Anthony,
Many the world over express 'good' feelings such as love, affection,
kindness etc. as being associated with the heart.
We talk about persons 'having no heart' or being 'heart-broken', or
being 'heartless' or 'heartful'. I believe that such speech is symbolic.
However, I do not rule out the possibility that affectives experience
sensations, feelings and 'spirituality' in a somewhat different way than
do intellectuals. This conjecture could possibly be checked out via
fMRI studies.
After reading the first article on jhana states by Jay Michaelson,
posted here by Mike Brown, I am not only underwhelmed by what anyone,
including myself, has to say about these matters; but I am also unmoved
by any feelings or sensations anyone, including myself, experiences in
any organ of the body in connection with any spiritual practice.
Possibly only the experience of no-self and non-duality are worthy of
note, and I have a lot of doubts and many questions about this too.
--ED
> Maybe I am wrong, but JM keeps evading my questions, so I have no way
to learn more.
>
> Anthony
--- In [email protected], Anthony Wu <wuasg@...> wrote:
>
> ED,
>
> The Chinese language does not have a single word that represents
'mind', so 'xin' is used for both heart and mind, resulting in the
former encompassing a bigger scope than the latter, as you describe
below.
> I have been wondering why JM keeps emphasizing 'heart' while
disparaging 'mind'. I don't think his Chinese only speaking teacher
makes that distinction.
> After arguing with JM, I started to think that he takes 'heart' to
denote something more directly in connection with senses, while 'mind'
is reserved for 'intellect'.
> Maybe I am wrong, but JM keeps evading my questions, so I have no way
to learn more. > Anthony
