Heart Focused
Spiritual heart
All challenges are resolved in the heart…
It is our intellect that receives data and digests it in a structured way. In varying degrees, one’s intellect may be capable of achieving great feats of calculations and logical deduction. Yet there is something missing when operating with the intellect alone. Plenty of people utilize their intellect to become successful, yet they lack the understanding of compassion and spiritual direction.
The spirit that guides us is not intending on doing so through the intellect alone. It is through feeling that one determines Truth and it is through the heart that the gateway to the Divine is made possible.
The heart is not without its problems. The lower heart is prone to bias, and destructive emotion. Like all things, there is a higher and lower component. The lower component is that which aligns to the material world, which is the Maya (illusion) holding us complacent.
It is this illusionary nature that holds our hearts hostage to a world of fear, anger, and even hatred.
From the spiritual, or higher component, we find our heart is made anew. Through the daily death to the world around us (desires, fears), our heart’s unfold and through this opening we begin to realize the truism of Oneness.
It is spiritual love that enables us to arrive at the concept of Oneness – the idea that each of us, even our enemies share a collective connection with the Divine Source. The word ‘Namaste’ of the East reflects this concept most beautifully. As a greeting the word conveys the ideal that the Divine within me, recognizes the Divine within you.
The Buddhist practice of Exchanging Self with Others is another example of discovery of Oneness and while Buddhism is very heady, the practice of compassion (leading the path to Unity) is discovered not through the mind alone, but the heart.
The heart is one of the most challenging aspects of growth for many people, including myself. The heart can easily be turned with the right amount of distraction. It is therefore paramount to monitor what we put in, and express from our spiritual heart.
The path
Meditation Example
While there are different approaches to the opening of the heart, almost all would agree that it is the focus of consciousness (meditation) which cultivates the work.
Meditation
Three personality types…
When I was a Buddhist, one of the first meditation practices I engaged in, was one of equanimity. This meditation shifted me from constantly falling victim to anger, to rising entirely above it. Like all practices, if not continuously cultivated, it will began to weaken.
The meditation starts with a simple process of relaxation. Contemplating and mentally observing the breath as it goes in and out, is a great way to start. Putting attention on the body, especially stressful areas, is another great way to relax. When the mind rests on a part of the body that is under stress (such as the shoulders), they will naturally relax.
After feeling relaxed, the next step is to contemplate three types of people:
- someone you love
- someone you are neutral
- someone you dislike
The first person you visualize, the mind’s eye, is someone you love. If you find it challenging to visualize a person, then you should work on that first. You can build your visualization skill through mental images of simple objects. If you can imagine a person, then you do so at this point – visualizing this person you love.
Tapping into the feelings of love for this person is very important. Really feel that you love them.
Next, ponder the person you are neutral towards. This could be someone who helped you at a sales counter, or at the grocery store. It’s someone you don’t feel strong emotions towards. Feel the neutrality you have for this person.
Visualize the person you dislike. I don’t recommend you start off with someone too extreme. Use someone who is a challenge, but not inherently evil. Get in touch of those feelings of repulsion or dislike.
Now that you have held all three people in your mind’s eye, ask yourself this question:
Is it possible that this person you love, could in time, become someone you are neutral towards?
Be honest with your question. Sometimes we think that the person we love will never leave us. Truthfully, many of us go through periods of disconnect (often unintentional) and it causes our relationships to suffer. In time the person we love, becomes someone we talk to once in awhile. This transforms into a neutralized relationship. They cope with our distance, by become distant themselves. Many marriages, friendships and work-relationships end up like this.
After you have analyzed the various ways that a relationship might sour to the point of becoming neutral, take a moment and reverse that idea, asking:
Is it possible that the person you are neutral to could become someone you have positive feelings for?
That person you lack strong feelings for could become someone you care for. All it would take is resonance. What if this person defended you from a public attack on your character? What if they said something you truly admire. Rapidly they may become someone you consider a close friend, or even more.
Now we ask the question:
Is it possible that the person we are neutral towards could become someone we dislike?
What if we talked down to the neutral person? What if they snapped at us? Is it not possible we might grow a dislike of them? What if their political or social views do not align with our own, might we find them to be someone unlikeable?
Now for a bit harder question:
Is it possible that the person we dislike, we become neutral towards?
They say time heals all wounds, and that is often through loss of emotional charge. As time moves forward we sometimes forget the person, or the emotion tied to them and form a neutral ideal towards them. Many years ago, a US president (George Bush) was well hated by many people. In 2004 protesters would hang effigies of the man in anger, over his conflict with Iraq. By 2012 he was all but forgotten. He was older and people didn’t really think about him, nor think of him with active hatred. Could something like this, likewise happen to the person you dislike?
And now the hardest question of all:
Is it possible for the person you dislike, to become someone you care about?
Before you toss out the idea completely, consider that previous example of US President George Bush. He was a hated man while he was president. Then he became nearly forgotten, and in 2016 something fascinating happened. During the inauguration of Donald Trump, Bush sat in the rain fiddling with his poncho. He just couldn’t get it working, and the previous First Lady, Michele Obama, leaned over and helped put it on him. In that moment many people lost their hatred of George Bush, and replaced the feelings of anger with compassion. He resembled their grand father, a fidgety old man.
Could something like that happen with the person you dislike? If you persist it’s impossible, what if the person you dislike were to donate a kidney for someone you know? It happens. Every kidney donor has someone who dislikes them. Bound to happen. Would that change your view of them? What if they went through a massive loss – death in the family, or terrible tragedy? What if they apologized to you for what was done? As long as we’re not considering something too dislikable, it is likely that if the right conditions occurred, this person may become someone you like.