As I grow older, I find myself becoming increasingly disenchanted with humanity’s valuation of the mind as the pinnacle of human achievement. We are convinced that our thinking-intelligence is that which has enabled us to achieve our greatest ends. Our triumphs include discovering life-saving medicines and surgical techniques that save lives; contriving ever more complex technology which permits us endless variations on the things we desire physically, emotionally, and mentally; and developing methods of manipulating nature to our advantage, which thus far have bestowed upon us a variety of resources beyond comprehension.
We have become a people who value the power of the mind above all else for its ability to seemingly exist beyond the physical, while simultaneously possessing the ability to analyze and rationalize how best to manipulate the physical. By contrast, our ability to love and commune with each other and the natural world upon which we are ultimately dependent is a secondary value. We see life through the lofty vantage point of the head, and neglect the heart which pulses unceasingly, which in its innate intelligence brings the life-blood to nourish every fiber of us, from the largest and most potent of organs to the tiniest outliers of cells that reside in our fingertips, our toes.
As mighty as we perceive it to be, the mind is as much a mere tool to the self as are our fingers, toes, and teeth. As much like these other things, the mind is equally limited, and flawed in its own respects, even as we celebrate the mind for its capacity to contemplate infinity. We come to see the shortcomings of the mind through close examination. We see the mind struggling so hard to come to grips with a traumatic experience that it revisits the experience again and again, decades later still overthinking and attempting to process it, getting lost in the labyrinths of its own limited design. We see the mind, lauded so highly for its towers of steel and concrete which defy the fiercest winds, for its antibiotics which have saved billions of lives, for its industries which have produced countless, clever widgets and gadgets and doohickeys to help facilitate every need of the modern economy.
And now we begin to see the glaring truth behind all of the shiny rewards that the mind has dangled before our eyes. Yes: we begin to see that the things that we build and the products we produce are shortsighted, our elaborate efforts to appropriate and consume depleting the life blood of the planet which shall soon run dry as toxins saturate oceans, lands, and sky. We see that the clever antibiotics which have saved so many lives becoming obsolete as microorganisms adapt at a pace too fast for us giants to match; and that many of the illnesses we are now plagued with are a symptom of the damage we have done to our bodies because of the sickness we have visited upon our world.
We see the shortcomings of thought, limited thought, which has the ability to parse out and deduce, but only given finite variables, in a closed system. Thought cannot encompass all and therefore Thought cannot understand All. Therefore, Thought ultimately cannot connect Self to Oneness and thus only equipped with Thought we are all deeply alone.
We humans are coming to a turning point which is a deeply sought reunion with Heart—which, it need be said, goes beyond what in common parlance refers to a solely physical organ. Rather, we are seeking a re-union with our consummate Heart that will rebalance our relationship with the mind. None of this is to say that Thought is a villain, but rather, that it has its place and we need not elevate it beyond that. We are rediscovering our need for collective compassion and an understanding of our relation to the Whole so that we can once again reclaim a sense of inner and outer balance. Thought seeks to endlessly parse out infinitesimal pieces of the whole, taking everything apart and thinking each part can have value in isolation. The heart says: All are One. There is no separation.
As individuals possessed of both mind and heart, we have lived too dependent upon what the mind parcels out to us, forgetting that Heart can connect all the pieces. We need that connection in order to live life beneficially and meaningfully.
Because Heart connects, Heart understands how to unite in a collective dance where no feet trip and the rhythm is a constant flow. No longer thinking only of self, submerged in the fullness of fearless Love, we are in sacred union with that greatest of beloveds, our All. We come to see the bigger picture instead of nearsighted ones that fill our heads with nonsensical ego-cravings, insecurities, and selfish greed. Thus, for instance, in loving Earth, we’ll see that we shouldn’t ask of her so much that she quakes and shudders, a myriad of earthquakes and hurricanes the echoes of her convulsive hunger-pangs, her retching from poisons. We’ll give as much as we take, giving thanks as we take and giving joyfully back in return.
Heart isn’t emotion. Emotion is the product of Thought in all its shallow grooves. Heart is deeper. Heart feels Truth. Through its infinite connections, Heart knows Truth. We must trust in Heart, trust in our ability to see beyond our troubled minds.
We’ll love others without judgment, artifice, expectation, and love un-self-consciously, joyously, radiantly.
In our journey toward regaining balance between Mind and Heart, we'll remember the rightful rhythm that guides the dance.
We'll once again connect to the natural heartbeat which moves us at our core to share love and selflessly give life without exclusion or separation. And we'll find, too, the ability to love ourselves.
I believe we can reconnect to who we truly are.