The Heart region powers our connections with others. In a positive situation we feel love for others and for ourselves. When the connections are negative, we feel anger and hate.
We can differentiate what the Heart does from the other regions in two ways.
One is that the Heart has feelings. The Heart’s feelings are responsible for both friendship and romantic love. Things that might look a little like feelings can come from other regions. Sexual desires are part of the Wish region. The Mind region has thoughts about others, but thoughts are not the same as feelings. The interactions other regions have are all different from the feeling interactions of the Heart region.
The other difference is that the Heart brings about connections. These can be positive or negative. It’s best when we connect to other people in positive ways. We keep the idea that we are two separate beings, but we share an understanding of one another that goes beyond words. Love is one of the great positive forces in the universe. It is there for all of us to access through the Heart and to use when we are helping one another. All the great healers I have known send their healing energy through this region.
Heart connections can be positive or negative. Love is the positive side. We have many sayings about the power of love. John Lennon said, “All you need is love.” The Bible has a longer passage. First Corinthians 13:8 says, “Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.” Thinking about regions of the soul we can say: Prophecies from the Form region will be gone. Words from Voice will be gone. What our Mind knows will be gone. Love from the Heart will remain.
As R. Buckminster Fuller puts it, “Love is metaphysical gravity.” Sets of souls travel together through lifetime after lifetime. It is love (and its opposite) pulling the souls together. Creating positive connections and cleaning up negative connections is one of the most important tasks we have in this life. Then the ones we travel with are the ones we love.
The Heart has a dark side, too. Those who would destroy us also send their life force through this region. The Heart can overpower the Will and cause us to act in ways that are not our highest good. Nothing hurts more than the betrayal of a loved one. We may die for many reasons, but we usually kill ourselves because of something related to love.
Our Hearts need to be ready to ask any being that wants to work with us, “Are you acting for my highest and best good?” If the answer is no, in either ordinary or soul reality, do your best to walk away. If you can’t escape yet, find the best protection and protectors you can and power up your Will to protect your Heart. Leave when you can. Working with someone who does not have your best interests at heart is not a healthy way to live.
The Tantric tradition says there are two parts to this region. So far we have been talking about the first part (anahata). The second part (hrit) is even more amazing. It lets us use superpowers. Here is how Susan Shumsky describes them:
1. The ability to transform your body size to that of an atom.
2. The power to decrease your physical weight or levitate.
3. The power to increase your bodily size or stature or become mighty.
4. The capacity to fulfill desires and go anywhere at will, described by the ancients as “touching the moon with your fingertips.”
5. The ability to pass through earth, walk through solid walls, or not be immersed in water, and to assume any desired form.
6. The greatest power and dominion over the five elements… earth, water, fire, air, and ether, and the subtle sense objects… of which these elements are made, odor, flavor, form, touch, sound. This is also the power to attract and enslave others by enchantment.
7. Mastery over the appearance, disappearance, and aggregation of the five elements and objects in the material world. With this [accomplishment] you can transcend all human limits.
8. Resolution — the ability to determine the five elements and their nature and to transform them at will. It is also the power to conquer or subordinate others.
I have to say that I have never done any of these things in physical reality. If you are looking for someone who says he has, I suggest reading Carlos Castaneda. Many say Castaneda is nonsense, but what he does agrees with the Tantric tradition. He says that sorcerer’s powers flow out through the belly. I haven’t found a place in his writings that say where these powers originate.
There are other stories of great (and not so great) people who had some of these powers. Jesus walked on water, changed water into wine, and rose up to heaven. D. D. Home and St. Teresa levitated. In the Zen tradition there is a story of two monks who met one another as they were about to cross a river. After a brief discussion, one monk tossed his hat into the river, stepped on it, and rode it to the other shore. The other monk said, “If I had known you were that sort of person, I would have killed you on the spot.” Apparently in the Zen tradition it’s not acceptable to show these superpowers.
It would be interesting to know if the Zen monk who objected to the other monk’s use of his hat to cross the river would have objected to the mother using the same kind of power to save her child. (Probably not.)
We have many stories of vampires and other mythic creatures, Jedi warriors, magicians, and spirits who have superpowers. Many wish they had these powers. Those who believe in only the four physical forces work very hard to stop belief in anything beyond ordinary reality. They fear that rational thought will be lost. It may be true that the Mind needs to shut down for superpowers to work.
For those who believe the world is coming to an end, perhaps this is the end we will see. The Heart will reclaim its ability to change the world in ways that seem like superpowers. This time the Mind may be able to hold on to the experience so we can share it among all of us.
Life Force Processing
Of all the regions, the Heart is the most balanced between energy and information. Somehow, that’s fitting, since it is in the center of the soul.
The information that the region handles includes relationships between people. In some sense, the information can be represented in simple sentences. Some positive examples include:
I care for you.
You are safe with me.
I am here for you.
We are together in this.
God loves you.
The messages include two beings and the connection between them. One entity or both beings can also be represented by a group, as in “My buddies have my back.”
The Heart region remembers who we are connected to, the strength of the connection, and the directions of energy flow. It won’t remember events or the words that were spoken. It holds our feelings about what happened between us and someone else.
The information seems simple, but there are deeper meanings in the energy flow. When Voice can’t describe love, it’s not a problem of saying “I love you.” The problem is the energy flow. Words are a pale reflection of it. The flow can be extremely powerful, with both positive and negative energy. Words simply can’t convey that to someone who hasn’t felt it. If the same words are heard by someone who has had the feeling, they will know what is going on.
The energy from this region can be very strong. We have a saying, “When he came into the room, the temperature dropped by 10 degrees.” I know that the room is not 10 degrees cooler. We are measuring what the soul feels. We translate the feeling to ordinary reality because we have better words for it there.
The Heart also holds the superpowers. The energy required to perform some of those feats has to get into physical reality. Levitating requires canceling gravity. Soldiers ran into enemy fire. They got out of their Jeep, picked it up, and turned it around. Their extra strength is an electromagnetic force.
The superpowers also include transforming. Nuclear forces are needed for this. The energy comes from the Energy region. Information comes from Mind or Form. The Heart region handles both. The lower regions do not have enough information. The higher regions would burn out from too much energy. In fact, Kundalini experts warn about this energy problem. They say that energy from below can travel to the Heart, but it should never be forced up into the Mind.
The final set of superpowers involves mastery over others. This is the dark side of affiliation. There is a connection so strong that energy from the Heart overwhelms the Mind or Will of the other person. The Good People, also known as fairies, are said to be skilled at this sort of enchantment.
Lessons
The lessons for the Heart region look at how our Heart connects us to others. For our lives to be meaningful, we need to connect in positive ways.
One Minute Exercise
In this exercise we are going to take a look at what flows into and out of our Heart region.
Seeing the flow may take some imagination. I suggest reaching out and looking at what flows from your hands. Then turn your hands around and see what you catch coming back. When you are scoring the strength of the feeling use a scale of 0 to 10. If there are no feelings, write down none. We’ll look at three situations. Take about 20 second for each.
First, think about a friend. In your mind, reach toward the person.
• Name one positive feeling flowing from you. How powerful is it?
• Name one negative feelings flowing from you. How powerful is it?
• Name one positive feeling flowing to you. How powerful is it?
• Name one negative feelings flowing to you. How powerful is it?
Next, think about a group of people you see almost every day. It could be some of the people you work with or go to school with. It won’t be everybody you see in a day. Pick a set of people who would feel all right about sharing a group hug. In your mind, put your arms around the group.
• Name one positive feeling flowing from you. How powerful is it?
• Name one negative feelings flowing from you. How powerful is it?
• Name one positive feeling flowing to you. How powerful is it?
• Name one negative feelings flowing to you. How powerful is it?
Now think about yourself. In your mind, reach from your Heart inward toward yourself.
• Name one positive feeling flowing from you to you. How powerful is it?
• Name one negative feelings flowing from you to you. How powerful is it?
You can do this exercise again with different people and different groups. You can list a larger set of feelings. When looking at yourself, negative feelings usually come from a wish that is not being met. Write down the wish. You can do this exercise every few months to keep track of changes in how you relate to others and to yourself.
It can be enlightening to try it with a person or group you don’t like. Look especially at the negative life force that is coming towards you personally. It may not be as strong as you think it is. If it really is strong, ask yourself why you are still connected to these people.
