A Delicate Heart

“The nervous system is the body’s command center,” reads my 9-year-old daughter, Hawa, from a book in MyOn online books bank. It tells us what to do, when to do and how to do things, the book adds.

For years, I too believed that we’re but within the limits of our little brain neurons. No matter how stretched our imaginations may look, we’re limited.

Meanwhile, the question as to how the nervous system cranks out an understanding or perception — what elements contribute and produce both instantaneous and long-term signals in this system — are yet to be comprehended by the very nervous system.

Sometimes there is a lot that need to be put into words — spoken or written — but the mind cannot produce the right order of words and phrases. The urge to utter the words originates in the heart. So could it be that the mind takes the cue from the heart? After-all, there is no dearth of ancient and classic literature and poetry on the singular role of the heart in determining and shaping one’s emotions and feelings. Particularly in love and romance affairs, the heart is believed to be the main producer and supplier of mostly mordant emotions and feelings (emotions being intrinsic and feelings being processed).

Lingering feelings, while co-products of the mind and the heart, impact the status of the heart. A heart listens to the mind. It cares about the signals the mind transmits.

Resistance between the heart and the mind can lead to confusion, indifference, and shortage of compassion and empathy — so-called stone-hearted. Oneness of the two can enable serenity, gratitude, love and compassion. Interestingly, the oneness of heart and mind, among many other things, also yields an understanding of life that’s impermanent and therefore somewhat sorrowful.

Where there is oneness of the heart and mind, the heart is delicate and vulnerable. Sometimes it is hard to carry a delicate heart because every delicate thing has to be treated with extra care and caution. A delicate heart beats in compassion while simultaneously reminds us to grieve over every passing moment of life. It’s oneness again. Oneness of compassion and suffering. Be one with life!