Mind, Heart, and Soul: Understanding Variances

Humankind was created with a heart, mind, and soul. All three of these things matter greatly and play different roles. Humans must have a heart, mind, and soul to function properly. Even without one of them, humans can malfunction and not be able to function the way they are supposed to. Thus, humans are created with all three of them.

• Mind

The mind is as complicated as the heart and soul. The mind is a part of a human that gives the ability to think rationally and to feel emotions. It’s described as the faculty of consciousness and thought. It’s strange to think that the brain is physical in nature; it is merely the organ, but the mind is what forms our consciousness and can’t be detected in an MRI but the fact that the mind is in conscious form is accepted universally.

In the language of Buddha and Pali, the teachings written down were based on Sanskrit, so we can look at the Sanskrit terms and understand them. Moreover, Pali was also derived from Sanskrit.

Pali and Sanskrit define the mind by the same word, mana, which came from the root verb man, which means “to think.” However, if we think about it, the mind has more territory compared to the intellect, which includes senses and emotions as it’s a response to feelings that our thoughts arise in the process of labeling and understanding them.

• Heart

The Heart is a complex organ. In biology, the heart is just an organ, although if we look at the spiritual perspective, it’s quite interesting. The heart is an organ that is the size of a fist. It pumps blood throughout the body. A heart has four chambers powered by electrical impulses. Moreover, it’s made of muscles. The heart’s function is to circulate blood throughout the body, thus maintaining blood pressure.

The meaning of the heart in spirituality is profound and takes much understanding to comprehend. Many cultures have magnified the importance of following your heart. When they say “listen to your heart,” they don’t mean the physical heart, but the spiritual heart. Our spiritual heart is said to be the key to our deepest fulfillment. Moreover, it’s a doorway to the profound relationship with the Creator. One defines it as the doorway to peace, gratitude, love, and joy.

• Soul

Many religious, mythological, and philosophical traditions believe that the Soul is an incorporeal essence of a living being. The soul or psyche of a living being consists of mental abilities, such as reason, character, memory, thinking, and many more, which also depend on the philosophical system. Moreover, in many systems, it’s believed that a soul can be mortal or immortal.

Greek philosophers like Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato comprehended the phenomena of the soul that it must have logical faculty, which is considered the most divine exercise of human actions. At his defense trial, Socrates explained that his teachings were nothing but an exhortation for his fellow Athenians to excel in the matters of the psyche because every bodily good depends on its excellence.

Moreover, Aristotle reasoned, saying a man’s body is his matter, and his soul is his form; in simpler words, the body is a collection of elements, and the soul is the essence.

Let’s have a deeper look.

Differences between Mind, Heart, and Soul

We all know how the heart works in biology, but let’s look at all these three entities from the perspective of spirituality. Here is a table that will help you grasp the differences easily. Although all three are immensely different and play different roles, it’s quite complicated to differentiate between them.

What is the difference between mind and heart?

The heart and mind are both complex. The heart is related to emotional sentiments like joy or excitement, while the mind is related to rational or logical thinking. The heart is of a physical nature, but on the other hand, the mind is in conscious form.

The mind can make decisions without anything clouding its judgment, whereas the heart follows sentimental values.

Here is a video explaining the relationship between the heart and mind.

What is the difference between the soul and the mind?

The soul is an incorporeal essence, and the mind is conscious, meaning it can’t be seen with the naked eye or through any technology.

The mind has the ability to think logically, while the soul is the entity inside the body that makes it alive.

The mind has potential in the sense that it’s capable of “creating reality.” This is why we say the mind is the most powerful weapon. The soul is as important as the mind because without a soul, there won’t be a “living” being, and the mind will be useless.

Is the soul in the heart or mind?

The soul is a complex entity to comprehend, as we haven’t seen the soul with our eyes. Pythagoras described the soul as comprising three parts: intelligence, reason, and passion. The roots of the soul extend from the heart to the brain, as passion is located in the heart, and intelligence and reason are located in the brain or mind, if you will.

It’s also said that our joys, laughter, pleasures, sorrows, pains, and griefs arise from the brain alone. Moreover, through the brain, we see, think, and recognize the ugly from the beautiful and the bad from the good.

As the brain encompasses all the abilities, the heart becomes merely an organ that pumps blood. Learning and differentiating between soul, mind, and heart is complex and still being studied.

What is more important: mind or heart?

It’s evident that both the heart and mind are important. Both play a different role; if one is not working, a living being isn’t whole.

When we say mind, we don’t mean the brain. The mind is in conscious form, and the brain is in physical form. The same goes for the heart. When we say heart, it usually refers to what heart means spiritually.

When we compare heart and mind, it gets clearer which is the master. As it’s said in Hippocrates: On the Sacred Disease, Quoted by Prioreschi, “Men ought to know that from the brain, and from the brain alone, arise our pleasures, joys, laughter, and jests, as well as our sorrows, pains, griefs, and tears.

Through it, in particular, we think, see, hear, and distinguish the ugly from the beautiful, the bad from the good, the pleasant from the unpleasant… I hold that the brain is the most powerful organ of the human body… wherefore I assert that the brain is the interpreter of consciousness.”

If the mind consists of everything that the heart can do, then the mere purpose of the heart is to pump blood. As Sadghuru (an Indian guru) said,

“Never did ever heart generate any thought or intention.”

Does the heart control the mind?

In biology, the heart is merely an organ that pumps blood, but the mind is conscious and evidently has immense power. As Prioreschi quoted from Hippocrates: On the sacred disease, only the brain (mind) can arise emotions like joys, pleasures, grief, and pains. However, we are told that such emotions are located in the heart.

The only conclusion we can get from this is that the mind is the one that controls the heart.

Moreover, the heart is considered an insight into our fulfillment, not logical reasoning. Whereas the mind is said to have all the emotions and logical reasoning, the mind is in charge without any doubt.

To Conclude

• Humans possess three vital elements: heart, mind, and soul, each serving distinct roles.

• Reason allows us to think logically and feel emotions, but it cannot be seen or touched. 

• In a spiritual context, the heart is the key to profound fulfillment and a gateway to a relationship with the Creator.

• The soul often lacks a physical form and is believed to encompass mental abilities. Different belief systems may regard the soul as either mortal or immortal. 

• Distinguishing between the mind, heart, and soul is important. Because they each have unique roles, even though they are complex. Understanding these distinctions helps us grasp their functions. 

• The mind and heart are crucial; if one falters, a person’s wholeness is compromised.

• While the heart is significant spiritually, the mind’s power and control are evident in emotions and reasoning.

• Philosophers have explored these intricate aspects of human existence. But their profundity continues to be a subject of study and contemplation.

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