These days it seems we can’t live without using GPS. You remember what that is don’t you? It’s the Global Positioning System, a system of satellites that our cars, computers, phones, etc. interface with to determine our position and velocity here on Earth. We use it all the time, even when we don’t think of it. Of course, much fancier tech uses it too, such as rockets and other satellites. They even have specialized software on board that serves as the “brain” of their vehicles. It’s called GNC, or “Guidance, Navigation, and Control.” The algorithms inside can be complicated but they are all there to answer three basic questions:
Where am I?
Where should I be going?
How do I get there?
That’s it, really. The same questions are fundamental when you navigate using your phone. You phone tells you where you are. You tell your phone where you should be, and the directions on the screen tell you how to get there.
Directions seem automatic to us today. We don’t think of them that much. But it didn’t use to be that way. Listen to the following two passages from scripture and see if you notice anything about direction:
Genesis 2:8-9
8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Ekekiel 43:1-5
43 Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, 2 and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory. 3 The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he[a] came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown. 4 The glory of the Lord entered the temple through the gate facing east. 5 Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
Both of those talk about the east don’t they? The garden of Eden was in the East, and it’s entrance was on the east side. In Ezekiel, the gate was facing east and God was seen as coming from that direction.
So then, what is so special about the east?
If you thought about the sun you are probably spot on. The sun rises in the east. In Jerusalem, the sun rises north-east during the Winter Solstice and south-east during the Summer Solstice. So it rises pretty much due east in the spring, when Passover takes place. The tabernacle was oriented so that you had to enter it from the east too. And traditionally churches and cathedrals were made so that the altar was on the east end. When the morning liturgy took place the sun shone about them through the east side windows. Facing the rising sun was symbolic of looking toward Christ in anticipation of the Second Coming.
The western direction did had some bad connotations, as this was the direction of sunset, which was symbolic of death. But there is also good symbolism with this direction too. Wise men went west to see Jesus, and the Holy Family escaped Herod by travelling west. Later west was seen as the direction of the mission field. In the US the phrase “go west young man” became very popular as the land expansion and gold rush materialized.
For Americans it seems the negative direction is the south. When we say something “went south,” we usually mean something bad happened. Why do we do this? It is most likely due to the simple fact of maps shown vertically, like hanging on a wall. When we look at a map the north direction is almost always shown as pointing “up.” South is down. Down gives a lot of us a bad feeling compared to up.
But why do we think of up as good? After all, moving too far up is just as dangerous as moving too far down. One reason is from the practice of land ownership. Richer people tend to live in slightly higher elevations. This was true in Medieval Europe too. How many pictures of castles have you seen that were in a valley as opposed to on a hill? The highest floors of apartments and hotels are often considered the best. People aspire to “move on up” in the world.
Ancient Hebrews (and others) tended to orient themselves in a certain way. This effectively tied religion into their everyday lives. Can you imagine what it would be like to think of God every time you faced east? Wouldn’t you be more mindful of your spirituality?
We tend to tie technology into our everyday lives. Our GPS interface in our cars and phones tell us where we are and which way we are heading. But what if we thought of our spirituality every time we used our phones to navigate? What if we thought of God every time we drove east, or watched a sunrise? What if we tied our religion into those fundamental three questions of navigation?
Where are we?
Where should we be going?
How do I get there?
God Bless