“The human heart has hidden treasures, in secret kept, in silence sealed.” — Charlotte Brontë
The human heart, the size of two adult fists, is mysterious, intelligent,
powerful, and sometimes inexplicable. The Egyptians believed that
Anubis, the god of the underworld and judge of the dead, weighed the hearts of the recently deceased against a feather — if the two balanced, the heart would be returned to owner. If the heart was heavier, it was weighted by bad deeds and fed to a monster.
Heart as Ruler of the Brain
Aristotle considered the heart as the center of reason, thought, and emotion, senior to the brain in importance. Ninth century
Arabic philosopher Abu Nasr al-Farabi believed that, "The ruling organ in the human body is the heart; the brain is a secondary ruling organ subordinated to the heart." Auguste Comte, a 19th century French philosopher
declared that the brain should be servant to the heart.
"The most common denominator in all religions is that the heart is the seat of wisdom," said Rollin McCraty Ph.D, director of research at the groundbreaking
HeartMath Institute in Santa Cruz, CA. Twelfth century Christian mystic, Hildegard of Bingen, would agree. She wrote, "The soul sits at the center of the heart, as though in a house."
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