It's one thing to use the word 'heart' as a metaphor for emotions (as in "I knew in my heart that it was wrong"). But something else entirely to treat this muscular pump as if it really were the core of one's 'spirit'.
The ancients believed that the heart was the centre of emotions. In fact it's a simple blood pump. It's a far less complex organ than the liver, and less connected to emotions than the adrenal glands.
Yet on R&S there's frequent talk of 'inviting Jesus into my heart' as if the real organ was involved. Someone here recently characterised abortion as 'stopping a beating heart' - as if that were significant in itself.
Seems to me that the actual organ whose characteristics people are referring to is the BRAIN. The brain is the seat of thought and emotion; of love, fear, joy, memory and everything else about us. The rest of the body is a life-support system for the brain, and the heart is just a pump in that mechanism.
CD
2007-12-09 00:16:09 · 27 answers · asked by Super Atheist 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Thanks for some good answers. No thanks to the throngs who just didn't get it - especially those who felt obliged to tell me it was a metaphor. Actually, I knew that.
But I'm glad to see that some here do appreciate that the line between metaphor and reality seems to be blurred in some minds - which is all I was trying to point out.
Like all delusions, this has the potential to be dangerous. Astoundingly, some answers show clearly that a few people really can't detach themselves from the fiction that their heart is where their head is. Bizarre.
2007-12-09 07:29:57 · update #1
I think you mean liver? Brain is just a cooling system for your blood... shows how much you know!
2007-12-09 00:22:43 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 4⤋
Interesting point. The vicar at my primary school (grade school, Americans) actually told the kids that the heart was NOT a pump. "Doctors and people say the heart is a pump, but really it's not. It's a doorway you can open or close to let Jesus in." Next day he asked the kids "What do doctors say the heart is?" Kid put hand up, says "a pump." "And what is it REALLY?" He went on to tell the kids (8 and 9) that their hearts were "black with wickedness", and illustrated the entry of Jesus by producing a large black velvet heart shape he had made and opening a yellow door in it which made the heart look yellow (i.e. filled with the light of Jesus). I understand this sort of thing is quite rare in Britain. It was just our luck to get a vicar who'd used to work in advertising before he 'found God'.
2007-12-09 03:35:01 · answer #2 · answered by Citizen Justin 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Good point, however, many people tend to think with their heart and not their brain. If you were to allow God into your brain you would be forced to realize that it makes no sense (at least those of us with the capacity for abstract thought). So letting God into your heart to me is a metaphor for not having to think about what it truly means.
Thinking with ones heart instead of brain is very dangerous. Many women (and men too for that matter) have followed their "heart" and ended up in abusive relationships when all the signs of abuse were there early on.
One needs to realize that the heart is nor more a thinking organ than the rectum. So it makes just as much sense to let God into your rectum.
2007-12-09 00:25:59 · answer #3 · answered by Leizl 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I understand what you are saying.
I even think that what most refer to as a "soul" is actually the conscience which is simply the brain sorting what is "Right" & "Wrong"
Rationally knowing these things, I am still the worst in the world to use those words metaphorically, they simply sound more poetic in speech I suppose..
*Have a great day my friend*
2007-12-09 01:23:44 · answer #4 · answered by FallenAngel© 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The brain- the mind are similiar but different. The mind process information and tells us what to do. The figurative heart is the seat of motivation. Our heart will tell us if we do something for love or out of routine/habit/improper desires/ulterior motives. That's why you hear a lot about the heart not in a physical way but a figurative one.
2007-12-09 00:23:13 · answer #5 · answered by andre 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
one million- complete the sentence: Breakfast nutrition is _better later interior the day._ 2- How is the climate? ok 3- What did you prefer to be as a splash baby?? i do no longer remember incredibly 4- what's your favourite song of the 2nd?? too many to point 5- Do you in lots of cases destroy human beings's hearts or have your heart broken? have not had the two 6- what's your center call?? Marie 7- Why do you have faith rainbows are linked with gay satisfaction? i think of because of the fact different hues signify variety. it is how i think of of it. 8- Do you have faith in God? a god? some thing like that??? uncertain. kinda. 9- What might desire to you do for the the remainder of your existence devoid of scuffling with in case you by no skill have been given drained or hungry et c. ?? i stay in my head lots so think of i assume. or examine. 10- what's your favourite ladies call and your favourite boys call? Rebecca and Jaden
2016-11-14 04:22:57 · answer #6 · answered by polich 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Of course the brain controls our emotions, however, you are not going to change the things that people say. The heart will always be spoken about when it comes to emotions and feelings.
2007-12-09 00:35:38 · answer #7 · answered by DJ 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
People used to think that they thought in their chest. Now people think we think in the brain. Actually, recent studies of people who have died and come back found that people have memories of things that happened when there was no activity in either the brain or the heart, so consciousness is non-local. It exists separately from the body and continues when the body has stopped.
2007-12-09 00:32:29 · answer #8 · answered by Morgaine 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Well said.
In fact you are entirely correct, the heart is one of the simplest organs in the human body. The liver, brain and pancreas are far more complicated.
Yet this medieval idea that the 'heart' contains our wisdom or our soul, is still bandied about as if it means something.
2007-12-09 00:25:46 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
You can look at it this way too: Blood flows. It reaches every part of the body delivering life sustaining elements. The heart is the center of this. Yes, the brain is the real core of emotions, thought and life, but thousands of years ago, they only knew that if the heart stopped pumping, life was gone. They knew nothing about the brain back then.
Take it with a grain of salt! It's only words that offend your analytical brain. Only words.
2007-12-09 00:24:46 · answer #10 · answered by peggy m 5 · 0⤊ 3⤋
you are right my dear heart is only pump of blood it is not a place for love or any sensations many illpeople exchanged thir heart without any change of thir sensations for others our brain is agreat computear with great capacity of knoleges it is the base of all sensatins so when man came old as any set its memory decrease became to for get do un naturals things it means his comp in his mind has avictom or you must up load new windosfor him
2007-12-09 00:31:04 · answer #11 · answered by samy n 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋