THANK GOD FOR THE HEART

The heart lies between the head and the stomach, and fortunately so, because more often than not it tempers the brain, wherever the brain happens to be at the moment: the head or the gut. If it were not for the heart, the brain, left on its own, could become the body’s own worst enemy.

When the brain is in the gut, the body and the mind operate on perceptions and likes. The food looks good, like that big piece of chocolate cake, so we eat it because we are convinced that something so good looking must also be so good for us – or at least the brain-in-the-gut makes it so seem. If the food, like liver, or the person, like someone of a different color, is not pleasing to the sight, we convince ourselves that there must be something wrong, even bad, with that food or that person. Gut reactions can get us into trouble and, of course, be totally wrong.

But, then, so, too, can perfectly rational responses to what we see and hear: the brain-in-the-head can prevent us from going down roads we should go because those roads seem to be the incorrect, even foolish, roads to take. For instance, we come up on a situation, analyze it thoroughly, and then rationally determine that the best thing for us to do is walk away. The brain tells us to have nothing to do with what we see, and so we do not. Sometimes, perhaps too often, listening to our head can prevent us from doing what we should do.

So it is very good for us as a person and as a people that the heart gets in the way. Sometimes, perhaps more often that we realize, it is only the heart that keeps gut reactions in check and lets us loose from rational prohibitions. If it were not for the heart, we would never be Good Samaritans. The gut tells us that we should avoid those we do not like and the head tells us that we should, even must, avoid trouble. The heart, however, says that we must help someone in trouble even if we do not like the person and even if it is dangerous to do so.

The heart tempers. Both the gut and the head are narrowly focused. The heart is as wide as can be. The gut chases after that which is pleasing and avoids that which is not. The brain thinks not of pleasure but only of what is best for the self. The heart reminds the gut that what is pleasing is not always good and what looks bad may very well be very good. The heart reminds the brain that while discretion may be the better part of valor and while prudence is a virtue, the right thing to do is not always the safest and surest.

If it were not for the heart, we would all be very lonely and isolated people, and also very stuck. We would not eat the pleasing food because the brain-in-the-head would warn us of the danger involved because we would probably eat too much and we would not eat what was good for us because the brain-in-the-gut didn’t like its taste.

The heart allows us to be open to everyone and everything but keeps us from going overboard in either direction. It does gut checks and brain scans to help us do what is right. We need to rely more on our heart than on our head or our gut.