The mind or the heart
Which controls us, the heart or the mind? Which influences our behaviour, which can be appealed to when times get dark around us and our choices, our agency, feel both critical and futile?
As a very (very) basic student of Korean language it appears to my novice eyes that the word for heart and mind is the same (만음). A million songs speak about the heart, Dwight Yoakam frequently substitutes mind in instead. Ancient Egyptians seemed to see the seat of the soul in the heart, while Plato pointed toward the brain.
I’ve thought a lot about this over the years and spent most of my old life appealing to the mind. Journalism attempts to be many things and putting people at the centre of any story is an attempt to reach the hearts of readers so they can better empathize with the subject. But primarily, the medium looks to the mind. It asks people to pay attention to fact and nuance, to be critical, to be wary of anything smooth because life and fact are messy and uneven. Superhero movies appeal to the heart, with clear good and bad, villains and heroes but in any given day most of us are a little of both. Some of history’s most brutal villains built schools. The mind can accept that but the heart doesn’t.
But as misleading as the heart can be, as sometimes uncritical and willingly swept into easy narratives and emotional beliefs, it can also be the hero. If the heart can fall into darkness, it is also the path back. The hearts of so many crave progress and good. The heart enters places the mind won’t.
That’s why I believe the writers, artists, poets, the voices on the margins are critical at this time. As valuable as mind-centred work is (and it is, it’s also critical) there’s a gap only creatives can fill. I want to do my part, writing little stories for big times like drops of pollen, thrown out as often and best as I can hoping something will take hold. And I want to support and celebrate others doing creative work, shining light through dangerous times. It isn’t THE answer but it’s an answer. So here I am, going against many years of instinct and training, aiming at the heart. Maybe I’ll see you there.