We have two concerns when we study how the Hebrew and other ANE cultures took seriously the heart as a superior intelligence.
First, we have a massive barrier in the form of Western Civilization. It’s not enough that the West has denied the existence of the heart as indicated in the Scripture, but the West also substitutes something else entirely in its place. So we have a serious problem with the word “heart” being saddled with a whole lot of bogus baggage. While Westerners might have some sense that the heart is not exactly intellect, they deny that it can be defined in any meaningful way. Instead, it’s just some kind of spooky magic that might turn out well. It’s just enough falsehood and truth mixed together to make the most powerful form of lie.
Second, we then have to struggle to keep the heart clearly committed to the Creator. While there aren’t too many folks in Western history who found, and then wrote about, the leadership of the heart, way too many of those who did were committed to various false understandings of the Creator. You can have a very active heart-led existence, but have a heart committed to a lie. Scripture mentions this problem all the time.
It’s funny how folks miss that Scripture does talk about concrete logic, and does provide examples of how you can speak in concrete terms on things that have no great moral significance. However, the Hebrew language presumes the most important things we can discuss are those that cannot be defined in concrete terms. So we discuss the Spirit Realm in parables and symbols, far too complex to be subject to concrete logic. Hebrew language presumed a different use of language itself. Words seldom mean things; words indicate paths to explore with a moral consciousness.
On this blog, I try to offer an image of life in three layers. The first is the obvious concrete material universe. Western logic (AKA Aristotelian logic) generally applies well on that level. The second is the Spirit Realm, which the West denies exists (because Aristotle denied it). It cannot be understood with the mind, nor even the heart precisely, but with the spirit raised from death by the Spirit of God. The third level is the intersection between the material and the spiritual: the moral realm. This is where the heart operates. If your connection to the Spirit Realm is wrong in any way, your morals will turn out wrong and your heart committed to something false.
Ask questions, because much of this is of necessity parable, not clinical discussion.
