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The intellectual heart
The heart is not only a muscular blood pump.For centuries and
since the beginning of creation ,we used to say brave soldiers
have brave hearts.Embryologically,the heart develops in the
sixth week of gestational life and start beating before the
development of the brain. A process called autorhythmicity. Lif
begins with heart beating and ends when the heart stop beating
regardless of the brain function.
Wisdom,thinking and intelligence are brain functions that
begin,end and supervised by the heart .There are strong and
dynamic communication between the heart and the brain.It is
two-way dialogue with each organ continuously influencing the
other’s function.
The heart communicates with the brain and body in four
wayscreating the heart –brain feed back:
• Neurological communication (nervous system) by the
vagus nerve both afferent and efferent loups.
• Biochemical communication (hormones) Hormones
from the heart travel in our bloodstream
• Biophysical communication (pulse wave )Every time the
heart beats, it creates both pulse waves of pressure)
• Energetic communication (electromagnetic fields)
electromagnetic energy which travel through the body and
to the brain. Amazingly, the heart generates a magnetic field
5000 times more powerful than that of the brain. It can be
measured six feet away from the body. It almost certainly
extends further, but this is the limit of our current sensing
equipment(15-17).
10-15% of heart donation recipients experience changes in their
tastes, personalities and memories be picking up on information
on the heart’s original owner that was stored in the heart
itself.This is attributed to functional cell memory(24).
Paul Pearsall is one of many researchers who has observed that
transplant patients who receive an organ from another person's
body may also receive much more -- what he calls their "cellular
memories." Recipients have reported inheriting everything from
the donor's food cravings to knowledge about his murderer --
information that in one case led to the killer's arrest. As a result
of these and other researchers' findings, Pearsall is now
convinced that the heart has its own form of intelligence, that we
are only rarely aware of in modern life. In his view, the heart
processes information about the body and the outside world
through an "info-energetic code" -- a profuse network of blood
vessels and cells that serves not only as our circulatory system
but as an energy information gathering and distribution system,
much like a complex telephone network. What's more, he
believes that the soul, at least in part, is a set of cellular
memories that is carried largely by our hearts. Predictably, such
views have met with opposition in the medical world. But in his
view, the implications of his theories -- that the heart
"thinks," cells remember, and communication can therefore
transcend the boundaries of time and space -- are too important
for him to dismiss.
Several recent researches showed that the heart is the source of
intelligence ,wisdom, courage and emotions.. For more than 25
years, the HeartMath Institute Research Center in the second
volume of their studies(1993 to 2016) has explored the
physiological mechanisms by which the heart and brain
communicate and how the activity of the heart influences our
perceptions, emotions, intuition and health.The heart math
institute in California is the most famous research center
exploring the role of the heart in human performance and the
heart-brain connection. Recent studies in the heart math institute
are involved in electrophysiology of intuition and the degree to
which the heart’s magnetic field, which radiates outside the
body, carries information that affects other people and even our
pets, and links people together in surprising ways. The institute
also launched the Global Coherence Initiative (GCI), which
explores the interconnectivity of humanity with Earth’s
magnetic fields.
The overview of the second volume of the heart math institute
and research center discusses the main findings of fascinating
and important role the heart plays in our personal coherence and
the positive changes that occur in health, mental functions,
perception, happiness and energy levels as people practice the
HeartMath techniques(1-11).
The anatomy and functions of the intrinsic cardiac nervous
system and its connections with the brain have been explored
extensively by neurocardiologists. In terms of heart-brain
communication, it is generally well-known that the efferent
(descending) pathways in the autonomic nervous system are
involved in the regulation of the heart. However, it is less
appreciated that the majority of fibers in the vagus nerves are
afferent (ascending) in nature. Furthermore, more of these
ascending neural pathways are related to the heart (and
cardiovascular system) than to any other organ.This means the
heart sends more information to the brain than the brain sends to
the heart. More recent research shows that the neural
interactions between the heart and brain are more complex than
previously thought more 40,000 neurons in the heart which
communicate with the brain In addition, the intrinsic cardiac
nervous system has both short-term and long-term memory
functions and can operate independently of central neuronal
command.(11.18.19).
In 1983, the heart was reclassified as an endocrine gland when a
new hormone called atrial natriuretic factor (ANF), which
affects blood vessels, kidneys, adrenal glands and regulatory
regions in the brain, was found to be being produced by the
heart(12).
Dr. J. Andrew Armour discovered the heart also contains a cell
type known as intrinsic cardiac adrenergic (ICA), which
synthesizes and releases neurotransmitters once thought to be
produced only by neurons in the brain and nerve ganglia. In 1991,
Armour introduced the concept of a functional “heart brain.” He
discovered that the heart has its own intrinsic nervous system
and that the complexity of this system is great enough to qualify
it as a “little brain” in its own right. Thus, Armour calls the
heart’s intrinsic nervous system the “little brain in the heart.”
Basically, the heart’s brain is an intricate network of several
types of neurons, transmitters, proteins, and support cells that
allow it to act independent of the “cranial brain—to learn,
remember, and even feel and sense” (HeartMath 1). Information
is translated into neurological impulses by the heart’s nervous
system and sent from the heart to the brain through various
pathways. These impulses reach the medulla, located in the
brain stem, where they have a regulatory role over many of the
blood vessels, glands and organs. However, they also reach
higher centers of the brain, where they may influence
“perception, decision making and other cognitive processes”
(HeartMath 2)(18-19).
Grossman and associates (8,13,14,23))in their article titled ,a
heart and a mind :self distancing facilitates the association
between heart rate variability and wise reasoning,they
concluded that although wisdom has been long viewed as too
ethereal to be a subject of a tangible empirical inquiry, in the
last 25 years researchers have established several psychological
components of wise judgment. Recently, neuroscientists have
proposed that to understand individual differences in wisdom
one also ought to consider aspects of human physiology . The
study suggests that wisdom-related judgment is not exclusively
a function of the body or the mind. Rather, both greater heart-
rate-variability and an ego-decentered mind are required for a
wiser, less biased judgment( 15-23).
The Overwhelming Scientific Miracles in the Noble Quran section.
The Miracle of the Heart and its Thinking and Processing Capability - Mentioned
in the Glorious Quran and confirmed by Science.
In our holy Quraan , more than 1400 years , the
heart is mentioned as the main source of
wisdom,reasoning,comprehension,
faith,tranquility, anxiety cruelty and blessing.
The Heart in Quran
The phrase heart carries special importance and has been used
extensively in the Holy Qur’an and narrations. But what is
meant with this phrase is not the pine-shaped physical heart
located in the left side of the chest which supports the animal
life system by continuously pumping fresh blood into various
parts of the body. Because, the Holy Qur’an relates things to
heart which are not comparable with this pine-shaped heart. e.g.:
1. Reasoning and Comprehension
The Holy Qur’an said:
“Have they not traveled in the land and have they
hearts wherewith to feel and ears wherewith to hear.”
(22:46)
2. Un-comprehending and Reasoning
The Holy Qur’an said:
“Having hearts wherewith they understand not, and
having eyes wherewith they see not.” (7:179)
And said:
“And their hearts are sealed, so that they apprehend
not.” (9:87)
3. Faith
The Holy Qur’an said:
“These are they into whose hearts He has impressed
faith and strengthened them with a spirit from Him.”
(58:22)
4. Blasphemy and Disbelief
The Holy Qur’an said:
“And as for those who believe not in the Hereafter
there hearts refuse to know, for they are proud.”
(16:22)
And said:
ۖ
◌
“Such are they whose hearts and ears and eyes God
hath sealed. And such are the heedless.” (16:108)
5. Dissension
God-Almighty said in the Holy Qur’an:
“The Hypocrites fear lest a surah should be revealed
concerning them, proclaiming what is in their
hearts.” (9: 64)
6. To Receive Guidance
God-Almighty said:
ۚ
◌
“And whosoever believeth in God, He guideth his
heart. And God is knower of all things.” (64:11)
And God said:
“Most surely there is a reminder in this for him who
has a heart or he gives ear and is a witness.” (50: 37)
7. Negligence
God-Almighty said:
“And obey not him whose heart we have made
heedless of Our Remembrance, who followeth his own
lust.” (18:28)
8. Certainty and Tranquility
God-Almighty has said:
“Verily in the remembrance of God do hearts find
rest.” (13:28)
And said:
“He it is who sent down peace of reassurance into the
hearts of the believers that they might add faith unto
their faith.” (48:4)
9. Anxiety and Conflict
God-Almighty has said:
“They alone ask leave of thee who believe not in God
and the Last Day, and whose hearts feel doubt, so in
their doubt they waver.” (9:45)
10. Blessing and Kindness
God-Almighty has said:
“And places compassion and mercy in the hearts of
those who followed him.” (57:27)
And said:
“He it is who supporteth thee with His Help and with
the believers. And (as for the believers) hath attuned
their hearts.” (8: 62-63)
11. Hot-temper and Cruelty
God-Almighty said:
“If thou hadst been stern and fierce of heart they
would have dispersed from round about thee.”
(3:159)
Therefore, heart in the Holy Qur’an has been assigned
the most important privileged position, and various
psychic tasks have been related to it, namely: faith,
blasphemy, hypocrisy, reasoning, understanding, not
understanding, acceptance of truth, unacceptance of
truth, guidance, deviation, sin, intention, purification,
corruption, benevolence, aggravation, love, invocation,
negligence, fear, anger, doubt, conflict, mercy, cruelty,
regret, assurance, arrogance, jealousy, rebellion, offense,
and other similar acts
. So have they not traveled through the earth and have
hearts by which to reason and ears by which to hear? For
indeed, it is not eyes that are blinded but blinded are the
hearts which are within the breasts. [Quran 22:46]
Hearts are the main source of reason
hadith
Allah said, ‘I have prepared for My righteous slaves
(such excellent things) as no eye has ever seen, nor an
ear has ever heard nor a human heart can ever think of.’
[Bukhari]
Verily Allah does not look to your bodies nor to your
faces but He looks to your hearts. [Muslim]
Narrated Abu Hurairah, I came to the Prophet (saws) and
spread out my garment to him, then he took it and
gathered it at my heart, so I did not forget after that [any
Hadith]. [Tirmidhi
Shahr bin Hawshab said: “I said to Umm Salamah: ‘O
Mother of the Believers! What was the supplication that
the Messenger of Allah said most frequently when he
was with you?” She said: ‘The supplication he said most
frequently was: “O Changer of the hearts, make my heart
firm upon Your religion (Ya Muqallibal-Qulub, Thabbit
Qalbi Ala Dinik).’” She said: ‘So I said: “O Messenger
of Allah, why do you supplicate so frequently: ‘O
Changer of the hearts, make my heart firm upon Your
religion.’ He said: ‘O Umm Salamah! Verily, there is no
human being except that his heart is between Two
Fingers of the Fingers of Allah, so whomsoever He wills
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