A Heart Needs a Head

 Movies such as A Star is Born --which I quite loved, in fact--can sometimes perpetuate the idea that if only one finds one's true calling in life, or passion, then life would somehow go smoothly. The central character in the film, Ally, meets a musician who is struggling with his own addictions and who finds in love a way to overcome his demons. Ally's life immediately soars into stardom when she starts to let go of her insecurities, and the movie follows a kind of fairytale career trajectory. One of the key themes of the movie is to always know "what you have to say" and to follow that natural voice within. But such a kind of message leads me to wonder, is finding one's way through life always so straightforward in terms of reading the heart?
   Master Sheng Yen highlights the importance of having a reflective space through which we can know ourselves. But he also mentions that due to the pace of life, it has become harder to even conceptualize the question, "what do I want from life?" He notes:

When people married in times past, they would rarely consider the option or even the possibility of divorce. These days, people often marry with an attitude of “What’s the big deal? The worst that can happen is that we divorce.” There was a time when people were not so busy, and they had more time to know themselves and understand what their lives were about. Now, we are sometimes even unfamiliar to ourselves. We may be confused by such questions, “What are you doing with your life?” or “Where do you think you are going and what will you be doing in the future?” (p.18)

What the pace of life does is that it often trivializes the deeper questions of the future, mainly because it bombards the senses with so many things to do. As a result, a person easily gets caught up in a delusion that there are endless opportunities and possibilities in the world.

In fact, however, while social life has changed, it's up to humans to make life valuable and meaningful. For example, if my attitude is simply to acquire the most accomplishments without any idea about their significance, such accomplishment become like the proverbial medals "gathering dust" on a mantelpiece. They mean nothing to the winner, because they are one of many experiences to be sought. The mentality of quantifying one's achievements sadly also trivializes death and the end of life, by making it nothing more than the resume of all of one's past accomplishments, in a "list" form. In reality, the nature of choice (and death) is that people always stand to lose something because they are not infinite, nor is the time infinite. This is why it's important not just to choose passionately but to choose wisely.

The title of this blog entry is "a heart needs a head", and I say this because it's so opposite to the cultural zeitgeist, which often says "follow your heart". But the head also represents the wisdom of differentiating appearances, and wisdom is needed to know when our hearts have found things that are good for our spirit's growth, not just desirable or passionate. Taking a slower approach to life (and even a more cautious, day to day approach) seems needed in the age of fast food and fast pace.

Sheng Yen (2013). Tea Words Volume II Elmhurst. NY Dharma Drum Publications