As a rational, analytical person, I tend to focus on the logical and rational. Professionally, this makes sense because as a programmer and solution architect, the proof of your solution is whether it works - whether it solves the problem. You have to objective enough considering the environment your solution is going to run under - whether it takes into consideration all dimensions of the problem and achieves its objective. In the realm of ideas and philosophies go, rational and logical consistency is one of the chief criteria to know whether something is true or helpful. Practically, though, we accept lots of ideas and philosophies based on the authority of those who told them to us. For example, as a father, I observe my children get their ideas from their parents and teachers.
While logic is good and helpful; even an intellectual, constantly thinking person tends to make slow and gradual progress in the advancement of ideas. In mapping our physical environment, I feel we need an orientation to prioritise which ideas are more important than others. Furthermore, as humans, we must be in touch with our own thoughts and desires. We need to orient our mind and will to the purification of our thoughts and desires. If we don't do this, we end up chasing one thing after another, we are constantly going in circles of useless pursuit. We are therefore, never really improving our peace of mind and our search for happiness is like a dog spinning in circles trying to grab its tail. This is why I think philosophy of life is crucial.
Modern society as I see it, suffers from a disordered philosophy of pursuing fleeting joys. Today medicine has advanced leaps and bounds over previous generations. Technology has enabled unprecedented quality of life in terms of making many previously difficult talks easier. Nevertheless, this century is known for depression. While these advancements should have improved our quality of life, statistics show that we are not much happier than our previous generations. This happens, in my opinion as a result of a philosophy of life that falls woefully short.
India has a long tradition of the guru or teacher. A person with wisdom whom people listen to with the hope to advance their life philosophy and hopefully help themselves live more fuller and happier lives. Today, we have no dearth of gurus and teachers, with their bands of followers. Self-proclaimed god-men among them, propound their teachings, through technology, reaching people near and far.
“Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.” ― G. K. Chesterton.
A pearl of wisdom from a bygone era. With the plethora of religions, philosophies we have today from the past and present, there is a lot at stake and we need to apply critical thinking and reasoning to weigh ideas, thoughts and philosophies and decide and determine which we should buy into and which we should reject.
The title of this article, thinking with the heart, for me does not mean thinking with emotions. The classical ancient understanding of the heart is the core of the person. So thinking with the heart means thinking with the core of my being, not just my intellect. We want to look not just outward - our environment, the world around us, but also inward - our thoughts, desires, emotions and affections. Every great scientific theory, medical breakthrough and technological advancement has validating methodology and proving procedure to test and verify whether it works in the environment. In the same way, we need to have a proper framework to evaluate ideas so that they are validated both externally and internally, on our desires and emotions as well.
Take the relativisation of morality, religion, sexuality prevalent in our modern world. The media seems to suggest that our god is really ourselves. Each person can choose their own morality, religion and sexual orientation and preference. For the throngs of multitudes who have bought into this, there is a deception at work which makes the person blind to the danger and error of this philosophy.
Observe from a heart thinking standpoint ( core being thinking - not just emotional ), a person who is asked about the death penalty for instance. The question is really about justice and mercy. Logic states that if a person has murdered, then the death penalty is just. In the case of murder, violence and rape, the victim is another person. Still there can be outrage for a heinous crime and today despite being in the 21st century, mob mentality and violence still can take over. This is not heart thinking in my opinion. It is a disproportionately emotional response in heat of response to instigative speech. Mobs e.g in the Bollywood movie "Kai po che", based on the Gujarat riots, inflict mindless violence.
What about pleasure seeking taken to the extreme - destructive alcoholism, masturbation and addiction to pornography? If it does not affect another person, is it okay? As in the earlier stated case of emotional responses, people get a dopamine rush. Just like emotions can carry a person to do things they regret later, in the same way, addictions can cloud the intellect. We need to avoid taking hasty actions in the heat of the moment. Objectively, a person reduces themselves by indulging in these addictions. We become slaves of our passions and end up letting our animal instincts take over.
Finally, heart thinking involves understanding that we as humans are social - made to love and be loved. Look at all the popular songs and movies around the world. Whether in India or the Middle-East or Hollywood, love is celebrated. Here again we must understand that love is beyond emotion, though emotion is part of it. We can experience righteous anger - a correct emotional response to an objectively wrong action. But the emotion by itself doesn't make the response justified. Because we can end up like a wild horse which has no direction if we let emotions cloud our intellect and will.
Could it be that the universal acceptance of love in our cultures reflects the image in which we are created? As the moon reflects the rays of the sun, could we feel compelled to give and receive love because that desire comes from the source of Love?
Indeed, God is love and he who lives in love lives in God and God lives in him.
God made us in his image, in the image of love, He made us,
God took on flesh and became man, because God is Love,
God sacrificed himself for us, so that we could be free to love.
Besides being love, God is also truth. While God can be known through our minds and logic, looking inward, we know that parental love we receive is a reflection of a greater Love. Anyone who denies their inner nature, their thoughts and desires, is ignoring the internal data at their own peril. While bright Christian thinkers like Augustine, Aquinas, C.S Lewis have presented solid logical arguments for the existence of God, we know from internal data, that not all have equally sharp intellect. Would a God of intellectuals be as great as a God of all? I think not, and God is accessible to all people through multiple channels. Just like a blind man can listen to a movie and a deaf man can watch the visuals with subtitles, God is accessible to both the mind, intellect and interior senses like faith and emotions. While the mind can and does help us know truth, we must not dismiss religion just because it speaks to people through non-intellectual channels as well. Faith is not a lesser channel to know truth because it is non-rational. Let us be wholesome people growing our minds and hearts. The future of humanity depends on it.
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