Xin. Heart, mind. The heart is the center of our body from which truth emanates.
The ancients never made any distinction between the heart and the mind. In the ancient script, the two are synonymous. This point cannot be overemphasized, and you will understand the ancient scriptures a hundred times better if you remember that the heart and the mind were regarded as one.
The ancients did not separate mind and body, so they did not separate thinking from emotion.
They did not separate ideas from action.
They did not separate logic from intuition.
By seeing the mind as synonymous with the heart, they avoided a thousand philosophical problems. We who forget that the heart and mind are one can solve a thousand daily problems by remembering the single word: heart.
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I see this problem a lot with my scientific friends. They seem to value logic over emotion, and so miss the value of emotions and feelings. Many things may make sense logically that do not make sense in your heart. We are always encouraged to “follow your heart”, and “follow your bliss”. I think there’s a lot to be said for doing that. Even though others may judge what you do as wrong, if you are following your heart and what it is really telling you, and not harming others in doing so, you are probably doing ok.
I have always done the best in my life when I truly followed my heart. I get accused of being too “intense”, or of loving too much, or of being selfish for following a path that others might not believe right or wise, but, if in my heart I felt what I was doing was true and right for me and those involved, it has worked out. I have lost friends for doing this, but perhaps they were not meant to be real friends to begin with, or we had simply learned as much as possible from each other and it was time to follow separate paths.
I wish they could understand heart and mind are not separate, and truly follow their own hearts. I think we would still be friends, then. At least, I hope so, because that is what my heart tells me.
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