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Originally Posted by Textcritic
I'm not certain that I agree with the first sentence. Should matters of the heart override the intellect? I think part of the problem one finds in Evangelicalism is this false dichotomy that is drawn between the two that artificially renders them opposite to one another.
Are the "heart" and the "brain" really embroiled in some irreconcilable age-old conflict?
This is perhaps yet another self-perpetuatiing myth that modernity has maintained—in large part through the impact of 19th cent. romanticism that followed the Enlightenment—that "instinct" and emotion somehow knows better than calculation and rational thought. One is seen as cold and sterile while the other is most often viewed sympathetically, as the wizened, true sense of things. Just think about how often this is part of a Hollywood movie plot: in which the fruits of rationalism are dangerous and evil, only to be thwarted and quashed by the triumph of "human spirit", which is usually expressed within the character who brazenly —and independently!—"goes with his gut". Its fascinating, but I think that this is yet another example of how culturally conditioned we have become through the complex developments in the intersections between politics, philosophy, and religion: "Heart" has become virtuous and "mind" has become dangerous.
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In my way of thinking, you have to differentiate between the true heart and love of the mortal. A girl can say I love my nail polish or a a guy can say I love my car but both will eventually lose their lustre. This is where the problems come in, I can think I am following my heart, whereas really I'm just contributing to my confusion. Especially when these so called loves come to an end. When I focus my heart on my understanding of god, than I use my intellect as a tool to adapt my life to enable this closeness. Not that I'm particularly devoted but I sometimes try to make a small effort, as I enjoy it.
Most Hollywood films trying too hard to express the human spirit, I find terrible and unwatchable. I don't like being manipulated into feeling these coarser emotions. Just tell the story, I'll interpret it myself.
Also from what I've found out with myself, the emotions that I would normally equate with love have little to do with my love for what I experience. In fact things like anger, attachment, and desire are often a hindrance.
The Bhagavad Gita tells a great story about the war between the heart and the mind. That is if a person wishes to interpret it that way.