HARMONY OF MIND AND HEART

 
Between the two extremes of a life harassed by wants and a life completely free from wants, it is possible to arrive at a mode of practical life in which there is harmony between the mind and the heart. When there is such harmony, the mind does not dictate the ends of life but only helps to realize those ends that are given by the heart. It does not lay down any conditions to be fulfilled before an utterance of the heart is adopted for translation into practical life. In other words, the mind surrenders its role of judge — which it is accustomed to play in its intellectual queries concerning the nature of the universe — and accept unquestioningly the dictates of the heart.

The mind is the treasure-house of learning, but the heart is the treasure-house of spiritual wisdom. The so-called conflict between religion and science arises only when there is no appreciation of the relative importance of those two types of knowledge.

It is futile to try to glean knowledge of true values by exercise of the mind alone. Mind cannot tell you which things are worth having; it can only tell you how to achieve the ends accepted from intellectual sources. In most persons the mind accepts ends from the promptings of wants, but this means denial of the life of the spirit. Only when the mind accepts its ends and values from the deepest promptings of the heart does it contribute to the life of the spirit.

Thus mind has to work in cooperation with the heart. Factual knowledge has to be subordinated to intuitive perceptions, and the heart has to be allowed full freedom in determining the ends of life without any interference from the mind. The mind has a place in practical life, but its role begins after the heart has had its say. Spiritual understanding is born of harmony between mind and heart. This harmony of mind and heart does not require the mixing up of their functions. It does not imply cross-functioning but cooperative functioning. Their functions are neither identical nor coordinate.

Mind and heart must of course be balanced, but this balance cannot be secured by pitting the mind against the heart or by pitting the heart against the mind. It can be attained not through mechanical tension but through intelligent adjustment.

Mind and heart may be said to be balanced when they serve their proper purpose and when they perform their respective functions without erring this way or that. It is only when they are so balanced that there can be true harmony between them. Such harmony of mind and heart is the most important condition of the integral, undivided life of spiritual understanding.