The Creator has placed the future development in the seed: in that of the tree the vocation to become a tree, in that of the human being the vocation to become a human being. In the depth of the heart of every human being rests the divine spark of the Spirit as a seed.
During the whole night the spirit of God was in my heart and at dawn I did what He loves. I practised Maat, I abhorred evil. I knew that the Godhead lives on.
Moustafa Gadalla [1]
The worldview of ancient Egypt still has its relevance today. The creative power of the heart plays an essential role here. The connection of heart and soul, the quintessence of heart and soul, is considered the key to immortality. To handle this key is the most sublime mission of man in his life. It opens the door to his metaphysical dimension, to his inner Christ.
According to the Historisches Wörterbuch der Philosophie (Historical Dictionary of Philosophy) the heart is “in all cultures the great integrating centre of human feelings, sensations and thoughts, of all of man’s psychic performances and abilities. What happens in the human being as a whole is reflected in the heart; it is here that his condition is brought to synthesis”. The heart is the psychological focus of individual human manifestation.[2]
In the future the heart will make movements which will be the effects of the inner soul impulses of man.
Rudolf Steiner [3]
From the point of view of the original spiritual science, the human heart is today in its embryonic phase of development. Only in the future will it take on a different form and develop its potential for a higher task. An indication of such a development can be found in the transverse striated muscles of the heart. In a future period of development, man will be able to move his heart as he moves his arms and legs in accordance with his inner soul impulses.[4]
The Path of the Heart
Alongside philosophy (philosophy = love of wisdom) the research into the heart has become established in medicine and psychotherapy – out of the need of the heart. The sufferings of the psyche find their expression there – for example, in severe depressive states, in mourning as a result of the loss of a loved one or after a stroke of fate, in the case of injustice and experiences of violence. With such events the heart “stops”, and heart healing is needed to bring it back to life. Anxieties, cardiac neuroses (Freud) and other forms of psychological disorders are reactions with which the psyche seeks to protect its coherence.
According to research by the founder of process-oriented psychology, Arnold Mindell, the course of a near-death experience depends essentially on the state of the heart: the decisive factor is whether the person has aligned himself in his life with the orders of the heart. This echoes the idea of the cradling of the heart in the ancient Egyptian ritual which is performed after a person’s death in the afterlife. In his book Quantum Mind – The Edge Between Physics and Psychology Mindell contrasts seeing with the eyes with perceiving with the heart. He states that without the heart, one cannot feel what one sees. A lack of compassion makes the heart sick, for one of its essential qualities is then suppressed. Mindell emphasises that it is crucial to pay attention to the inner voice in order to follow the path of the heart.[5]
Heart Prayer in Christianity
Psychotherapy as well as classical and alternative medicine provide help for heart diseases. But important healing methods have also been developed in the field of spirituality that can help people today. The best known of these are probably the Heart Prayer in Christianity
The Heart Prayer is rooted in the Old and New Testament. From the “inner chamber” (Mt. 6, 6) in the depths of the heart, it ascends to God. The wounded heart turns to the compassionate God and opens itself to his powers. Out of the mystical, mysterious place, the persistent praying of the words “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me”, the pure heart is created. [6]
The sacred heart in ancient Egypt
The symbol for the heart for the Egyptians was the Persea tree (avocado tree). The pear-shaped form of its fruit, and especially that of the core resemble the shape of the heart. In some illustrations the fruit of the avocado is found on the head of Isis, the mother of Horus, where the fruit is cut open and the heart-like core can be seen in its entirety.[7]
In ancient Egypt, the sun served an all-embracing orientation. Whether in architecture or in the preparation of meals, the principles and instructions of Ra, the sun god, were always honoured and followed. The heart (Ab) was also seen as an organ of spiritual perception and the seat of discernment. Horus, who on a path of transformation became one with the sun god Ra, was called the ruler of the heart. This points to the connection between the heart and the sun. Just as the sun is at the centre of our solar system, the heart is at the centre of the human body. This central position alone elevates the sun as well as the heart to a sanctuary, to a temple in which the source of life gushes forth.
The connection between heart and soul forms a divine unity (Ba) in the human being. This unity is immortal according to ancient Egyptian wisdom: Ba remains even after the death of a human being. The heart then plays a decisive role. Anubis, the god of the realm of the dead, has the task of weighing it. He places it on the scales, counterbalanced by a feather of Maat, the goddess of truth and justice. The heart must not be heavier than the feather. On this depends the fate of the deceased.[8]
More and more people on earth should dedicate themselves to this work with the sun, for only love and light will transform humanity.
Omraam Mickael Aivanhov
The Sun – Heart of the Solar Cosmos
In his work Sun Yoga, Omraam Mickael Aivanhov presents a new culture based on the sun, in which the fraternisation of all peoples becomes possible. He teaches that people who focus their attention on the spiritual sun, on Tiphereth, the centre of the solar body, will at the same time come closer to their own centre, their inner sun. Through the union with the the sun, the human being gradually becomes like it. Concentration on the sun enables him to use all his thoughts, desires and energies for the realisation of the highest ideal. He who works to overcome the many forces by which he is torn to and fro, in order to unite them into a single and salutary direction full of light, becomes a powerful focal point that can radiate through space. Yes, if man masters the forces of his lower nature, he can – like the sun – distribute his blessings to all mankind. He lives in such freedom that his consciousness extends to humanity. This state puts him in a position to offer to all the abundance of light and love that radiate from the sun. His heart is the representative of the cosmic sun.
The desire of the sun to give itself away gives rise – in Omraam’s view – to light and warmth. The small sun, the pure heart, like the great sun, knows only one goal: to help, to support, to nourish, to provide, to uplift and to heal. It is filled with the single thought of showing itself unselfishly, generous and loving.[9]
Christ – Mystery of the Heart
Since time immemorial, Gnostic persons and groups have followed their spiritual heart. For the Bogomils – a spiritual movement in the Middle Ages – the “living blood of God” flowed into the purified human heart in order to create the immortal soul form of the human being. The vibrating cross in the spiritual heart represents the supersensible access that leads to the Grail – to the chalice in which the “divine blood” is received. The pure heart spiritualises itself in this process. It seeks connection with all humanity on the one hand and with the Holy Spirit on the other. The inner small sun resembles the big sun. The big shows itself in the small.
Christos, the anointed one, is, in the gnostic view, the original heart of the solar cosmos, which manifests itself continuously as a trinity of life, light and love. Advice is therefore given to move out of the intellectual labyrinths of the brain and to direct one’s attention to the heart, for there is hidden the source of life, the “well of water in the desert”. Whoever can release the power of Christ in his heart, can deeply understand the wisdom of eternal life.
The Bulgarian wisdom teacher Peter Danov points out that in the little seed lies hidden all of life. The Creator has placed the future development in the seed: in that of the tree the vocation to become a tree, in that of the human being the vocation to become a human being. In the depth of the heart of every human being rests the divine spark of the Spirit as a seed.[10] According to Rosicrucian wisdom the idea and structure of the original, perfect human being are contained there. The field around this spiritual centre, which also surrounds the material human being, is called the “microcosm”. Part of the sublime mission of a human being is to reawaken the original soul out of the Spirit spark. This is done with the help of the Christ power, the power of the spiritual sun. It leads to the “rebirth out of Water and the Spirit” (Joh. 3,5). The Rosicrucians speak of a “transfiguration” and describe the fusion of the original soul with the Spirit as an “alchemical wedding”.[11] It is the Christian path of initiation that begins in the heart. There the immanent divinity of the human being makes itself recognisable helping him to transform himself and to pass through the “narrow gate” into immortal being.
[1] Gadalla, Moustafa, Ägyptische Kosmologie. Das belebte Universum (Egyptian Cosmology. The animate universe), 3rd edition, Ancient Mail Verlag, Groß-Gerau 2022
[2] Wolfgang Biesterfelds, Herz (Heart), HWPh, 3 (1974), p. 1100-1112
[3] Rudolf Steiner, Gesammelte Artikel aus der Zeitschrift Lucifer – Gnosis 1904/05 (Collected articles from the magazin Lucifer – Gnosis 1904/05), Gesamtausgabe Bd. 7, überarbeitete Auflage, Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Basel, 2018, p. 168-169
[4] Ibid.
[5] Arnold Mindell, Quantum Mind – The Edge Between Physics and Psychology, Portland, Oregon, 2000
[6] A. G. Paparnakis, Die Herabrufung des Namens Gottes im Alten Testament, in: Hermeneutik und Theologie des Alten Testaments, Bd. 2, Thessaloniki 2006
[7] Blavatsky, Helena, Lexikon der Geheimlehre, Verlag Esoterische Philosophie, Hannover 1997, S. 173
[8] Gadalla, Moustafa, ibid,, pp. 61-90
[9] Omraam Mickael Aivanhov, Sonnen-Yoga. Surya – Yoga. In: Gesammelte Werke, Band 10, Prosveta Verlag, Dietingen 2011, p. 268-277
[10] Peter Danov (Beinsa Duno), Die Herrlichkeit des Lebens, Verlag Bjalo Bratstvo, Sofia 2007
[11] Confer Jan van Rijckenborgh, The Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosycross, Rozekruis Pers, Haarlem
