Little Ways of Being™ Blog
Secret Teachings of the Heart
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- Created on 13 November 2012
I've spent the past weeks reading books, devouring more than thirty. One has captured my attention and a section grabbed me today that I want to share with you.
The Secret Teachings of Plants by Stephen Harrod Buhner is exceptional. Buhner is a brilliant thinker and beautiful writer. He expertly conveys the experience of dropping consciousness from the mind, which he points out is a verbal/intellectual/analytical mode of cognition, to the heart, which is a holistic/intuitive/depth mode of cognition. Through deft chapters he explains how to hold our awareness at the heart for longer periods to experience Nature--and one's Self--more accurately.
This powerful work is not a New-Agey presentation, neither is it religious. I appreciate that we can examine the nature of the heart as more than a pump organ or chamber of personal emotions, but as sense organ meant to inform our experience at a deep level. I also enjoy that the book is chocked full insights as well as quotes from Goethe, Thoreau, Fukuoka, James Hillman, Luther Burbank, Henri Bancroft, a host of others, and refers poignantly to the latest discoveries in neuroscience.
Here's the passage I want to share with you because the poetic last paragraph was so lovely to me; the previous paragraphs are for context:
"They [our ancestors] never knew when they would encounter meaning from the world that was directly pertinent to their own lives. So they allowed meanings from the world to flow into them constantly. They kept their heart-fields extended always, and only paid attention to a specific stream of meaning when it caught their attention.
"When you go deeper into this, you will learn, as they did, to keep the field of your heart extended at all times. You will know that the world is a text that can be read, that meaning is always coming to you. Keeping the heart-field always extended allows us to feel the touch of meaning whenever we encounter it. . . .
"And as we deepen our capacity for direct perception, we find that all things are aware, that all are looking at us, that all are communicating with us. And these communications for meaning go deep. They are literally communicative touches of living beings, much more than mere informational bits encoded within words. . . .
"In this meaning-filled territory, we engage in a dialogue with the livingness of the world, receive the meanings it sends to us, respond with our own meanings in turn. There is no more intimate act we can know. Engaging in it, we know beyond doubt that we are never alone, that we are companioned by ensouled phenomena as intelligent and real and meaningful as we are. It is literally a return to the roots of life and a reconnection with the living ecosystem from which we are expressed, as only one form among many.
"For Universe is not a place but an event, not a collection of solids but an interaction of frequencies. Not a noun but a verb. And though the linear mind can examine parts of Universe through ever greater magnification, the living fabric of its truth can be experienced only with an open heart. The meanings in Universe are available to any who relocate consciousness and begin to perceive with the heart."
May you see with your heart,
Comments
Love Jane
Buhner in The Secret Teachings of Plants (and Bhakti) point out that the mind is impossible to control. Additionally, Western philosophers and Eastern jnanis, lead us--and leave us--in the mind, with the mind.
The mind is not a pleasant place to reside. It is fickle and demanding and is, ultimately, the source of all our suffering. Suffering is a perception of the mind only, and the mind is where material desires ferment, which entangle us and create more karmic suffering. The mind is not us.
Because we've long been accustomed to being in the mind and with thoughts, we've lost touch with the power of placing our consciousness where we reside: in the heart.
The heart is our home. Perhaps this is why you are relaxed by re-connecting with the heart through this post. You can do this more throughout the day, any or every day.
I'm happy to give you suggestions how to use the heart as an organ of perception. And if you would like some books suggestions I can offer those as well.
Just let me know.
With much heart,
Pranada
I apologize in advance if you feel I'm being too forward in asking.
Much appreciated.
Lyn
Pleasure to meet you. Isn't life wonderful that so often, when we are open, we find something of value to us just when we need it?
Two books based on recent neuroscience of the heart is The HeartMath Solution by Doc Childre, which has three exercises that help dealing with the emotional content of our lives. This book is a good beginning place for people to become acquainted with Heart. Be aware, it touches the surface of the heart. But at least it's touching!
Another is The Secret Teachings of Plants by Stephen Buhner. Don't be thrown off by the title. Though the topic of the book is communicating with nature, the core of the writing deals extensively with practical ways how to use the heart as an organ of perception. This book doesn't have the three simple exercises in HeartMath. Buhner deals with Heart as a way of life.
These two books are modern supports of the premises of the ancient Bhakti path, or the Way of the Feminine Divine. If you want to dive into the Bhakti heart path, some Bhakti texts I recommend are Bhagavad Gita by Graham Schweig: http://is.gd/posRtU or Tripurari Swami: http://is.gd/0MpnWy. There are several others, but either one of these is a good place to start.
Texts directly from the Bhakti tradition have the advantage of a line of teachers and centuries of practice.
Any other questions please don't hesitate to ask. There is much more to engage and fill Heart. Best to you on your journey.
Affectionately,
Pranada
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