' The Heart '...

The heart is where all experiences meet. In the heart, all things naturally come together to form a whole. Our minds tend to either hold opposing experiences apart or deny the relative existence of opposites.

By holding whatever experiences we are having in the heart, we are consciously including them in our presence. Presence is the wonderful and subtle energetic expression of being.

So by consciously holding (lightly and easily) whatever arises in the presence of the heart, we are bringing presence to all of our experience. Presence is also intimacy and closeness and warmth. To be in presence is to be both vulnerable and invulnerable simultaneously.

Residing in presence can also evoke the heart’s latent capacity as an organ of perception of unity.

So the heart both perceives unity and naturally brings what seems like opposing experiences into unity, while also respecting their differences.

This is the paradox of being, where everything is always and already a unified whole from one perspective; and from another perspective, opposing experiences, and even opposing perceptions, are brought into a unified whole by the alchemy of the heart.

We do not do the alchemy, the presence of the heart does it. What we can do is to hold experience and perception in the heart.


-Adyashanti