Heartsoul - Essay

We are not meant to walk here on this earth, in this plane and place, behind our intellect. We are not of this world. We came here as embodied spirits to walk behind our hearts. The heart is the traditional seat of the soul, not the mind. The heart, or HeartSoul as I call it, helps us navigate this place as we are meant to do. The mind is meant to function as a rudder. The Captain, our Heartsoul, is the one to steer our bodies through these seas. Another metaphor: the mind can twist the door handle and open it just a crack, but it is the HeartSoul that must choose the door and decide if or when to walk through it. Sometimes a door that is pushed slightly ajar by the mind, even under the direction of the HeartSoul, is never meant to be walked through. It is enough in some instances for the door to be opened enough for a peek. In contrast, when the mind/intellect/ego chooses which door to open and pass through, we find ourselves without inner stability. We are not talking about worldly/cultural stability. After all, we can see how our spiritual heroes (like Jesus, Ghandi, Mother Teresa, St. Francis, the Buddha among many, many others), lived lives that looked disastrous contrasted to the comfort that could have been theirs had they simply made choices more in line with the accepted norms of their respective times. No, the HeartSoul will steer us into waters that are often deep and brooding, stormy and seemingly dangerous. But when it steers, peace pervades, a deep sense of wonder and well-being that, when we are aware enough to sense it, infuses all Doing. The mind, on the other hand, would open doors indiscriminately and walk through them all, or open the doors that make mental sense at the time according to the emotions that arise in the instant. This creates the deep instability and fear upon which this culture feeds. I meditate to practice pushing the Controls back into the hands of my Captain, my HeartSoul. So no matter what my life looks like on the outside, the Peace that is an overriding characteristic of the nature of my eternal Being will be ever more present. I don’t always succeed,but I am getting better at it.