Article October 7, 1950 Issue

THE HEART OF MAN

JANET LAURIE HAWES

Human thought claims that the material body, made up of many material elements and dependent on an organ called heart for life, is man. Medical science treats this material body in various ways to heal disease.

The ancients believed that the heart was the seat of the affections, the location of conscious or spiritual life. This may account for the many places in the Bible where "heart" is used when it means affection or consciousness. For example, we read in the ninth Psalm (verse 1), "I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart," and again in the one hundred and eighth Psalm (verse 1), "O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise." A complete study of the Scriptural use of the word heart with the aid of a Bible concordance proves most helpful and clarifying.

Just how truly mental the heart is can be readily admitted by anyone. Either extremely good or bad news may cause the heart to increase its velocity or decrease, as the case may be. Is it not clear then that there may be in belief many mental causes for heart trouble? A long-cherished sorrow, a disappointment, or in fact any mortal feeling may be at the root of the trouble. Mary Baker Eddy's definition of heart in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" makes this very clear (p. 587): "Mortal feelings, motives, affections, joys, and sorrows."

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