The Heart

“The Divine Mercy’ Image

When I saw this image for the first time in the Adoration room at the Catholic church, one of my first thoughts was, “Wow, that looks a lot like a depiction of the flow of energy from the heart and crown chakras.”

Now, Catholics are not really into chakras or yoga, or anything Eastern like that. So what I am writing here is just me making sense of my own experiences. I am not teaching, preaching, or giving medical advice.

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, I am going to talk about the heart.

In the Eastern traditions, there is talk of an energy center that corresponds to the center of the chest, near the location of the physical heart. It’s not considered good or bad, I think; it’s merely a channel.

In the Catholic/Christian tradition, from what I have gathered, the heart is not necessarily all good or all bad. Good can come from the heart, but also all kinds of evil. Jesus speaks of this.

I believe Jesus.

And Star Wars.

Look, if the energy flow is like “The Force,” it has the potential to be used for the “Dark Side” or the “Light Side.”

The greater the “flow” that is generated, the more careful you have to be, as you become a more powerful wielder of the energy.

Now, back to the heart and my experiences.

Over the past 5 months, I’ve been made VERY aware of my heart.

My heart has reminded me that it’s capable of feeling all kinds of things. Thank you, heart.

When I’m smooth sailing along through life, sometimes I forget about the heart. It’s there but I just don’t notice it that much.

But when things get uncomfortable, when things get sticky, the heart all of a sudden becomes a very real experience.

The heart can be the most gentle, finely tuned instrument. It can also be a seat of rage and hatred. It can be frozen, broken open, warmed up, thawed out, and smashed into a million pieces.

It seems to be a very versatile thing, the heart.

A lot of energy has been moving through my heart with the experiences I’ve been having. This is something I experience as a physical sensation.

Recently it reached another level where I finally surrendered.

I prayed to God to release me from all attachments.

I felt the flow of energy moving through my heart and body in a very strong way.

I was lying down so I just allowed myself to experience the sensation.

Honestly, the feeling reminds me a little of this:

Neo when light takes over at the end of Revolutions

I’m not comparing myself to Neo and certainly not to Jesus. I’m far from perfect and I’m fairly certain I’m not insane or plugged into a slimy egg cocoon in the Matrix.

It’s just, as far as a depiction of what it feels like to be filled with flowing energy like I felt, this is a pretty good one.

As with every experience, it came and went. And as with every experience, I thanked God for it.

Life is such a mysterious, wonderful thing.

The heart is beyond my ability to understand, but I do understand we can allow the events of life to open our heart.

Instead of closing in the face of powerful heart emotions like heartbreak, longing, or even love, we can allow these to open us up further, in our inner life.

Dear Lord, thank you for all of my experiences and for the amazing, dynamic variety of everything my heart is capable of feeling. Please help me to not struggle against the cascade of feelings, but to surrender more deeply into your presence, always. Amen.