ATP Articles
Article 8

Heart - A - Doorway to the Infinite
by C. P. Dixon

This article has been adapted from a wonderful book titled, "The Knowing Heart" by Kabir Helminski.

Anyone who has probed the inner life, who has sat in silence long enough to experience the stillness of the mind behind it apparent noise, is faced with a mystery. At the center of human consciousness there exists something quite satisfying and beautiful in itself. A beauty without features, found deep within.

The mystery is not so much that the outer world and this inner world exist, but that we are suspended between them, as a space in which both worlds meet. It is as if the human being is the meeting point between two worlds.

We know that we perceive the outer world of physical existence through the five physical senses (smell, touch, taste, sight, and hearing), but how do we perceive the qualities of this inner world? Perhaps that best 'tool' we have, with which we can grasp the unseen world of qualities is heart.

This word heart is not a vague or sentimental term, but a term rich with meaning. A look at a dictionary yields these definitions among others: The seat of the emotions and will, the inmost conscience, the vital or most essential part.

And why do we use the heart to perceive the inner world? Because intellect can only take us so far; it can think about faith, hope and love, for instance, but it cannot entirely experience these qualities. It is the hearts' function to apprehend and reflect a qualitative universe.

But this 'perceptive ability' of the heart will depend on its overall condition and capacity. As we all know, a heart may be whole or broken, awake or asleep, sensitive or numb, open or closed. Thus purity of the heart refers to the hearts' overall soundness and health. The natural question at this point then is to ask what can damage this purity?

Traditional teachers agree that one of the consequences of total preoccupation with purely physical aspects of existence is the death of the heart. If on the other hand the heart orients itself toward spirit within, it discovers within itself essential qualities such as faith, hope, love, joy, humility, patience and generosity. To the extent that it is receptive to spirit within, it can receive and reflect (i.e. radiate) the qualities of spirit to every part of the human being, and to the rest of creation.

You see the secret is that whatever we give our attention to, whatever we hold in this space of our presence, its qualities will become our qualities. If we give the heart to multiplicity -- to the pursuit of ego desires -- the heart will be fragmented, veiled and obscured. But if we establish a rapport deep within the heart, with the source of such qualities as humbleness, gratitude, and love, then we center ourselves and our attention in the presence of the divine reality, and we not only become unified within ourselves but we recognize our unity with all life.

So the important question to ask is, are we unknowingly damaging the purity of our heart by following the desires of the ego -- self, and if so is there a cure? The first part of this question can only be truthfully answered by each individual. The good news is that yes there is a cure and it is only a matter of degree to move from the ailing heart to the purified heart.

Briefly, this purification can be understood to proceed through four primary stages:

A. Minimizing our Psychological Distortions:

(Which prevent forming a healthy, integrated individuality)

B. Overcoming the Slavery of Our 'False' Attractions:

(Which are secondary reflections of the qualities within the heart itself)

C. Seeing Beyond the Veil of Selfishness

D. Making Contact with the Divine Reality of Love

Of course this purification requires time and guidance to be successful. But the important point is that the realization and purification of the heart both opens a doorway to the infinite and also results in a restructuring of neural pathways, a refinement and reorganization of our entire nervous system, without which we are not a complete human being.