Ed Gabrielsen

Speaking from the heart.

I am always listening to how people express themselves. It doesn’t really matter to me, how accurate, how exact, how perfect, an expression is. But, what matters, what touches me, what moves my heart, is a person’s sincerity. How sincere, how authentic, how innocent, the expression is. How honest and pure, without guile, without duplicity, without falsehood, without hidden agendas, without underlying aggression. Sincere communication, is what we sometimes call, speaking from the heart. The spiritual heart. The heart of devotion.

Heart opening practices

The spiritual heart has a life of its own– closing, opening, closing, and opening once again. Of course, the closing and opening of the spiritual heart is a metaphor that describes a subjective experience. We cannot locate the spiritual heart on anatomy charts. Nor can we measure the spiritual heart with instruments calibrated to determine its degree of openness or closedness. Nevertheless, through our life experiences and the observations we make of ourselves and others, we develop, over time, an awareness of the spiritual heart. Somehow, we know, through experience, that the spiritual heart is real. We can verify it exists. We know what it is. We know for ourselves when it is open. And when it is closed.

Living organisms respond to threat, pain or trauma by closing. The turtle withdraws into the shell, the hedgehog curls into a ball, the clam and the oyster shut tight, creatures in fear cower, back away, and hide. The human spiritual heart responds to threat, pain, or trauma in the same way. The spiritual heart can be wounded, threatened, or traumatized by loss, grief, or disappointment. In defense, to protect from further wounding, the heart closes, retreats and hides. The overall effect is numbness. The heart closes to protect itself from pain. And there is no pain for a closed heart because there is no feeling whatsoever. There is no pain, but there is no joy either. In psychology, the inability to feel pleasure or joy in activities that were once pleasurable is called anhedonia, a symptom of depression. Anhedonia, lack of the ability to feel pleasure, lack of interest in anything, emotional flatlining, as it is sometimes called, can be caused by recent tragedy, financial problems, overwork. It could be an indication of major mental health issues. But, you know, I think it could also just be a response to life.

Life can get us down. Watching the news too much. Worrying too much. Having too much stress, too many arguments, too many fights, one problem after another without an end in sight: the heart begins to shut down. The spiritual heart closes in protection, and there is only numbness. Lack of feeling anything. This can be a desolate place to be.

But when the heart opens again, when the heart reawakens, there is feeling once again. The capacity to feel returns. There is life once again. And meditation practice can be helpful. There are many heart opening meditation practices found within every spiritual tradition of the major world religions. When we have a sense of devotion and love, this nurtures the devotional heart. Sometimes, it might be something very simple that speaks to us, that nudges the heart to open, however tentatively, to feel once again. Going outside, breathing, a walk around the block, hearing a bird singing in a tree. It could be picking up favorite book and reading just a few lines. A phone call with a friend. A cup of coffee.

And the heart can open to beauty when we least expect it. I once went to see a ballet performance of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. I don’t know much about ballet. I was not exposed to it growing up, and I haven’t been to very many ballet performances. I wasn’t sure what to expect; wasn’t sure what I was getting into. I had no idea watching a ballet performance could be so powerful. But during the second act duet of Swan Lake, there were moments when I was stunned and shocked by the beauty of the dancers’ expression in movement and gesture. I was moved to tears. It was totally unexpected. I had no idea it was going happen.

The spiritual heart, the heart of devotion, is nebulous, vague, difficult to define or locate. We can nurture the heart, and take care of it, like we would care for a small child. When the heart opens and awakens to beauty, and after numbness, feeling returns; when suddenly and unexpectedly the heart is moved by beauty, love and devotion, we know it. There is a direct experience, and we know it for what it is. May our hearts continue to be reawakened.