The heart as described in the Ancient Chinese classic The Nie Jing Su Wen is not simply the physical heart, but something profound, subtle, and precious. One of the characters representing the heart’s function is jun, meaning heart as sovereign and center. Strangely, the heart is explicitly not considered a physical entity, as it is one of only two organs which is missing the flesh radical in its character. So how is the heart both sovereign and center, and not a physical thing? How does it serve its function? How does it fail and create pathology?
I believe what the Su Wen is pointing to is that the heart is a connection point to a far deeper divine reality, beyond the scope of our physical mind-mediated lives. The heart radiates, it does not do or act in a physical sense. The heart is most aligned when it is still and undisturbed. How can something be most effective when it is still and undisturbed? It must be that it is not creating anything, but rather emanating something uncreated, fundamental, and true in the deepest sense. I believe that the heart is this portal within us that connects our being to a fundamental aspect of reality herself, a part of us that never left home.
As I write, I sense the possibility of resting with an undisturbed heart, the possibility of allowing this heart to type words, guide action, and be allowed to govern. From this space I sense the possibility of living from a space beyond good and bad, since the heart is not concerned with judgments. It is motivated by something else, something far less petty than the whims of my personal desires and fears. I sense that every moment of my life when I have not allowed the heart to govern has been a subtle moment of pathology, a moment of withholding something true and precious from the world. Because the heart never knew separation to begin with, its nature is to give endlessly. All is beauty and gratitude.
The heart is infinitely patient. It does not judge. It waits for us to make it a good home. When we are ready to become still and listen to something deeper, the heart will govern our lives.
Even after all this time
The sun never says to the earth,
“You owe Me.”
Look what happens with
A love like that,
It lights the Whole Sky.
– Hafiz, The Gift
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