There is a knowing that is based in the head and
There is a knowing that is based in the heart.
Head knowledge is the type of knowledge we need for daily tasks, problem solving, fixing things, and a whole variety of technical skills. It is essential when used for what it is meant for. The source for head knowledge is generally external. It comes from the teachers, experts, technicians, and from our collective past experiences that we have learned from.
Heart knowledge is not so much based in daily tasks or solving problems. It is what we need for bigger picture things in our lives. What is life all about? What is meaningful? How can I make a difference? What is my purpose? It is also useful as emotion intelligence that elevates our abilities greatly when it comes to relating to other people. There is a sort of intuitive sense that some people have that they use to balance their head knowledge with their heart knowledge. Our interactions become much more effective, compassionate, and understanding along with working more efficiently to accomplish what needs to be done.
Head knowledge is learned in the hustle and bustle, noise and clamor, and glitz and glamor of everyday life. Heart knowledge is birthed in stillness, listening to the silence at the center of all things. The eternal, the boundless, the limitless, the wonder and awe of life can only be ascertained in stillness and awareness. It can never be found out there somewhere. It is always found within.
"The experience of discerning the sacred is not available on the secondhand market. It seems improbable to me that God would have whispered the meaning of my life in the ear of some guru or authority. Likely, my best chance to hear the still, small voice is to listen carefully for a sacred echo in the voices and silences that resound within my mind, my body, my heart." (Sam Keen)
In all of nature including all of the universe, there is a seed of knowing within each individual, each creature, each process, in all creation, that sustains it. No one has to tell a flower to grow or a star to burn out or a lion to hunt and eat or the rain to fall. There is an intelligence or wisdom inherent in everything that “knows” what to do; whether lizard or potato, a black hole or the human heart.
So why do we think that human beings, supposedly the highest evolved of all of creation, have to be told what to think, what to believe, what to do, how to act? Why are we second hand people?
We already have this seed of knowing within.
Why do you think our heart beats?
Why do we keep breathing even when we are unconscious or sleeping?
How do our cells know how to sustain themselves with the nutrients within the body?
How does our body know how to fight off sickness and disease?
And yet we can’t seem to live life in a way that is sustainable for everyone.
We can’t seem to create a world that works for all.
We can’t seem to treat each other with respect and honor.
And yet, yes we can, but only if we have the will.
How can it be that we can fly to the moon
And yet we murder fellow human beings
Both in our minds and physically.
What is our deepest intention?
