Living from the Radiant Heart

John R. Francis

In the world today there is great suffering and chaos. Much of this suffering could be relieved if we remembered who we are and why we are here on Earth. It is the intent of this article to point the reader in a direction to experience firsthand our inner, hidden identity and higher purpose.

Superficially we experience ourselves as fragile, mortal humans and so we live in fear and ignorance. Furthermore, social-conditioning agendas reinforce our misperceptions of limitation. However, there is a way to break the hypnotic brain-trance that limits our experience.

Jesus said: “Ye shall know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.” Most have forgotten or ignored these words. Others have sought truth in books, authoritarian dogmas, the words of teachers or through the intellectual exercises of their own brains. However, the liberating Truth Jesus spoke of is beyond the limiting concepts or activities of the brain. Rather the Spirit of Truth is the living, breathing universal consciousness in which we “live, and move and have our being.”

Centuries ago the philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote: “The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.”  He was certainly not referring to the physical heart. Nor was it the emotional, psychic center – the heart chakra. Rather it was the Radiant Heart at the core of our being and simultaneously the center of the entire cosmos.

The Upanishads of India state that the True Self or Atman exists within the Radiant Heart – called “Hridaya” which is deeper than the physical heart and psychic heart chakra. Actually, all the chakras emerge like spokes on a wheel from this central Radiant Heart. The True Self is simultaneously small as a “mustard seed” and large as the cosmos itself.

This is the Sacred Heart that Jesus and Christian and Sufi mystics speak of. It is also the Heart that the Hebrew prophet refers to when we are instructed to love God with our whole Heart. And it is the Heart of the Buddhist Heart Sutra with its gem inside a lotus.

The brain-spinal cord structure is metaphorically described in the Bible as the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” When centered in the brain we experience the illusions of duality – good and evil or pleasure and pain. But the Bible also refers to a “tree of life” in the Garden of Eden. This is a metaphor for the Radiant Heart. When we live centered in that Heart we see the oneness and beauty of life and feel it as Divine Love, Joy and Peace.

You may be asking yourself: how can we live moment-to-moment centered in the Radiant Heart? Many thousands of years ago the same question was asked by mystics. Consequently, through Divine Inspiration a scientific-spiritual means emerged by which the shift could be made from brain-based perception down into Radiant Heart consciousness.

At this time of planetary crisis this forgotten Heart science is being made available publicly to those with “eyes to see and ears to hear.” It is a compassionate response to souls in anguish who cry out for the Truth that will set them free even if they know not where or how it can be found. Caution: many are the unscrupulous who would prey upon a suffering, ignorant humanity seeking liberation by offering them substitutes or imitations of Truth.

Before proceeding further it would be helpful to understand the psychology of the ordinary human condition. Normally humans have a false self or brain “ego” and thus experience the world through the dualistic (pleasure/pain, good/evil) filter of the brain.

The most basic concern of the false self is survival because it is the creation of a perishable, material brain. The false self uses brain intelligence (which it actually identifies with) to survive. The brain also has an inherent, neurophysiological “negativity bias” as it is more attentive to threats than rewards in the environment – making it prone to worry and fear-based manipulation and control.

Yet freedom from suffering and the pendulum swings between pleasure and pain cannot be found in or through brain actions and reactions.

So here we have come to the dilemma of the human condition. In order to find the “Truth that will set us free” it is necessary to drop down from the head into the Heart. This requires a great leap of faith and trust.   

The brain (the false self) says:  “Don’t do it, I am the source of the intelligence that will keep you alive. What does the heart know? Don’t trust it. If you leave me you will die. The heart at best is a stupid mass of emotional energy that will always lead you astray and is too stupid to keep you alive or give you the good things of life. Use your brain – as the saying goes.”

Yet the mystics tell us that this is just a great fear-based lie of the brain. Look at the world that cold, heartless, ruthless, greedy, controlling yet highly “intelligent” brain centered-humans have and are creating on Earth. Then you decide if brain-centered consciousness leads to “life and life more abundantly” or to disease, misery and death.

Ironically, there is some truth in what the brain says yet it applies to the emotional, dualistic psychic “heart” which certainly can deceptively lead one away from the straight and narrow path leading to liberation. But that emotional “heart” is just really a part of the brain and its associated glandular system and corresponding soul structures.

The Radiant Heart is much deeper than the emotional heart and is qualitatively different. It does not swing emotionally between the positives and negatives of life. The Radiant Heart is a sun of radiant Divine Love shining equally on the good and the evil. Its Light cannot be diminished by human activity. Just as what we do on earth cannot (at least not yet) alter the radiance of our planetary sun. However, we can block this Inner Divine Sun from shining in and through our lives.

This Radiant Heart of God within us is far more intelligent than any brain because it is ultimately the Creator of the entire cosmos including brains.

The perceptive reader at this point may be asking: why did God create brains capable of so much treachery and deception and then allow it to seemingly dominate (actually obscure) the Radiant Heart in humans? This is the same as asking why did God put the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” in the Garden of Eden knowing it would lead to so much suffering on Earth?

Mystics tell us that in the center of our Radiant Heart there is a seed – a “mustard seed.”  This seed is the point of contact between the human and the Divine. It also contains the potential to blossom into an individual expression of the Divine.

The mystics further tell us that the suffering and challenges of life provide us with the motivation to radiate positive, spiritual energy outward from our Heart to neutralize the negative and in so doing we grow in Divine Radiance – becoming more God-like. We then live up to our potential given in the Biblical phrase that we are “made in the image and likeness of God.” Study the science of the hologram to understand how the part of an image can contain the image of the whole. (Note: Suffering is not always necessary if we are proactive in our spiritual growth.)

This author began his journey of unfolding the Radiant Heart in 1975 by asking the question “What is Truth? deeply – over and over again for hours one day. This questioning ended when it triggered a near-death-like experience catapulting him into a realm beyond space, time and suffering up through the top of his head. During his descent back into his body he heard the words: “If thine eye be single thy whole body be full of light.” It took years of meditation and research to fully appreciate the deep meaning of those words.

In an attempt to re-experience the expansive cosmic state of infinite freedom and God-Self realization, this author tried many different forms of meditation. He soon discovered that not all types of meditation have the same effects on body and mind. Some are intended to bring escape from body and mind while others are designed to bring light into and transform the body-mind human. Escapist meditation was initially very tempting but abandoned because it seemed counter to the purpose of Life on Earth. So eventually the path of life-affirming, heart-centered meditation was chosen.

The personal discovery of the ancient science of heart-centered meditation was a long process but eventually the inner meaning of the words, “if thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light” was revealed as the essence of true “enlightenment.” This remembering involved deep, consistent daily meditation and the study of ancient Scriptures, from both the East and West, as well as the latest research and theories from a number of different scientific fields.

The “single eye” is at the center of the Radiant Heart. From that point of view, oneness is experienced and transformation occurs by the Divine Light that radiates forth from that point. Meister Eckhart described it this way: “The eye with which I see God is the same eye by which God sees me.”

However, referring to brain-centered double (dualistic) vision, Jesus also said:  “if thine eye be double then great is the darkness” that fills a person’s being. This gives a metaphysical meaning to what optometrists call “double vision.” Metaphysically it means seeing life fundamentally composed of good and evil instead of as an expression of one-universal loving consciousness.

So now let us explore briefly how the shift from being brain-centered to being heart-centered can occur. Note: You will not lose your brain or mind. Rather, your brain will become an instrument and servant of your Radiant Heart and thus your true Self. Also, in your Radiant Heart you will be centered in peace and stillness as in the “eye of a storm.”

Meditation should be learned from an experienced and ethical meditator and not from the printed word alone. If one suffers from depression, psychosis or other mental disorders a trained mental-health professional should be consulted first. Thus, the following description is not meant as instruction.

Heart-centered meditation involves directing attention toward the deep center of being and thus away from the brain. Relaxing the abdominal-solar plexus is a helpful starting place before going deeper. Projecting a subtle smile inwardly can also release constriction. The Cosmic Breath should be allowed to express and not be constricted. Attention can shift to the feeling of whole-body breathing and any Divine Love, Joy or Peace felt radiating outward from the center of the chest.  Brain-generated thoughts are ignored as we gently return to the feeling mode when brain-thoughts arise. Heart-centering will then occur naturally and spontaneously.

Heart-centering is the effect of heart-centered meditation. This I have observed in my own meditation practice and in those I have assisted. Body and mind are inspired from the Divine Center and not pushed and pulled by external events. This facilitates resilience in the midst of life’s challenges. We remain at peace amid external turmoil. We also radiate that peace to the world. Being in touch with the Cosmic Center we receive creative solutions to life’s challenges directly from the Divine Source.

 We also learn to distinguish between Divinely-inspired thoughts that radiate from the inner, Radiant Center and those that are generated by the brain. Thus, we tend not to get caught up in brain-worry loops. But if we do, we know how to shift away from worry and back to heart-centeredness. “Perfect Love casts out fear.”

The Divine Center is also the source of health, well-being and abundant Life Energy. True spiritual healers help those in dis-ease to reconnect with the Divine Center within.

John R. Francis, PhD is a retired college mathematics & physics professor who has devoted the past 45 years of his life to the inner exploration of who we are and why we are here. He has deeply studied and integrated the wisdom traditions of East and West.  John can be reached for questions or free meditation consultations at johnf153@hotmail.com