Temple Mount and all over Jerusalem—but also throughout the Middle East, and in the Kaaba in Mecca as well.

Why is this important? Suppose that this is not only an example of an “as above so below” kind of replication, but also a manifestation in the exterior world of a much deeper and closer interior reality. Suppose that the kardial dimension, the heart is, as all the sacred texts suggest, the “true temple” but to understand its many dimensions we must see and experience them as outer realities before we can understand their inward features. That’s the nub of the issue. That’s the teaching. Rumi, perhaps, said it best:

The place that Solomon made to worship in,
called that Far Mosque, that Temple-Shrine, is not built of earth
or water and stone, but of intention and wisdom
and mystical conversation and compassionate action.

Every part of it is intelligent and responsive
to every other part. The carpet bows to the broom.
The door knocker and the door swing together
like musicians. This heart sanctuary does
exist, but it cannot be described. Why try!

Solomon simply goes there every morning and gives guidance
with words, with musical harmonies, and in actions,
which are the deepest teachings. You see, a prince is just
a conceit until he does something with generosity of heart.