The Heart

[Zzyzx]

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The Heart is said by many individuals (and some religious literature) to be the seat of emotions / love / decisions. Is that true? I doubt it. Consider:

People with an artificial heart or those on a cardiopulmonary bypass machine. Do they lose emotion / love / decision making?

If a person has a heart transplant to they take on the emotions / loves / decision making of the donor?

If a person suffers massive brain damage but their heart is undamaged, do they retain emotions / love / decision making?

[MadeNew]

[Replying to post 1 by Zzyzx]

Im pretty sure the heart goes through many conditions as a result of emotions... Like, for example, peoples hearts can literally fail as a result of nothing more then emotional stress.

[Elijah John]

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The Heart is said by many individuals (and some religious literature) to be the seat of emotions / love / decisions. Is that true? I doubt it. Consider:

People with an artificial heart or those on a cardiopulmonary bypass machine. Do they lose emotion / love / decision making?

If a person has a heart transplant to they take on the emotions / loves / decision making of the donor?

If a person suffers massive brain damage but their heart is undamaged, do they retain emotions / love / decision making?

Do you really think that any religious person takes that old notion literally? Or any poet for that matter?

[Blastcat]

[Replying to post 3 by Elijah John]

Do you really think that any religious person takes that old notion literally? Or any poet for that matter?

My my my.. that sounds like a rhetorical question to me... the answer, of course is most probably YES.. there are 8 billion people on the planet.. so if you ask if anyone believes WHATEVER silly notion, it wouldn't surprise me AT ALL if the answer was ALWAYS yes.

Saying that the heart is the seat of the emotions comes from a time where we couldn't test our metaphors with modern scientific methods. But I think it's pretty PLAIN that we FEEL with our bodies, feelings are physical, so I would say that our entire body has at least SOMETHING to do with our thoughts and emotions and so on.. to what degree... I would ask for more of that SCIENCE.

But we know that MOST of our thoughts come from the brain. Feelings come from more than just the brain... we are complex animals.

[Zzyzx]

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Im pretty sure the heart goes through many conditions as a result of emotions...

Is there evidence that the heart PRODUCES emotions rather than being affected by them?

Like, for example, peoples hearts can literally fail as a result of nothing more then emotional stress.

Again, in that case the heart is the recipient of emotional stress -- not the originator of emotions.

[tam]

This definition is in line with what I have understood:


https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/heart

9. The centre, essence, or core.  

The wood at the heart of a tree is the oldest.
Buddhists believe that suffering is right at the heart of all life.

I think from what I looked up, that is from at least the 14th century (and nothing goes back farther than that, that I found from a cursory google search).


The center, essence, or core of a person - denoting the person you truly are 'inside'; so that when my Lord said,

"Out of the heart's abundance, the mouth speaks..."

... it is what is in you, truly in you, that comes out of you. In word or deed. Even if a person is very good at hiding who they truly are from other people (even from themselves at times); they would give themselves away to God, to Christ, likely to any spirit (angel) that has been watching mankind since the beginning. No mind reading needed.



**

Just interesting to note:

A person can die of a broken heart (but that would of course not be the literal heart - well, I guess a person does die if that heart breaks too, lol), of sadness, of losing the will to live. And we know that negative emotions - anger, stress, depression, etc, all of these things will take a negative toll on the flesh; and we physically feel these things as well.


Peace to you!
your servant and a slave of Christ,
tammy

[MadeNew]

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Im pretty sure the heart goes through many conditions as a result of emotions...

Is there evidence that the heart PRODUCES emotions rather than being affected by them?

Like, for example, peoples hearts can literally fail as a result of nothing more then emotional stress.

Again, in that case the heart is the recipient of emotional stress -- not the originator of emotions.

Who thinks the heart produces emotions?

[Elijah John]

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Im pretty sure the heart goes through many conditions as a result of emotions...

Is there evidence that the heart PRODUCES emotions rather than being affected by them?

Like, for example, peoples hearts can literally fail as a result of nothing more then emotional stress.

Again, in that case the heart is the recipient of emotional stress -- not the originator of emotions.

Who thinks the heart produces emotions?

I think that's the point...the emotions produced by the brain can affect the heart and the body, but the heart and the body do not produce those emotions.

And in response to Blastcat, when one says "no-one", it usually means "vast majority" even of religous people.

Can you actually name anyone who believes the heart is literally the source of emotion?

[JehovahsWitness]

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The Heart is said by many individuals (and some religious literature) to be the seat of emotions / love / decisions. Is that true? I doubt it. Consider:

People with an artificial heart or those on a cardiopulmonary bypass machine. Do they lose emotion / love / decision making?

If a person has a heart transplant to they take on the emotions / loves / decision making of the donor?

If a person suffers massive brain damage but their heart is undamaged, do they retain emotions / love / decision making?

My understanding is that books, songs and dramas and poems often refer to the "heart" metaphorically (not literaly literally refering to the pumping organ in our chests) and that most religious writers and believers understand it as such.

Heart of Glass - Blondie
Hearts of Fire - Bryan Adams
Heart of Gold - Neil Young
Heart of Stone - Suzi Quatro
Wooden Heart - Elvis Presley
Hungry Heart - Bruce Springsteen
My Paper Heart - All American Rejects

Cold Hard Heart - Bon Jovi
You'll Be In My Heart - Usher
Sleeping In My Heart - Peter Koppes
Thunder In My Heart - Leo Sayer
Heaven in my heart - Neal Morse

Loves Got A Hold On My Heart - Steps
You Stole The Sun From My Heart - Manic Street Preachers
Your Cheatin' Heart - Patsy Cline
How Can You Mend A Broken Heart? - Bee Gees
Owner of a Lonely Heart - Yes
Young Hearts Run Free - Candi Staton


A lot of religious literature uses the word heart in a similar way to the songwriters above; none of which, I dare say were studied in cardiology departments of medical centres which would mean that a person that has a heart translplant or an artificial component in their heart is Something completely different from the above.

[Zzyzx]

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Who thinks the heart produces emotions?

The Bible

The heart is the "home of the personal life," and hence a man is designated, according to his heart, wise (1 Kings 3:12, etc.), pure (Psalms 24:4; Matthew 5:8, etc.), upright and righteous (Genesis 20:5,6; Psalms 11:2; 78:72), pious and good (Luke 8:15), etc. In these and such passages the word "soul" could not be substituted for "heart."

The heart is also the seat of the conscience (Romans 2:15). It is naturally wicked (Genesis 8:21), and hence it contaminates the whole life and character (Matthew 12:34; 15:18; Compare Eccl 8:11; Psalms 73:7). Hence the heart must be changed, regenerated (Ezek. 36:26; 11:19; Psalms 51:10-14), before a man can willingly obey God.

The process of salvation begins in the heart by the believing reception of the testimony of God, while the rejection of that testimony hardens the heart (Psalms 95:8; Proverbs 28:14; 2Chr. 36:13). "Hardness of heart evidences itself by light views of sin; partial acknowledgment and confession of it; pride and conceit; ingratitude; unconcern about the word and ordinances of God; inattention to divine providences; stifling convictions of conscience; shunning reproof; presumption, and general ignorance of divine things."
http://www.biblereferenceguide.com/keywords/heart.html

And those who say “I love with all my heart� or “Listen to your heart� or “A joyful heart�, etc, etc.