the heart of consciousness

Hosted By: Ida Covi, MA is an ecopsychologist and the CEO of iRewild Institute. She is the recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence from Pacifica Graduate Institute, CA.

11 minutes

TRANSCRIPT

Rumi said, “The heart has a direct relationship with the unseen.” 

Throughout history, we’ve heard stories of how our hearts can be broken, full of love, or filled with gratitude. It can be a courageous, brave, or daring heart. A pure heart has no hidden motives. Our hearts can create sacred spaces for others to safely tell their stories. The imaginative qualities of our hearts include the feelings of compassion, kindness, vulnerability, forgiveness, empathy, and loyalty. 

In the imaginative landscape of the heart’s emotions, we become immersed and engaged. We sense that all life on this planet has an interior life with unseen realities and possibilities.

The heart reflects the beauty of the unseen — the visible beauty of soul, a world that exists outside of our physical senses — onto our rational minds so that we can observe it, so that we can experience it. The heart has qualities that deserve to be investigated, because they expand our understanding; they unite us with endless possibilities and ways of experiencing the world. A world that can excite you. A world that shapes and colors your life with stories to tell.

Neuro-cardiology is a field of medicine that studies how our brain and our heart are in constant communication through our nervous system. 

Researchers at HeartMath Institute recognize the heart’s intelligence. They discovered that the heart produces the largest electromagnetic field in the entire human body. The heart’s magnetic field is 5,000 times greater than the magnetic field of the brain and extends in all directions, several feet away from our bodies. Researchers confirmed that the electromagnetic field of the heart communicates information throughout the entire body and into these surrounding energy fields, not only our own, but also those of others around us. 

They also found — that the heart actually sends more information to the brain than the brain — sends to the heart! Moreover, these heart signals have a profound effect on the way our brains function. The quality of the heart signals sent to our brains — influences the electrical and chemical messages our brains then release into our bodies, — messages that shape our psychological and mental processes, such as our emotions, thinking, and perception — processes that affect the way we see and interpret the world around us. In other words, not only does the heart respond to the brain, but, also, the brain continuously answers to the heart. 

By adding heart qualities to the way we navigate the world, we can restore a state of physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and environmental well-being in ourselves and to our surrounding world. When we incorporate heart qualities, we can renew the feelings that we’ve become numb to, such as appreciation, compassion, and love. 

As we know, the heart is a muscular organ that pumps blood throughout our body — every beat secures our life. Yet, the heart is much more. Across centuries, the heart has been viewed as a non-physical organ, carrying within itself the ability to bridge and communicate across different and opposing forces of human experience, between the rational mind and the unseen. Your heart center is where your heart and soul converge, where they come together. Through the qualities of our hearts, the aspects of our world that can’t be observed with our physical bodies communicate with us through our imaginations, bypassing our rational minds. 

From the heart, we recognize the divinity within nature, the hidden reality and possibilities of another, in relationship with us, from where meaning flows. Our hearts see awe and wonder, which evokes a certain way of seeing and awareness that invites curiosity and frees our spirit to ask the deeper questions about the mysterious and divine qualities of creation. Our hearts elicit the possibility of conscious expansion. It’s an awakening of consciousness to a deeper self-awareness, and a gradual expansion toward understanding the interconnectedness of all things. The more we see, the more we become. 

From the perspective of the heart, we view the world from a new lens. The heart’s way of seeing makes it possible to drop our judgments, opinions, and close-minded views. It opens us up to consider new ideas that would otherwise be impossible. Contemporary psychologist James Hillman referred to it as ‘cardiac consciousness.’

We evaluate life from a moment of profound vision and connection, where we see the hidden; we begin to understand the value, and the eternal energies of creation. These moments of understanding direct us to a future where we rediscover the fullness of human experience, we become our authentic selves, and we shift toward a more ecologically sustainable world. 

How do we access the seemingly silent but vital conversation that traverses our heart-brain connection? We participate consciously through attentive or perceptive imagination. 

Similar to meditating, you can practice attentive imagination by closing your eyes, taking a deep breath, and relaxing, and, through your imagination, connecting with a quality that your heart embodies. See its energy, feel the intensity of the heart quality pump from your heart and circulate in your physical body. If you have difficulty, recall a time when you felt really positive on the inside, or think of a person or a pet whom you love deeply. Try to re-capture that feeling. Then, merge with that powerful emotion. Stay with it for a few moments. See its energy flow through every cell as it extends beyond your body. Now direct that loving energy outward so that you surround another person, animal, or something in nature that you want to connect with. Surround them with your heart energy. See their energy touch yours. Graciously, and with great respect, invite ‘the other being’ to reveal themselves, and to tell you their story. Sit quietly, set judgments and opinions aside. Listen carefully, watch closely, all the while staying deeply connected to each other’s heart energy. When you are done, be sure to thank them.

In perceptive imagination, we unite in consciousness. We dissolve in the other, our egos disappear, and (pause) we become one with everything. We begin to sense what is hidden; we begin to see life through their eyes, through their perspectives. We strengthen a greater appreciation for others and ourselves. We gain a feeling of closeness and true understanding.

Through perceptive imagination, we unlock the heart’s intelligence . . . it’s where the heart and the eternal essence of creation meet and communicate.

When we step into life from the heart, it awakens us to experience life. It marks the distinction between just living, versus a ‘love’ of life. We re-engage, we re-awaken our minds from the rigidity of the familiar. We awaken to understanding things happening in the world around us in a new way, with the ability to perceive the poetic, the subtle, and the complex aspects of our inner and outer natures, including our natural world. Mythologist Joseph Campbell would call this moment “the departure from the ordinary.” How . . . could we notbe interested?

Who could have imagined that it could be so simple? That the heart’s qualities have the power to unlock the hidden. Let’s bring our hearts back into the conversation, and experience the wonders that come with it.

So, I ask you: To what extents have the energetic walls you’ve built around your heart, to protect it from getting hurt again, preventing you from giving and feeling love? In what ways and areas has your heart dimmed its light in the world? 

iRewild would like to acknowledge the contributions of other writers, philosophers, and scientists for their inspiration, words, and research used in our podcasts. For a complete list of sources, please see our eBook, Rewilding The Senses: Bringing The Human Soul Back Into A Conscious Relationship With Nature.