Ignatian Insights 4 : Heart

Inigo from the moment of his conversion at the age of 21 comes across to us as a man of the heart, whose life-long journey in spirit has been prompted and propelled by the heart. He gave more importance to how human heart was able to put us in close touch with our spirit, than our head can possibly do. He did not disregard the important and vital role rationality played in the life of persons, but he was quite conscious more often it was the heart which could open the gates to God, if one was alert and prompt to the indications of the heart.

It is evident from the journey of Inigo – from Loyola Castle to Rome, to occupy the upper room which became his office – spanning some 40 years, that he was constantly in touch with what was happening to himself, and he tried to take snapshots of his heart constantly, especially the examination of consciousness twice daily. It is not a mental exercise, but a review of the past hours to find the footprints of God in our hearts. Those who fail to recognize God’s footprints are sure to blame him for his absence. Inigo’s heart was constantly raising itself to God, who alone resided at the core of its being, and nourished Inigo all through.

The priority that Inigo gave to the human heart is also evident from the fact that Inigo wanted the exercitants of the Spiritual Exercises to go through contemplations, which would help them to be in touch with their hearts. The fifth prayer hour of each day of the 30 days spiritual experience was devoted to the Application of the Senses, which again made the exercitant to be alert to the movements of his body. He was quite convinced that it was only through the five senses of the body that we could get in touch with the heart.

It was the preponderance with the heart that made Inigo to observe in the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus that it would not be the letter of law, but the spirit of love/charity, which would be the guiding principle. And he did mean by this. No wonder then that Inigo was often moved to tears when he contemplated divine mysteries, or when he participated at the Eucharistic celebrations, or when he gazed at the sky at night. He was animated by the heart, which is traditionally understood as the seat of love and all affective influences.

Inigo felt that it was God who was the master of us all, and who alone should have direct access to our souls. For this reason, he instructed those giving the Spiritual Exercises not to get between God and the exercitant. The modern world is vary of anything to do with the heart, because it holds that heart is prone to errors and therefore more emphasis had been given to reason and objectivity. It is in this light that the importance Inigo gave to the human heart is both important and significant.

Why I love you…

The human beings seem to have a reason for everything they do; there is hardly anything that is done by an adult which cannot be easily explained. Most often the children, say below the age of five, do things spontaneously, and if you were to ask them they might say because his/her mother did so, or the father did so. In some other cases, s/he may just shrug, meaning there is no reason. That is the stage of spontaneity; the leaves of a tree will bend towards the direction of the wind, and that is very natural and spontaneous. But if we were to ask a tree why it is bending towards the direction of the wind, it might just shrug.

Reasoning is considered as the sixth sense, which is so very unique to the human beings; but have the animals failed to live a happy and contended life without the sense of reason? They are jolly well happy without the sense of reason, and then why should the human beings be so very obsessed with reason, and in all the fields seek satisfactory reasons for their actions and reactions? If one were to watch some of the programs telecast in the Animal Planet television channel, one would realize that the animals have a sense which is not very common with the human beings : the sense of intuition. The birds of the air know how to protect their eggs from the prying eyes of eagles; the reptiles know how to take care of their young and initiate them to adulthood.

If our lives are often crippled and out of shape, it is because we are overly obsessed with reasons. If there is anything that we do, for which we do not have adequate and satisfactory answer, then we find it hard to do it. We have some major crimes committed, for which the culprits had no reason, and they claim that they did not do the crime consciously. Crimes such as rape, murder, arson are often committed when persons are unaware of their own situation. But in that case, can we take them as criminals, though objectively speaking they had committed the act? For me, it looks there is yet another level of consciousness, where we may find an answer to these kind of questions.

Some of the most profound actions of human persons cannot be explained reasonably. Any attempt to reason them out and explain them in human language may end up in disaster. For instance, why does a mother loves her child, or why should a father give his blood in order to save his son, and in the process give up his life? What makes some people to lay down their lives at the interest of the wider society or humanity? Or why do I love a person wholeheartedly, knowing well that our love may remain to a large extent going beyond time and space? If I begin to explain why I love a person, then I should know that it is not love that I have for that person, for true love cannot be reasoned out or explained. It takes me and the person I love to an altogether different realm, where reason are absurd and obsolete!

True love goes beyond all calculations and measurements; that is why love is often considered an absurdity, and the popular notion that love is blind is a reality! When two persons are in love with each other, they go beyond all reason and season. Recently I heard about the marriage between a beautiful young girl and a polio-affected young man, who had become a cripple. The young woman was determined to marry only this young, much against the wish of her friends and relatives. Such is the absurdity of love, and we know that it is this absurdity which gives meaning and significance to the lives of millions of men and women in this world.