Student: Once again I have been contemplating what I really want. The concept of enlightenment or Self-realization sounds so abstract.  But what became clear, what is my deepest desire, is to be able to live with an open heart, and to never close it again, whatever the situation might be, so everything can happen within it. I had a dream the other night, which was related to this consideration. The dream of the other night fits well to this consideration.  I was walking through three big cities, two of them were Cologne and Paris,  and did not get intimidated by the commotion, the magnitude and (above all)  the unfamiliarity.  I felt completely happy and open and relaxed; everything appeared to be possible.  

The question that arose was: 

in what way can I take care to never close my heart again?  And by this I mean the idea that I carry of being able to close my heart, because in a way I understand that a heart is always open and can never be closed. 

I have another question: 

I was listening to the song “Please call me by my True Names” (*) with the text of the sangha of Thich Nhat Hanh. What is meant by “Call me by my True Names?” I suspect these questions are related.

Jivanjili: Yes, we will answer these questions in one breath.  The question “what do I really want” is a very important question. It demands introspection in integrity and determines greatly the sober focus of our attention… and reveals the answer in time. Excellent!

Indeed it is a strange way of saying: “open heart.” 

“Heart”  means  “open,” 

and there is immediately the key to your remark of the impossibility to close it. 

So right!

What do we mean by “heart?” 

With “heart” (Akasha) we point to the boundless possibilities of the senses in the most subtle and refined connotation. 

We also could say: clear conscious awareness, free of any reasoning, logic, illogic or identification.

In other words: unconditional being.

The “personal” mind thinks in differences and similarities based on memory, and determines highly our individual experiences and decision-making… whether experienced as restrictions. Living from natural harmony that is revealed from one’s heart, is living from irrational, pure intuition without pondering. 

It requires ultimate discipline (discipleship) to attend moment to moment to the source of your actions. The source that we call “heart” is always in the moment, in the breathing of the moment, and is revealed through that subtle inner voice.  If you are not aware of it, your attention is somewhere else, consumed by the noise of your thinking… take your attention back to your breathing.

In the silence we hear our inner voice the loudest in the irresistible call  of the Beloved One… your “True Names,” which is no name.  It is the wordless, all penetrating call of the silent essence in all experiences…abstract and non-abstract… essentially empty. 

It is openheartedly living.

(*) 

Please call me by my True Names

My joy is like spring so warm,

it makes flowers bloom all over the earth.

My pain's like a river of tears

so vast it fills the four oceans....

Please call me by my True Names,

so I can hear all my cries and laughters at once,

so I can hear, that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my True Names,

so I can wake up

and the doors of my heart could be left open.

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