When we think of the mind, or of logic, most of us don't equate this with Love, but our thoughts influence any loving actions, and can aspire to something far greater than simple calculation based on facts. Although we have come to believe that thinking is something we do with our heads, this is not entirely accurate. The brain is used to catalog and assimilate thoughts, but Science has come to affirm that thinking involves the whole body, and indeed that certain functions once believed to take place in the brain actually arise from other systems entirely. Ancient cultures gave the Head its due, but asserted that the Heart is equally involved in thinking, and is a necessary part of the decision making process. In modern times, this idea is once again gaining popularity, and Medical professionals such as Doctor Deepak Chopra are leading the charge.

We think of Albert Einstein as an abstract thinker, and we attribute this to his powerful brain, but when asked how some of his most brilliant ideas emerged, he replied that they arose not as thoughts, in the verbal-semantic sense, but as images and feelings played out in his body, and as sensations which seemed to propagate through his muscles, rather than arising in his brain at all. When Mozart composed, he likewise experienced his pieces as a gestalt which involved feeling as much as thinking, and he would have people distract his brain-based verbal and semantic processes, while he was transcribing his creations, for his great works to come out unfiltered. When Love is the subject matter, it is absolutely certain that more than our brain is involved in the creative process which gives rise to our actions and impressions.

In my opinion, the Logic of the Heart is a major factor in any thoughts of Love, and is a far more accurate barometer than our reasoning processes alone. When the brain and the heart are kept separate, we become stupid in matters of Love, but when the two are combined, the wisdom of our thinking process becomes an awesome thing to behold. Courage and Compassion are the moderate positions between extremes, which arise in the Heart which is tempered by the wisdom of logic. The Ancient Greeks described this as the pediment of virtue resting on the columns of two ills, a defect and an excess. A courageous man, for example, is neither timid nor foolhardy, but sensibly poised between those opposite extremes. When we take the time to feel our heart's reaction to our thoughts, we learn far more about true virtue, and true Love than any amount of brain-based reasoning alone can tell us. It is only when we marry our Heads with our Hearts that Love's highest expression can come out.

©'99 Jonathan J. Dickau - all rights reserved

This was used as part of a worship service, when Jonathan shared the pulpit with the Rev. Kay Greenleaf, at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Poughkeepsie, on February 14, 1999, Valentine's Day Sunday.