The Actions of the Heart

The role of the heart in our life’s economy is not simply to submit passively to the sensations that reach us, and to witness our good or bad state; it has also to maintain the energy of all the powers of the soul and body.  Note how quickly we do something we like, that is, when our heart is in it! But when our heart is not in what confronts us, our hands drop, and our feet do not move. That is why, when a person who knows how to master himself comes up against something unpleasant which must be done, he will be quick to find a pleasant side to it. This puts his heart to rest and keeps up the energy needed for his task….

If a person can keep order in his thinking and remains prudent in his actions, events which disturb his heart will be minimized. Then a greater share of happiness will be his.  As we have remarked, however, the thinking function seldom behaves as it should. It gives way to dreams and absent-mindedness, while the active part fo us turns away from its proper direction in life and is seduced by changeable desires – desires aroused by alien passions, rather than soundly based on natural needs. This is why the heart finds no peace. Nor can it have peace as long as the different sides of us are in such a state. The dominant factor is that the heart is tyrannized by passions. If there were no passions we would still have to face things we dislike, but they would never torment the heart as the passions do. How anger burns it. How hatred tears it. How envy corrodes it, and how much agony is caused by vanity that has been unsatisfied or put to shame! And our sorrow is heavy when our pride is hurt.

If we looked carefully, we would discover that all the worries and pains of our heart come from passions. When these evil passions are gratified they bring pleasure, but only for a short time, and when they meet opposition they cause lasting and unbearable distress.

Only the true or “innate” impulses of the heart should be followed. Before we can trust ourselves in this, it is essential that we first learn not to follow the false impulses, that is, our passions. This subordination to emotional delusions, to feelings arising from the past and from external events, has occurred in fallen man of all times. At the same time, it has become particularly characteristic of contemporary humanity because we no longer guard against it. Today, in fact, many people see this obedience to passions as being their aim in life. But in fact it prevents the fulfillment of any real or long term aim.

St.Theophan the Recluse