“Journey From The Head To The Heart”

Waking Point

by Helen Noakes

“There is an extraordinary distance from the head to the heart, a distance of ten, twenty, thirty years, or a whole lifetime.”

—Carl Jung

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—(Waking Point)—3/15/10—To travel the distance from the head to the heart one must go through several major hubs of consciousness: the center of inner focus, or what in Hindi traditions is called the Third Eye, the centers of outer perceptions, the brain and the eyes, and the center of expression, the throat.

Each hub, the nucleus of vast territories of learning and noesis, is worthy of deep and meticulous exploration, and each is a source of immense riches.

Perhaps it is because of this fact that Jung suggests the time line of “ten, 20, 30 years, or a whole lifetime.” I vote for the lifetime, as exploration never ends, nor should it.

Whether one embarks fearlessly into these territories, or is delayed by fears of venturing forward, this journey is essential to the acquisition of wisdom.

The question is, where does wisdom reside? While the brain is a great repository of data, I know that it is not the seat of wisdom.

Might one assume that wisdom is developed in the mind? And, if so, where and what is the mind? Scientists cannot agree as to what the mind is, let alone locate it in the human system.

It is clear that the evolution of wisdom is contingent on the choice to live mindfully. Living mindfully requires full, courageous, and ethical engagement with the life within and around us.

Courage is required to look unflinchingly at one’s inner reality, to examine one’s fears, one’s delusions, one’s weaknesses without condemnation, but with the quiet and deliberate intent to understand, regulate and resolve inner turmoil. The very act of consciously observing one’s own behavior is enough to trigger changes. This type of observation requires a seamless synthesis of head and heart.

Courage is required to behave ethically in spite of difficulties, in spite of opposition from others, in spite of one’s prejudices and fears. Courage is required to reach out to others and offer understanding instead of condemnation, to listen instead of demanding to be heard, to simply be with someone in their hour of need. Does such courage emanate from the head or the heart?

The word ethics originates from the Greek word meaning “personal disposition.” Certainly, personal dispositions indicate definitive inner traits, which evolve along with our wisdom.

We change, and every change we make is based upon a decision to be or behave in a certain way. Decisions are based on the foundations of our acquired wisdom. It’s a cycle, as life is a cycle.

Jung’s statement made me wonder. If we make that journey from the head to the heart, it stands to reason that we create a path linking the two. Perhaps it is this path that constitutes the mind, and it is the link between the head and the heart that represents wisdom.

The ancient Greek word for wisdom is sophia, and philosophia, of course, means the love of wisdom. In the Celsus Library in Ephesus, Sophia is depicted as a woman. Later, in both Christian and Kabalistic texts, Sophia represented the wisdom of God and the feminine aspect of God. I find it particularly interesting that, in historic and religious rhetoric, wisdom is referred to as feminine.

The heart, according to Buddhism, is the seat of compassion. In Western thought, the heart is the organ with which we associate love, charity, and intuition. Both Buddhist and Western beliefs consider heart-centered energies as aspects of the feminine, while the head-centered modalities, normally associated with the more pragmatic elements of life, are attributed to the masculine.

Given that pattern of belief, is the heart, then, the seat of wisdom? And if that is the case, is it not absolutely necessary to maintain a healthy balance between the two—the head and the heart—the yin and yang harmoniously interlinked?

Must we abandon the head when we reach the heart? Or does the connecting path we create, as we travel between them, encourage an integration of energies that together create a personal wisdom from which we draw when we engage with life?

Now, more than ever, we sorely need this integration, not only to stand strong in the face of the many challenges in our world, but to become centers of focus and strength for others who may be stumbling in their journey.

Shifts in global consciousness occur because individuals have the courage to manifest the shifts in their personal consciousness. Their journeys from head to heart are demonstrated through their actions and engagement with their communities and the world.

We humans have a long history of such shifts. Great spiritual teachers have given us methods and philosophies to arrive at heart-centered living. Seeing the validity in these teachings, we embraced them for a time, and then reverted to our fear-based behavior.

The interesting thing about what is happening this time around is that this shift from head to heart is being manifested by people all over the world. Working separately, we all seem to have arrived at the same idea at the same time.

In history, this phenomenon is known as parallel development. (More on that next time.)

Right now, my fervent hope is that these seeds of heart-centered living be sown by the winds of change; that they germinate, grow, proliferate and feed the hungry minds and weary hearts of millions.