The roles of the head and the heart in our lives are significant. For we live in a world that requires much of the head, but eventually we realize that though we live in the world, we are not of the world. We are of divine origin and we have a divine desination. To find that, we need the heart.
When we use consciousness to give us direction in life, we become more and more aligned with the power of Infinite Consciousness that pervades the universe. This power gives the will to be conscious to all that is finite in the universe – to be in harmony with the symphony called life. It is the power that evolves the soul from lower life forms to higher life forms. It is the power that propels everyone, in their own perfect time, from lives of limitation and ignorance to the eternal experience of Infinite Power, Knowledge, and Bliss.
To be aware of this power in your life is mystical knowledge, and this knowledge is acquired through the heart, not the mind. The mind is needed to understand the world of matter, but to understand that which is beyond matter, from which matter unfolds, requires only the heart.
The mind is great at determining facts deduced from addition or subtraction but when you get to that ultimate reality to which nothing can be added or subtracted, the mind is at a loss. That’s why Joseph Campbell said “follow your bliss,” for that is the way to keep the heart alive and responsive to its highest calling.
The heart increasingly responds to its highest calling by our giving it the freedom to express itself. The heart is our internal compass designed to take us to the source of all love. And the closer we get to this source, the louder comes the voice of the heart. It becomes awakened to its divine destiny.
Through love, one can rise to higher and higher levels of vibration, through this process of oneness. This arriving at oneness is a process of abandoning the false for the real. It’s an abandonment of ephemeral existence for Eternal Existence. It’s an abandonment of that which is limited by time for that which is beyond time, which is the Infinite Consciousness we are eternally one with.
The mind can measure those things that have beginnings and ends, but only the heart can approach that which is without beginning and without end.
It can be frightening to let go of everything that we unconsciously held to be true. It’s like the fear Columbus must have felt when he left the shores of the Old World in search for a New World. And the only way to overcome that fear is to trust in the Divine Presence. It’s been waiting patiently for all of eternity to guide us. To trust in this Divine Presence more than you trust your own head is the meaning of spiritual surrender.
How do you know if you are following the direction of Divine Presence or your own agenda? If your head and heart are in concurrence, then you are most likely on the right path. But what if your head says one thing and your heart says another? Then you need to listen to the heart.
Why? Because the heart alone can know the Divine. All the great teachers and spiritual masters throughout history have told us that love is the deepest truth. And you gain this truth through the heart.
I often remember what St. Francis said about how he made decisions. He said that if one option was easier than the other, then he took the harder one. He knew that the ultimate treasure wasn’t going to be found by taking the easy path. It’s discovered by shedding the last vestiges of the false self – abandoning all of our preconditions.
It’s a recognition of our calling, of our destiny, and then gathering the courage to claim it.
