NOM

"The heart has its reasons which reasoning does not understand."
-- Blaise Pascal

Our hopes and yearning might not fit into a rational and evidentiary framework, but we can still wish for them. Hope springs eternal and sometimes we take a leap of faith for these reasons of the heart.

moksha wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 30, 2017 9:27 pm

"The heart has its reasons which reasoning does not understand."
-- Blaise Pascal

Our hopes and yearning might not fit into a rational and evidentiary framework, but we can still wish for them. Hope springs eternal and sometimes we take a leap of faith for these reasons of the heart.

Well put!
I think in our (US) society, the tendency is to overvalue thnking & undervalue feeling.
Yet, both are important to a good lfe.

moksha wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 30, 2017 9:27 pm

"The heart has its reasons which reasoning does not understand."
-- Blaise Pascal

Our hopes and yearning might not fit into a rational and evidentiary framework, but we can still wish for them. Hope springs eternal and sometimes we take a leap of faith for these reasons of the heart.

I'm just now seeing this. This is beautiful and so true. We can't give up on what we hold in our hearts. Dreams lived are what propel us into greatness.

This quotation is of the spiritual boost variety:

"The present moment holds infinite riches beyond your wildest dreams but you will only enjoy them to the extent of your faith and love. The more a soul loves, the more it longs, the more it hopes, the more it finds. The will of God is manifest in each moment, an immense ocean which the heart only fathoms in so far as it overflows with faith, trust, and love."
— from Sacrament of the Present Moment, Jean Pierre de Caussade S.J, 1723

Our science wants to make our feelings a product of chemical and electrical processes. And no doubt that is part of it.

But the reason spiritual people value feelings so much is because feelings are a deeper, more primitive monitoring system of reality.

Feelings can be wrong, but they are always true, (barring some major chemical imbalance.)

What this means is that feelings can give you a false read on a situation, but truthfully show how you feel and the reality of your condition. I.e., you might know you are in a bad relationship, but your feelings tell you to stay to preserve an aspect of your identity. Deeper down, some systems need you to stay. They might be working on false beliefs, but they still need what they need.

So feelings reflect the truth about how we feel, but not necessarily the truth of the situation.

If you have awesome instincts, they can be very trustworthy. But if you have some rogue need, like to please the priesthood, they might not be very trustworthy.

I recommend the comic Heart and Brain which daily encapsulates this dichotomy with situations that we all instinctively understand. For example:

As Karl Marx said, "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people".

Jesus giving refuge from the pain of the world is something wonderful. That is why it is important to define Jesus not by religious harshness, but rather by the dynamic potential to alleviate our sorrows. Pass the poppies for that which will lend a heart in a heartless world.