In response to Gregory of Nyssa's Sermon on the sixth beatitude. Gregory focuses on the sixth beatitude that is "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" [Matt. 5:8]. Gregory understands this as "God offers himself as a spectacle for those whose hearts are purified!" (29). Already at this point I find myself disagreeing. Describing God as a spectacle seems foolish since the Apostles and Prophets continuously say God cannot be seen. Gregory concludes from this that no one is pure of heart and that is the reason we cannot see God. Further, Gregory changes the meaning of see to possess to make his argument work.
Now in response to this I needed to consult the original language Matthew was written in, Greek. There are scholars who say Matthew was written in Hebrew first and translated later, however, no evidence has been found to verify this statement, so we can conclude Greek was the original language. I was inspired to look into the language because of my familiarity with the Chinese language and Daoism. When the Chinese refer to mind they say Xin (心), the study of psychology is Xinli Xue (心理學). Interestingly, Xin (心) primarily refers to the heart. In Chinese Medicine, the Xin (心) refers to both the physical organ that pumps blood, but also it refers to the house of emotions, or the emotional mind. This is captured in other words, for example, the word to love Ai (愛) contains the heart Xin (心) at it's center. There is another way, to refer to mind, Yi (意) is our wisdom mind or focused mind. It is a higher state of mind after the emotional mind has been regulated or controlled. So the mind we refer to daily, is our emotional mind or Xin (心). Before I talk about the Daoists, first it is important to know that the Daoists are not a religious order, they are a scientific community that has combined with some of the Chinese Buddhist traditions in their studying of the world. Now, the Daoist's Goal is to reconnect with the Dao through meditation. This happens in a very sophisticated way however an important step is the calming of the emotional mind Xin (心) to progress further and become Immortal. The Daoist Immortals are people who have become one with the Dao, in doing this they preserve their humanity but they are connected to a higher state. Chinese is not the only language that does this, in fact most of the Asian languages do this, so I was curious if the Greeks had something similar.
Greek uses the word 'kardia' to refer to the heart, which translates to "heart; 'the affective center of our being' and the capacity for moral preference' " (biblehub.com). In Gregory's work he considers the state of the heart to be the determining factor of seeing God. However, looking at the definition clarifies a difference. The affective center of our being refers to our emotional being similarly as Chinese Xin (心) and the capacity for moral preference has an active relationship to moral states in contrast with a passive one. So to use one's 'state of heart' does not reason for not seeing God. Now let us reevaluate pure. 'Pure' in the verse is derived from Greek 'katharoi' which means "clean or clear" (biblehub.com). If we were still referring to the heart as though it has a state, it would make sense to use clean or pure as saying the heart is clean and not in a dirty or evil state. However, we have concluded that the heart is not a state but something that does. The heart in this language is considered the house of emotions, so the heart to be clear one would have to let go of those emotions and not be bound to them, the practice of every meditation in every tradition. So the clear of heart would be people who have calmed their emotional mind. Lastly to review see. The apostles have said many times that one cannot see God. For example, "Whom no one has seen or can see" [1 Tim. 6:16]. However, in this verse the word 'idein' is used for sight which refers to ones physical sight (biblehub.com). Essential the apostles are clarifying that no one can physically see God. 'Seeing' in Matt. 5:8 comes from 'opsontai' which comes from Greek root 'horao' which means to "see, look upon, experience, perceive" (biblehub.com). First we see a different verb is used in Matt 5:8 and now that we have ruled out physical sight, that leaves us with the meaning of experience or spiritual perception of God. This definition of seeing God is inline with early understanding of deification or having a ones or experience with God, wherein we remain human but our connection is so close to God we feel oneness with Him.
So if I can now present a new understanding of "Blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God" [Matt. 5:8]. I would say Happy are the people who can calm and clear their emotional mind of desires, for they will experience oneness with God.