Does our heart speak a different language that we don’t understand? What does it mean by “listen to your heart?” The only time I really hear my heart is when in a crisis, it thumps in my ears. Maybe we’re talking about a gut reaction—to act with our instincts instead of assessing the situation with what we know. But I also think it is much more than that. I think it is asking us to find the essence of our being and let its wisdom to be our guide.
A pure being is often compared to a fool because his/her actions are outrageous and inconsistent. But the heart, when examined at a distance, is steadfast as a rock. Such is the feeling I have after reading the book, Agnes Smedley, the Life and Times of an American Radical by Janice and Stephen R. MacKinnon. Smedley’s passionate involvements in the Indian Independent movement and the Chinese civil war between the Communist and the Guomindang (1927-1950), her triumphs and defeats showed a heart that could neither be borrowed or bought. Such was a human life in all its harshness. Such was a heart that was true to its end.
