These remarks, which a closer explanation would take us too far, prove that the most reliable facts of physiology, which confirm the close connection between the conscious life of the soul and the activity of the brain, are not in necessary contradiction with the Biblical teaching about the heart as the true center of spiritual life. It is very possible that the soul, as the basis of conscious psychic phenomena known to us, has the heart as its nearest organ, although its conscious life reveals itself under the condition of the activity of the brain.

At this point we could leave the special field of physiology and go directly to the phenomena of psychic life, which everyone can believe with his own inner self-conception. It seems to us, however, that physiology itself presents facts which mediate between the phenomena which are known to us from external experience or the study of our body, and those which constitute the content of internal experience. At the present time, physiology knows that the heart is not a simple muscle, not an insensible mechanism that only controls the movement of blood in the body by means of mechanical pressure on it.

Although physiologists confess that their investigations into the composition, structure, and functions of the heart are far from being completed, yet it is probable from the foregoing that in the heart, which is a well of the blood, the two nervous systems, the real body of beings having a soul, converge and relate in a unity and interaction such as perhaps no other organ of the human body represents. Whoever does not hope to explain all the phenomena of human bodily life from a blind and dead mechanism, will at least now understand how, in the biblical view, the heart is regarded as the emanate or center of all the forces of the human body. Can we not say, without contradicting the facts of physiology, that in the heart all the most important systems of the human organism have their representative, who from this center takes care of their preservation and life? But at least from this it becomes clear; why the general feeling of the soul, or the feeling that we have about our own spiritual-bodily existence, allows itself to be noticed in the heart, so that the most imperceptible changes in this feeling are accompanied by changes in the beating of the heart. And this general feeling of the soul, as it seems to us, is one of the most important phenomena for the explanation of the biblical teaching about the heart as the center of spiritual life. The states and moods of the soul are far from being determined in their entirety by the activity of the five senses which the impression they receive on the brain is carried to the brain. If our body lacks proper materials for nourishment, or if any part of it is removed from its normal position and relation to other parts, then these mechanical changes in the body are felt by the soul as hunger and disease. These sensations, as well as all those states and moods of the soul that determine the so-called disposition of the soul, have their basis in the general feeling, for which "the whole body, each part of it, must serve to a greater or lesser extent as an organ." In this general feeling "all other modifications of the senses are contained initially, even before any external view, inseparable; therefore, it is considered as the root of all other feelings." Meanwhile, the moods and dispositions of the soul, determined by its general feeling, serve as the last, deepest basis of our thoughts, desires and deeds: "As indefinable, barely conscious upper premises, they lie at the basis of all our views in life, as well as all intentions and actions." These very truths are revealed to us by the biblical teaching about the heart as the birthplace of thoughts, desires, words and deeds of a person. While physiology indicates in the brain the physical conditions on which the activity of the soul depends, the sacred writers show us the direct, moral-spiritual source of this activity in the integral and inseparable mood and disposition of the soul being. Our thoughts, words, and deeds are not originally images of external things, but images or expressions of the general feeling of the soul, the product of our heart's mood. Of course, in everyday life, filled with worries about current reality, we pay too little attention to this intimate side in our thoughts and actions. Nevertheless, it remains true that everything that enters the soul with consciousness, through the medium of the senses and the brain, is processed, changed, and receives its last and permanent quality according to a special, particularly determined heart-building of the soul, and vice versa, no actions of excitation coming from the external world can evoke ideas or feelings in the soul, if the latter are incompatible with the mood of the heart of man. In the heart of man lies the basis that his ideas, feelings, and actions acquire a peculiarity in which his soul is expressed, and not another, or receive such a personal, particularly determined direction, by the power of which they are expressions not of a general spiritual being, but of a separate living really existing man.

In inner experience we do not notice at all how the brain changes from changes in our thoughts, desires, and feelings; on the basis of direct self-conception we would not even know that it is the organ of the conscious and thinking soul. If this relation between thought and its organ has a rational basis for the purpose of thought, which in itself must be a calm and indifferent consciousness of the reality around us, it follows, however, that both in thought and in its bodily organ the soul does not manifest itself in the full indivisibility and fullness of its rich being. If man were to reveal himself by thinking alone, which in that case would in all probability be the most authentic image of external objects, then the manifold world, rich in life and beauty, would open up to his consciousness as a correct, but at the same time lifeless, mathematical quantity. He could see through and through this magnitude, but nowhere would he encounter a true, living being, which would amaze him with the beauty of its forms, the mystery of its instincts, and the infinite fullness of its content. It seems to us that there is no such one-sided thinking in the real soul. And what would happen to man if his thought had no other purpose than to repeat in its movements the events of reality or to reflect in itself phenomena that are extraneous to the spirit? It may happen that in this case our thoughts would be as definite as mathematical quantities; but on the other hand, in our knowledge of things, we could move only to breadth, and not to depth. The world, as a system of vital phenomena full of beauty and significance, exists and is revealed first of all to the deep heart and hence to the understanding thinking. The problems which thinking solves do not arise in their ultimate foundation from the influences of the external world, from the instincts and irresistible demands of the heart.

Accordingly, the best philosophers and great poets have been aware that their hearts have been the true birthplace of those profound ideas which they have imparted to mankind in their works, and that the consciousness, whose activity is connected with the functions of the senses and the brain, has given these ideas only the clarity and definiteness proper to thought.

For reasons which it would be inappropriate to explain here, we are accustomed to regard the soul as a machine which is wound up and adjusted in exact accordance with the impulses and impressions which fall upon it from the external world. We would like to define the boundless essence of the soul, which is destined to develop not only in time, but also in eternity, solely by those states of the soul which are evoked in it by the impressions of the external world. From this point of view, a psychologist has expressed the hope that, with the further development of our knowledge of the soul, we shall be able to determine its movements and changes with the same mathematical precision with which we now determine the movements of the steam engine, so that the control of the states and movements of the soul will become as easy and correctly calculated for us as the control of the steam engine. We think, however, that this hope will forever remain an unrealizable dream, that there will always remain in the human mind a number of states and movements to which the physical law of equality between action and reaction can never be applied. In the Biblical view of the significance of the human heart for the spiritual life of man, this exceptional feature of the human soul is expressed with profound truth, in direct contrast to the mechanical view, which does not give any significance to this feature. Already in the simple conception which our thought forms on the basis of the impressions which come to us, we must distinguish between two aspects: (1) the knowledge of external objects which is contained in this representation, and (2) the state of mind which is conditioned by this conception and knowledge. This last aspect of the conception is not subject to any mathematical calculation: it expresses directly and in a peculiar way the quality and dignity of our mental mood. In our one-sided striving for knowledge, we often forget that every concept enters our soul as its inner state, and we evaluate our concepts only by the extent to which they serve us as images of things. Yet this aspect of the concept, which determines the state and mood of the soul, is of more value for the integral life of the spirit than the idea, since it is the image of the thing. If, from the theoretical point of view, it can be said that everything that is worthy of being is worthy of our knowledge, then in the interests of higher moral and spiritual education it would be absolutely fair to say that we should know only that which is worthy of our moral and God-like being. The tree of knowledge is not the tree of life, and to the spirit its life appears to be something more precious than its knowledge. But this special, peculiar life of the spirit, which does not lend itself to mathematical definitions, has the closest relation to the human heart: guard your heart with every care; for from these proceed the life (Proverbs 4:23). Here are reflected in a conspicuous way those subtle and imperceptible movements and states of our soul, of which we cannot form any clear idea. We never succeed in translating into clear knowledge that movement of joy and sorrow, fear and hope, those feelings of goodness and love which so directly change the beating of our hearts. When we delight in the contemplation of beauty in nature or art, when we are touched by the soulful sounds of music, when we are amazed at the greatness of the feat, then all these states of greater or lesser inspiration are instantly reflected in our hearts, and moreover with such originality and independence from our usual stream of mental states, that human art may forever repeat just complaints about the lack of means for expressing and depicting these states of the heart.

Here we are reminded of the Gospel account of the two disciples of Christ, who walked on the day of the Lord's resurrection on Emmaus and struggled with perplexities and doubts about the news of the resurrection of the Saviour (Luke 24:13-32). 16). The Lord, thus unrecognized, reveals His mystery to His disciples by His resurrections, His conversation does not allow them to know who is conversing with them. Only after the mysterious breaking of bread did his eyes open, and he was known (Luke 24:31). Now the disciples confess to each other with astonishment: is not our heart of grief 6 in us, when we speak to us on the way, and when the Scriptures have spoken to us? (Luke 24:32). In the case under consideration, the heart preceded the mind in the cognition of the truth. The disciples had already had thoughts of the heart, which, however, were not quickly and easily recognized by their minds. Such states are experienced by every person, especially in moments of great difficulty, when there is no time to wait for a clear syllogism, and when it is necessary to submit oneself to the immediate attraction of the heart as a kind of moral and spiritual tact. Christian ascetics often complained about the slowness of the mind in recognizing what is immediately and directly known to the heart, and often called the human mind sensual and carnal; And, of course, he may seem so if we compare his mediocre activity with those immediate and sudden revelations of truth that take place in our hearts. This, however, does not deny that the slow movement of the mind, like a slow gait, is distinguished by definiteness, regularity and calculation, which are lacking in too energetic movements of the heart. As life without order, so order without life is equally inconsistent with the purpose of the human spirit. Nevertheless, if the light of knowledge is to become the warmth and life of the spirit, it must penetrate to the heart, where it can enter into the integral mood of the soul. Treasure. Only for this treasure, and not for an abstract "thought", can a person enter into a struggle with circumstances and people; Only for the heart is podvig and self-denial possible.

From these remarks we derive two propositions: (i) the heart can express, discover, and understand, in a very peculiar way, such mental states which, in their own way, · tenderness" and predominant spirituality and vitality do not lend themselves to the abstract knowledge of reason; 2) the concept and distinct knowledge of the mind, insofar as it becomes our mental state, and does not remain an abstract image of external objects, is revealed or makes itself felt and noticed not in the head, but in the heart; it must penetrate into this depth in order to become the active force and motive force of our spiritual life.

In a lively assessment of people and their merits, we do not limit ourselves to pointing out their knowledge and concepts. Truth, in so far as it exists only in the abstract thought of man, does not relate directly and immediately to his spiritual being in this evaluation. Most likely, we would like to know whether this truth stirs his heart, what his spiritual inclinations and aspirations are, what arouses his sympathies, what pleases and saddens him, and, in general, what is the treasure of his heart (Luke 6:45). When we speak of a man's pretense and hypocrisy, we clearly express that his thoughts and words do not belong to his being, that there is something quite different in his heart than in his thoughts and words, or that in addition to these thoughts which he discovers, he has also thoughts of the soul or heart. Here we distinguish between the fake personality of man, which appears before us, and the real personality, which with its diverse content is hidden in the heart of man. The manifestation of double-mindedness shows what an enormous distance can be between the activity of the soul in ideas and concepts and those own states of the soul which are echoed in the movements of the heart. Therefore, in cases that are of particular importance to us, we ask the person to express his opinion from the heart. The relations of life in which the formality and outward appearance of human unions are overcome are cordial relations: such are the relations of friendship, brotherhood, love, and so on. In these relationships, the whole person manifests himself and lives, without pretense and constraint, in all the breadth and fullness of his various spiritual states.

We must touch here on two theories which particularly hinder the correct understanding of the Biblical teaching about the heart as the center of man's spiritual activities.

For some time now, philosophy has been spreading the doctrine of the self-law (autonomy) of human reason, or the doctrine that this reason by itself, from its own powers and means, gives or establishes laws for all mental activity. From this point of view, it would be necessary to agree that the whole dignity of man, or the whole spiritual man, consists in thinking. Of course, the Apostle Paul says of the Gentiles: "Having no law, they themselves are the law" (Romans 2:14). But these words do not imply the concept of the self-lawfulness of the human mind. The Gentiles are their own law, because the rational things of God are in them (Romans 1:19). For His (God's) invisible from the creation of the world is thought of by the creatures, and His eternal power and Divinity (Romans 1:20). Thus, the beginning and source of the law by which the pagans were guided lies, according to the Apostle, in the revelations about the invisible God, given to man through the visible creation of God: contemplating God's creatures (conceived by creatures), the human mind recognizes in them God's will and the Divine law. The law for spiritual activities is not laid down by the power of the mind as its invention, but is presented to man as a ready-made, unchangeable, God-ordained order of the moral and spiritual life of man and mankind, and moreover, according to the Apostle, it is presented in the heart as the deepest side of the human spirit: the Gentiles manifest the work of the law written in their hearts (Romans 2:15). God is the Creator of both the human soul and its laws. That which thou hast brought, thou hast received; And if thou didst receive it, that thou didst boast that we did not receive? (1 Corinthians 4:7). Self-law is not inherent in the human mind in any sense. Between the phenomena and actions of the soul, reason has the meaning of light, which illumines not the life of the human spirit, which is not laid down by it, but created by God, with its God-given laws. The soul exists not only as this light, but also as a being illuminated by it, with manifold spiritual faculties, for which the laws are laid down by the creative will of God. Spiritual life is born before and before this light of reason, in darkness and darkness, that is, in depths inaccessible to our limited gaze. If from the foundations of this life arises the light of knowledge and understanding as its subsequent manifestation, then this fully justifies the biblical view of the significance of the human mind, which is the summit, and not the root, of man's spiritual life.

But in addition to this unfounded teaching about the self-law of the mind, there is often found in psychology an indefinite teaching about the essence of the human soul. Very often psychology in this teaching confines itself to pointing only to the general and generic properties of the soul, that is, to those spiritual phenomena which are common to the human soul with every other soul.

Yet it is necessary to present the matter quite the opposite: the human soul has an original and particular content, which is revealed or appears, indisputably, in the general and generic forms of mental life, such as representation, feeling, desire, etc.

But we must go a step further and assume that each particular human soul has its own characteristics and has a peculiar development, which in turn is expressed in the general and generic forms of human psychic life. In the history of the creation of the world it is narrated that God created dumb animate beings according to their kind (Gen. 1:25), and man according to his particular indivisible nature, as a single and special person (Gen. 1:26 ff.). This image of creation corresponds perfectly to the destiny of man, who, as an immortal being, does not disappear in the race, but has his own personal existence in time and in eternity. Therefore, man can never be the suffering expression or organ of the general generic life of the soul. Our words, thoughts, and deeds are born not from the general generic essence of the human soul, but from our privately developed, peculiarly isolated spiritual life; For this reason alone, they constitute our personal guilt or our personal merit, which we do not share with anyone. While science indicates the general and generic conditions for the phenomena of spiritual life in general, the sacred writers have in mind that particular and special source of these phenomena in the heart of man, from which they, in their generality, become ours. personal wealth and property.