The Hearth of Mercy

The image of the hearth comes from the Workbook.  There, it represents a transformed world. It is a term that could also be applied to a home or community. The Course teaches that the world we are seeing now becomes transformed by acts of love and mercy until it becomes a world “made holy by forgiveness” (W-158.6:2, W-159.5:1).  

In the tradition that nurtured Jesus, this idea is thought of as the prophet’s vision – a world where “God will be our glory, and our days of mourning shall be ended.”  The Course calls it seeing God’s holy world, the precursor to the real world.  This transformed world is there for us to see now if we but open our eyes. 

The hearth is a symbol of radical inclusion.  All are welcome, no one is turned away (W-159.7:4).  The door is always open and “no one is denied his least request or his most urgent need” (W-159.6:4).