[Written Dec. 9, 2021]
I’ve been thinking, lately, about a shift in my consciousness. I’m leaning toward describing it as a shift from the mind to the heart. I think I’ve always been kind of stuck in the mind, relegating the heart to the background, but what really caused the shift was the Garrison retreat.
Now I can see your mental wheels turning, as have mine: Is this just another unnecessary dualism? Are they both really illusions of the separate self? Also, the mind is connected to the brain, more identifiable, whereas the heart is really a metaphor, not very literal. Also, wouldn’t it be ideal for the mind and the heart to work in harmony without separation? I’ve considered all this. I’m open to this whole idea being trashed and scrapped, but we could at least consider it.
Something that reaffirmed this idea of the importance of the heart was that Rupert spoke a number of times during the Sufi retreat about the heart. For example, he said, “Vedantic: suffering is a sign of ignorance of our true nature. For the Sufi, suffering is God’s presence in the heart, calling it back into itself.” At another point, he said, “In Sufism, faculties of the mind and body become the servant of the heart.”
What I have observed in myself, and from my experience, is that the mind has served me, all my life, by creating strong barriers to protect me from pain and suffering. I now believe the mind is more connected to the separate self, and to maintaining that separation. I also think it’s more connected to some emotions, like anger. The mind is more connected to our reptilian heritage.
The heart is open, and it is more closely connected to the love and beauty of the awareness, of the true self. At Garrison, I felt the walls I had built so carefully being broken down, and what was left was the heart.
Since I’m observing all this, I find that I recognize more what comes from the heart and what comes from the mind. I like to give concrete examples (though that may be a mental process). I feel that almost everyone in this group speaks from the heart. I look at artists, and I know that Michelangelo’s and Van Gogh’s works come from the heart. I think some pop artists like Andy Warhol work from the mind.
In my view, the poetry of Pound and Elliot, revered by academia, is from the mind. (Of course, I might be influenced by the fact that Elliot was anti-semitic and Pound was a straightup fascist, supporting Mussolini.) Walt Whitman, on the other hand, spoke from the heart. I think Ginsberg spoke from the heart when he wrote Howl. Many South American poets, who were often influenced by Whitman, speak from the heart. Gabriela Mistral is an example. Walter’s poetry obviously comes from the heart.
I’m trying to use the heart as a direct link, or a ladder, up (or down) to awareness.
It may be that the ideal would be for the mind and heart to work in unison, harmony. Jaya must use the mind very effectively to process plants, extract the colors. But the motivation and the vision comes from the heart. I see it in Rupert: At least one of his books, “ ,” is a philosophical tract, a mostly mental exploration of consciousness. But his meditations, and his gentle kindness in answering our questions, come from the heart. And Rupert is motivated by the heart. As for myself, I do feel that, even if balance and harmony is the goal, my mind and heart have been out of balance most of my life.
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