For my second writing on the topic of the Inner-Guru I’d like to share a profound teaching called the Art of Heart found in the seminal text on Chinese Medicine called Rooted In Spirit which is a translation of Chapter Eight of the classical text, The Spiritual Pivot, with commentary from Claude Larre and Elizabeth Rochat.

      In the Daoist traditions that nourish the classical sense of Chinese Medicine, we find the Heart is given station of Emperor/Empress of our being.  This is primarily because the Heart is the house of our shen or what has been translated as spirit or consciousness.  It is this function that makes the Heart so important because it possesses our ability to be aware and to know: “The heart is alive, and it possesses knowledge; it knows, and from knowing makes distinctions.  To make distinctions is to know all parts of the whole at once.” (48)  This is important because, as the Daoists caution us, being in the world requires that we navigate ourselves appropriately and become aware that we can conduct ourselves in a way with the world that recklessly drains our vitality, leads us into conflict with others and other hazardous situations that could have been avoided if we had awareness to choose our actions and attitudes more wisely.  This emphasizes an inherent moral dimension to life that seems at odds to our present, post-modern culture that is fairly anemic on the moral front.  One need look no further than the state of things in the world to see that we’re a species of life largely acting unethically what with our economic systems prizing greed and relentless profit largely at the cost of the devastation of our environment and the oppression and exploitation of other peoples.  However, a moral or ethical dimension to life is the essence of practically all spiritual traditions.  Most of the great spiritual masters, figures, prophets, teachers etc. are revered because they expressed a vision of how to conduct oneself in the world with virtue, which has given profound clarity to many in how to navigate the challenging trials of life.  For instance, in Buddhism we find in the Noble Eightfold Path a whole series of statements emphasizing the necessity to conduct oneself rightly instead of wrongly if one is to live to one’s highest stature.

      What is incredibly promising is the wisdom from the Daoists that the ability to know how to conduct oneself in goodness or virtue doesn’t necessarily require a teacher, though that can of course be of significant help.  This is because awareness and comprehension of virtue is seen as being the essential nature of the heart: we all have a built in inner-guidance system that knows in any given moment what is the right thing to do, say or right way of being.  The challenge then is being perpetually aware of our heart as the foundation of our consciousness.  This is called the Art of Heart: “The art of heart (xin shu) consists of maintaining firmly one’s heart-anchor in peace and correctness, solid as a tree trunk, the pillar in the centre…One must not allow oneself to be carried away by trembling passions or by quickness of too much ardour, symbolized here by the thoroughbred horse.  One must not abandon oneself to the never-assuaged desires of the senses, represented here by the three monkeys.” (49)

      To be rooted in the Heart requires effort because the Daoists warn us “not to overload the heart…as soon as we are aware of this fullness which is always bad—perhaps mortally dangerous—we must empty our heart.” (44). This then asserts the significance of renunciation in the path of life if we are to maintain a clear channel to the Heart’s wisdom.  Renunciation need not insist extreme negations but merely points to the need to moderate oneself accordingly and always seek to strike a balance within oneself between extremes (this known as the Middle Way in Buddhism).  Perhaps this is why such activities as meditation, yoga, tai chi, qi gong and other wellness activities which emphasize using body practice to still the mind and generate more vitality in one’s nature are so popular in our modern era.  It’s as if the populace, racked with anxiety by the tumult in the world around them and perhaps within their own lives, are striving to rectify themselves by instilling enough peace to be more aware of the Heart as the root of their consciousness.

      The Art of the Heart need not be something esoteric or mystical.  I believe that everyone already inherently is aware that at any given moment they intuitively know in their deepest depths what is right in any given moment.  The challenge is then acting on that deep inner-knowing and not rejecting that wisdom, which means deeply trusting life and our nature as a source of wisdom or, ultimately, trusting that we all have an inner-guru that knows all, spontaneously, in any moment.

      To practice the Art of Heart and get in touch with the Inner-Guru is a true challenge but one that bears the highest fruit.  In order to carry out such an endeavour, I recommend a daily meditation habit and also the practice of constant self-reflection upon oneself which is also known as the practice of mindfulness.  As Eckhart Tolle teaches, the true battle between good and evil really comes down to the conflict between consciousness and unconsciousness.  But constantly reflecting on ourselves, we are devoting ourselves to being more conscious, or, more sourced in the wisdom of our Heart.  As another teacher once told me the correct attitude is to imagine oneself as a guard in watchtower (consciousness) and at any given moment the enemy (unconsciousness) may appear to invade past our gates.  The key is to be relentlessly vigilant of oneself.  For now, I challenge you to live a Conscious Day: for one day spend as much time as possible being conscious of oneself, especially being aware of when we get drawn away from our centre and, in that case, constantly pulling oneself back to our Heart.  I’m certain you will be stunned to notice just how different our states of consciousness are and the distinction between consciousness and unconsciousness.  Truly, life is so much richer the more conscious we are.

      “Calm and quietude, the Art of the Heart, are not the denial of the movements and reactions that make up life.  On the contrary, the Art of Heart is analysis of these movements and reactions.  It is the temperance that distances anger and outbursts.  It is the perpetual reestablishment of a balance made of breaths and blood, flesh and bone, feelings and thought.”

 


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