Some time ago, Happy Cow was lucky enough to be sent a wonderful piece of writing by Kiki Elizabeth Gregg entiteled Head versus Heart. I highly recommend having a read of this piece before carrying on with this article.
In her piece, Kiki describes an internal conflict taking place between two voices, symbolized in her writing by the names 'brain' and 'heart'. This is a conflict I am sure most readers will be intimately familiar with, one that humans have struggled with for centuries.
When we are faced with difficulties, courage is almost universally regarded as a virtue. The word 'courage' derives from the Latin 'cor' which means 'heart'. In modern French the word for heart is 'coeur' and in Italian it is 'cuore'. We commonly hear encouraging phrases in times of adversity such as 'Take heart!' Historical characters such as Braveheart and Richard the Lionheart are renowned for their legendary courage.
In the timeless conflict between head and heart, head represents doubt, fear and caution and heart represents unshsakable courage in the face of the unknown.
Head imagines all kinds of possible future dangers and heart is totally present and in the moment. Head tries to avoid possible hurt by building up a shell to protect itself. Heart is totally open and unconditionally loving, ready to face loss, disappointment and heartache as inevitable parts of life, knowing that they will always be only temporary. Head is terrified of loss, of pain and of death. Heart is the quiet voice of Life itself. Life which is eternal and indestructible and has nothing to fear. Head wants wants wants to get get get. Heart desires nothing but to freely give away Love.
"Mind wants everything and heart wants nothing. Follow your mind and you will never be satisfied. Follow your heart and you will never be otherwise." Happy Cow
I have no doubt which one sounds the most inspiring to me. How about you?
"But hang on a minute!" say some heads reading this. "Heart is foolish and blind. Charging headlong into danger without thinking about the consequences."
What danger? Really, what is the worst that can happen? The very worst that can happen to a person is death. In fact, death IS going to happen to every person. But death is just another step into an unknown future. Nobody knows what is going to happen after death. It is totally unknown. But the future is always totally unknown. Tomorrow is totally unknown. Next week is totally unknown. Head can make up imagined futures, including an imagined after death future. But in reality the future is always totally unknown. What will happen after death? Nobody knows. Religious charlatans may try to convince you that they know what happens. Just like other doomsaying insurance salesmen they may try to con you into thinking your future after death will be terrible if you do not buy their spiritual 'insurance'. But just like regular insurance salesmen they do not know and they cannot know the future. They are just pessimism merchants.
All head's attempts at protection and security are basically attempts to make the future predictable. To make tomorrow more or less the same as today. Safe. Comfortable. No upsets. No surprises. Accumulate money. Buy insurance. Protect reputation. Turn lover into spouse. Steady job. Nice pension. Avoid the unknown. Make it known. But sooner or later that inevitable unknown is coming. It is coming. You can't stop it. The security you have tried to gather won't help. It is coming. Maybe in 50 years. Maybe tomorrow.
One who follows heart totally strides courageously every day into the unknown future, trusting Life, trusting Love, trusting himself to be able to face whatever comes. At birth, the future was totally unknown. Every day the future is totally unknown. At death the future is totally unknown. What a thrill! What an adventure! No reason to fear the day after death any more than there is to fear tomorrow. Both are totally unknown and neither needs to be feared, because heart trusts totally. This does not mean that there are not ups and downs. It does not mean that every day will be skipping through butterfly meadows hand in hand with The One while trying to ignore mobile phone messages asking you to star in the latest Hollywood blockbuster.
It means trusting that every down is followed by an up and knowing that every up is followed by a down, but neither ups nor downs can ever effect our eternal Being.
Following heart totally means the transcendence of fear. Following heart totally means true courage.
"The heart is always right - if there's a question of choosing between the mind and the heart - because mind is a creation of the society. It has been educated. You have been given it by the society, not by existence. The heart is unpolluted." Osho
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