Know thyself, be thyself, and living by the heart

Once we have forgotten the false understandings, shed our false selves, and ceased scurrying about like programmed mice, insatiably seeking the crumbs of our crumbling society; once we have fully surrendered all desire, inertia, and need, and have become grounded in the peace of uncowardly apathy, then perhaps, instead of 'sitting around doing nothing all day' we may begin again to live truly, and that means not on logic, nor reason, nor bread alone, but rather by intuition, passion, and feeling; which is to say, we will cease to live by the mind, and instead live from the heart.

For, after all, we can't just sit immobile, gaping helplessly into the infinite abyss all of our lives; we still have got to exist, somehow. We still have to eat, dress, make love, stay warm, and move through life. Only now we can't do it the way others have trained us to do it. Now we must do it another way.

But how to break through the clogged arteries and damned rivers of the mind?

Krishnamurti addresses the issue, suggesting"...yourself is not a static state, it is a fresh living thing. And to live with a living thing, your mind must also be alive. And it cannot be alive if it is caught in opinions, judgments and values." (Freedom from the Known, p23)

Life is intended to be lived, not to be analyzed and deciphered; to be a free spirit on earth is the vocation of the heart, and so the values, rules, and conditioning of the mind only succeed to inhibit that freedom. As Oscar Wilde suggests, "'Know thyself!' was written over the portal of the antique world. Over the portal of the new world 'Be thyself' shall be written." (The Soul of Man, p27)

But what does it mean to be ourselves? What does it mean to live not by the mind, but by the heart?

It means to let our feelings, dreams, and gut-instincts lead us through our lives, from moment to moment, rather than simply becoming and being what our own mind and society has planned for us all along; as we renounce the understandings and activities of mankind we must find our compass within ourselves, if ever we are to continue forward, towards a life of wholeness and beauty.

Judith Handelsman offers us a splendid synopsis of her 'way': she candidly confesses, "I let down my defenses, let go of my preconceived notions of what was real or possible, and simply did what I felt like doing, no matter how crazy it seemed. ...I began to develop this attitude step by tentative step, ignorance and innocence proving to be assets."

She then suggests for all of us to, "Come from your heart. Do not feel silly or give yourself a hard time because of what others might think... .You are not crazy. You are...creating a bridge of communication between you and...your world, your planet, and your own heart. ...You are cultivating...a sensitivity to life, and the ability to see its miracles." (Growing Myself, p10-12,30)

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These excerpts on following the heart and aimless wandering are taken from unpublished chapters of

THE WAY OF WONDER, by Jack Haas