Heart Sense

Rev. Dr. Kate Winters, “Dwelling in Presence,” September 13, 2023

I haven’t written in a while. It is hard to know how to begin this morning. Anything I say feels trite and unfeeling after these weeks of suffering that sisters and brothers around the world have been through. The ongoing loss of the devastated Maui, total destruction of towns and families in Morocco, violent genocide in Sudan, and thousands of human beings swept out into the Mediterranean Sea in Libya, what horror! I haven’t even mentioned the war in Ukraine and the fierce heat cooking the land and its inhabitants in much of the world. I won’t go into the politics of our nation, both embarassing and infuriating, deflecting attention and draining energy from all the real problems that we face. Or choose not to face.

In conversation at cardiac rehab this week, I was amazed by the number of people who “don’t watch or read the news anymore.” They could rattle off all the football scores from the weekend, but had no idea about the scores of people who died in Libya or Marrakesh. How easy it is for us humans to live lives of distraction, planning our days and nights by what we don’t want to see. Or know. I do not think that this really makes our lives any easier. I know my anxiety would rise not knowing what was going on. For I believe there is a level of awareness in us that links us to all being on this earth. We can either develop this awareness or try to shut it off. The more we develop it, the more human we become. The more we distract ourselves from it, the more we cut ourselves off from growing in care and understanding. Essential human traits.

Why should we care? Because this ability helps to develop our heart sense, which is something we have sadly left undeveloped in our world today. We have educated our minds, but have devalued the knowledge that is key to our hearts, which begins with our innate sense of interconnection. This is an important aspect of the wisdom so desperately needed to address the suffering and the destruction of our earth.

Nothing changes if people with well-nurtured and developed heart sense do not come together to employ this gift. But when they/we do, hope is born. Energy returns. Commitments are made. Change is possible. So my question this morning is: Do I/you live primarily a life of distraction or a life of heart sense?

When you begin to hear the cries of the Libyan people, or to feel the despair of the Moroccans, or suffer the scars of the earth in your own body, do not suffer these on your own. Find others who honor the wisdom of their hearts and begin to grow hope for all being on earth.