Relationship between the heart, will, and soul

[onegirlinchrist]

Hi All,

I’ve been coming across those terms–heart, will, and intellect–and just wanted to know more about how they interact. The intellect and will both work together to form our reason…the heart is something separate, and it is inaccessible to the intellect, correct? That’s why we can’t see clearly into the heart, and only God can. However, the heart influences the intellect and will, right? I suppose we should see the intellect and will as tools that serve the heart?

I have seen charity described as residing in the will, but it seems more like a matter of the heart. As does hope, which I have also seen described as residing in the will, but seems more “heart-like.”

Is heart just a catch-all expression for our desires? Perhaps specifically spiritual ones? (Verses, of course, the desire for chocolate, which would be a physical appetite).

Thoughts? Thx!!

 

[GEddie]

Hi All,

I’ve been coming across those terms–heart, will, and intellect–and just wanted to know more about how they interact. The intellect and will both work together to form our reason…the heart is something separate, and it is inaccessible to the intellect, correct? That’s why we can’t see clearly into the heart, and only God can. However, the heart influences the intellect and will, right? I suppose we should see the intellect and will as tools that serve the heart?

I have seen charity described as residing in the will, but it seems more like a matter of the heart. As does hope, which I have also seen described as residing in the will, but seems more “heart-like.”

Is heart just a catch-all expression for our desires? Perhaps specifically spiritual ones? (Verses, of course, the desire for chocolate, which would be a physical appetite).

Thoughts? Thx!!

I think some definitions are in order.

“Heart” can mean the cardiac organ of our bodies; but other than it must be beating for the soul to stay in the body, this organ isn’t per se spiritual. People who undergo heart transplants have their souls unchanged.

Biblically, heart refers to the entire psychological self. While we normally think of our mind/soul as residing in our heads, the ancient Asiatic mind was perceived as located in the heart.

Modernly, because to our understanding our minds reside in our heads, we assign our emotional self to the heart. This is not however, inaccessible per se to the mind, just not controllable by it.

I imagine we could also assign our subconscious to the “heart”, even though we know that like the everyday mind, this resides in our heads. Clear as mud, what?

Definitions please!!

ICXC NIKA.

 

[GEddie]

The mind and will are not “tools” that subserve the heart. Rather, the mind, will, heart, and body work together (or should) to live a human life.

ICXC NIKA

 

[onegirlinchrist]

Thank you! Hmmm…

It occurred to me that what I’m really struggling with is Thomism. And quite a lot of “Thomistic” ideas seem to have made their way into the catechism, so I can’t disregard them!

Within a Thomisitic worldview, the soul is presented as having the faculties of intellect and will. The mind perceives, the will pursues the good the mind perceives. Emotions result from our senses reacting to information gathered by the intellect. We experience happy emotions when our intellects apprehend good things in our environment or imagination, and experience sad/frustrating emotions when our intellects apprehend negative/dangerous/unwanted things in our environment or imagination. The will has the power to suppress emotions and actions that are out of line with the truth our intellect apprehends; likewise, it has the power to direct and nurture emotions and actions that are in line with the truth our intellect apprehends.

All of that is well and good, but where does “the heart” fit into this scheme? There are several references to the heart in scripture and in traditions such as Ignatian spirituality. “The heart” is also referenced quite a lot in the catechism as being the “interior” place where we decide for or against God and encounter God.

So, within a Thomistic worldview, is the heart our will? The sum total of the intellect and will? Something distinct from them, which informs them?

St. Thomas wrote about us having “rational souls”, and the faculties of reason being intellect and will. Makes it sound like, on top of physical appetites, what separates humans from the animals is that we have intellect and will…

Great, but what about the “heart”? St. Thomas never seems to talk about it. Our soul is all intellect and will in his philosophy.

Is “heart” the general term for everything taken together? A catch-all description for everything going on inside of us? Emotions, ideas, appetites…everything that involves the workings of the intellect and will, combined with our emotions?

 

[sepgs2004]

Wishes in the Love of our God.

As you mentioned, heart is mentioned in many places in the Bible. Wherever they are mentioned, they are very important.
Deut. 6:5 - Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength.
Math. 22:37 - Jesus said to him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind.
1 Sam. 16:7 - …for man seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the** heart**

But at the same time, sometimes things change as well due to more translations, etc. Like the one below. Since the society and cultures change, may be these also change along to best keep the original meaning.
(Douay Rheims) Luke 17:21 - Neither shall they say: Behold here, or behold there. For lo, the kingdom of God is within you.
About 10 years ago or so, I thought I read this verse from some bible as the “Kingdom of heaven is in your heart”
However, in many present translations, I do not see the word heart anymore… Now I see the following words in its place in many Bibles: “in the midst of you”, “among you”, “within you”, “within some of you”, etc.

When I talked to a priest about the meanings of the words: ***mind ***and heart, he said something along this line. In very old days, there was only the word **heart **that is widely used. Later, when money, science, business, and all developed, then that (meta-physical) element of us got separated into two: 1. Mind, 2. Heart. **Heart **is of the side of emotions, feeling, passion, love, etc… **Mind **is of the side of calculative, intellect, etc. Also in old days, people used (or had to use) emotions majorly. Nowadays, people does seldom (need to) use emotions in their life. Any kind of emotion, beneficial or harmful, is stamped as an unwelcome thing. Also many times, emotions are considered as an embarrassment.

Well, many important words in the Bible or English, like** love**, marriage, mind, heart, etc… all evolve and change (or add to) their meaning. This is in order to adapt to the current generation. In dictionaries, I wondered why some words have obsolete meanings. May be these words are going to have some meanings that are associated to them to go obsolete for the coming generation…

So, it is confusing to take a good definitive stand on these words (without taking many other things into context). They seem to have certainly evolved slightly. So depending upon the period, author, situation, etc… these words could hold slightly different meanings.

Finally we should not forget that these words are coined by humans to define and point to somethings.
In the end, if it all matters only to our relationship with God, and if it confuses, we can always submit ourselves to our Lord and ask Him for help. Certainly He will help us.

Good wishes to you.