Readers of Scripture are often reminded that they should aspire to no longer be of this world. Understanding what that means can be hard to wrap one’s mind around it. Therein lies the problem and the answer.

We are accustomed to Jesus’ calling out to us to repent. “Repent” is an English word that we can understand to some extent; however, in the original text of the Bible that was in Greek, the word was not “repentance” but “metanoia.” The latter has come to mean “change of heart” or “conversion.”  Such interpretation robs us of the clarity that helps us better understand what we have all been called to.

In the original Greek, metanoia literally means to go beyond the mind you have. Going beyond the mind we have might help us get our mind around becoming less like the world we live in and more like the eternity we should aspire to.

A human fault is that we often believe that we can, at some point, understand what perplexes us. It requires humility and faith to accept how little we actually know or understand, especially when it relates to what God has in mind for us.

St. Paul referenced Isaiah when he wrote to the Corinthians, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the human heart, all that God has prepared for those who love him.” To even begin to understand, we first have to accept that our ability to comprehend is totally inadequate. With the key of faith, we can unlock the door to the room that encloses our mind and go beyond the mind we have.

Let the adventure begin.