Scientifically, we now know that in the fetus the heart forms before the brain and contains approximately 40,000 sensory neurites. The heart is now recognized as an organ that sends more signals to the brain than it receives, influencing emotional states and cognitive clarity.

Cultivating the opening of the heart is a daily practice. It means slowing down, breathing, bringing attention to the chest, and listening to what we feel without judging it.

It means welcoming emotions instead of avoiding them, having the courage to listen to our own vulnerability, and speaking our truth with authenticity.

Surrender

Opening grows when we stop defending ourselves and begin to trust what emerges, even when it is uncomfortable.

It is a training in presence, compassion, and deep connection with oneself and with others.

Feeling Safe

Feeling safe and trusting the intuition of the heart creates the space for emotional regulation, which in turn fosters unconditional love, a higher form of consciousness and expanded intelligence.

This love includes self-love, a vital part of our being that has long been suppressed and still often remains a taboo.

The knowledge of the heart is in no book and is not to be found in the mouth of any teacher, but grows out of you like the green seed from the dark earth.  C.G. Jung, The Red Book

The knowledge of the heart is our guide: it unites understanding and compassion, intellect and intuition, presence and humility. It allows us to hold paradox, to find meaning in suffering, and to perceive the invisible threads that connect all things.

The intelligence of the heart helps us navigate our fears and cultivate unconditional love for ourselves and others.

The Knowledge of the Heart

According to Jung, the knowledge of the heart refers to a mode of knowing that differs from purely rational or intellectual understanding.

 It is deeper, wiser, and more holistic, rooted in empathy, imagination, and inner connection.

This kind of knowledge emerges from the Self and reveals itself through dreams, images, emotions, and spiritual intuitions.

The knowledge of the heart involves feeling, intuition, imagination, sensation, and lived experience—not only abstract reasoning. It is embodied, relational, and soulful.

This form of knowing manifests through symbols, dreams, and profound emotional experiences. It supports the individuation process, guiding the individual toward wholeness.

Bringing the Hand to the Heart

Today we have rediscovered what many ancient cultures have always known: the heart possesses its own intelligence, capable of registering the many nuances of life and the full range of emotions that inhabit it.

The heart, as the true organizing center of the body–psyche system, plays a central role.

 Symbolically, the gesture of placing a hand on the heart reflects its role as the seat of personality, emotions, and the true Self.

In many ancient cultures, people greet one another by bringing a hand to the heart, as if to indicate that the center of one’s personality resides there.

The same gesture appears in imagined encounters in science fiction, when beings present themselves with peaceful intentions to unknown others.

How often, when we wish to communicate something emotionally meaningful, do we instinctively bring our hand to the chest, over the heart?

Heart-ology

In Chinese, Sanskrit, and many Eastern cultures, heart and mind are expressed by the same word.

According to Heyong Shen, the Chinese term for psychology can be understood as “heart-ology” or “learning the truth of the heart.” It is through the heart (xin) that body and mind connect deeply.

The Heart in Taoism

According to Taoism, the image of the heart is empty and open. Heyong Shen states:

“According to Taoist philosophy the image of open and empty is an image of containing. So in Jungian terms the heart is the most important container and has emptiness as a key characteristic.”

Cultivating the Emptiness of the Heart

In both Taoism and Confucianism, the heart (xin) is seen as the Emperor, the ruler of body and mind. One of its fundamental qualities is emptiness.

Cultivating an empty heart means creating inner space, allowing the natural unfolding of Wu Wei: action in non-action and non-action in action.

This principle does not mean doing nothing, but allowing.

 It means entering the flow of life and being carried by it while maintaining one’s own point of view.

The empty heart becomes a quiet vessel, open and receptive, allowing what is in harmony with the Tao to emerge, to take form, and to naturally come into being.

It is not a passive state, but a spontaneous unfolding, an effortless action that arises naturally without force or control, like a stream flowing in harmony with its own nature.

The Neurons of the Heart

Research from the HeartMath Institute and the field of neurocardiology has shown that the heart is much more than a physical pump: it possesses its own complex network of neurons, neurotransmitters, and electromagnetic fields. These neurons are capable of processing information, learning, and even making autonomous decisions, potentially influencing emotions and behavior.

The Electromagnetic Field of the Heart

According to studies by the HeartMath Institute, the electrical field of the heart is about 60 times greater in amplitude than that of the brain. The magnetic field of the heart is about 100 times stronger than that of the brain.

This magnetic field can be measured with specific magnetometers and radiates in all directions, extending up to approximately three meters in diameter.

The electromagnetic field of the heart is the largest of all the body’s organs; the heart is therefore the most powerful source of electromagnetic energy in the human system. Its shape is toroidal, similar to the Earth’s magnetic field.

The Earth’s Magnetic Field

Research from the HeartMath Institute suggests a link between the magnetic field of the heart and that of the Earth, hypothesizing the existence of an invisible field of information that connects all living beings and the planet.

Concepts such as the Collective Unconscious, Unus Mundus, Anima Mundi, and the Implicate Order evoke this profound unity. Today, these connections can also be observed scientifically.

Emerging sciences reveal how large-scale coherence of the heart’s magnetic field may influence the Earth’s magnetic coherence, expanding consciousness and improving collective living conditions.

Non-Local Intuition

The heart is the seat of a non-local intuition that transcends the boundaries of time, space, and individual consciousness.

The term “non-local” refers to something not limited by space or distance: it can act or be experienced beyond conventional physical boundaries.

It is often used to describe phenomena not confined to a specific location or that seem to occur instantaneously at a distance, such as quantum entanglement between two particles.

Non-local intuition refers to knowing something without prior knowledge.

It implies that consciousness is not confined to the brain and may access information beyond space and time.

The heart is capable of perceiving non-local signals.

The intelligence of the heart can be seen as a gateway to non-local awareness, helping us perceive beyond what is immediately visible or explainable.

Intuitive Knowing

There are moments when we simply know, as if something wiser than the mind has whispered to us from beyond.

This is non-local intuition: a direct perception that does not arise from logic, but from the deeper layers of the psyche. In Jungian terms, it is the Self speaking through images, dreams, symbols, spontaneous movements, or sudden inner certainties.

When we enter a space of presence and allow the body to move freely, when we quiet the mind and open the heart, we become receptive to the invisible field that connects all things. The heart becomes an organ of attunement across distance and time.

Intuitive knowing invites us to trust something greater, to move in alignment with the invisible, and to remember that we are never truly separate.

In this space, intuition becomes not only a tool, but a way of relating to life, approaching the unknown with trust, receptivity, respect, and love.

Self and World

Through this ancient wisdom, we recognize that the Self, the divine center, is not separate from the world, but deeply intertwined with it.
The healing of the individual and the healing of the world are, ultimately, a single process.

Non-local awareness allows us to feel the connection to a larger invisible field, it allows us to trust the non-understandable experiences and to promote synchronicities.

The Heart knows the truth of the Soul.