The head rules the heart

Lewis writes in Abolition of Man that the proper order of things is that the head rules the heart, not the other way around. Sadly, that seems to be largely forgotten in the world today, but not completely…

I’m reading a recent book by my pastor[1], and find this, in his discussion of the Fall:

Notice that the mind followed the emotions, an inversion of the natural order. Human beings are not meant to be driven by their instincts like beasts. Rather, the emotional response should be shaped by the understanding. Theology should shape behavior. Because the fruit was forbidden, she should have hated it as one hates poison, though it be ever so colourful. [sic]

He’s an American, but it’s a Scottish publisher, hence the misspelling of colorful. And to be fair, his primary resources are Puritans, though Lewis is cited in a few places (albeit not here). But it’s good to see, a generation or two later, that Lewis’ point isn’t completely lost.


  1. Johnson, Terry L. The Identity and Attributes of God. Banner of Truth, 2019. ↩︎

Last Sunday, in a sermon on I Peter 1:13-16, our pastor said, “God works in the heart through the mind.” This is expressed clearly in vs. 13: “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” We cannot control our emotions; we can choose what we think about–where we focus our mind. Can we meditate on the love and wisdom and power and glory of God, and not be moved to worship?

Thanks, Dan. Good book, The Abolition of Man!

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I haven’t read The Abolition of Man in a long time, but its seems to me that we are, and should be, a symphony of mind and heart, with each part listening to the other. Uncontrollable emotion can, of course, run roughshod over reason. But I think that reason, as it is interpreted by the subject, can also run counter to the proper feelings of the heart. This can happen through specific interpretation of dogma in any religion or philosophy, for example, when the pharisees accused Jesus of violating the Sabbath because He healed someone. And I think it can also happen in any Christian denomination today. And with regard to philosophies, the recent primary example is (was?) Communism, which supposedly wants the good of all mankind by killing many of its members.

Dimitry

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever.” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8)

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The problem with Communism wasn’t/isn’t so much that it was a triumph of the head over the heart, as that the thinking of the head was simply wrong. Communism will inevitably fail to result in the workers’ paradise because it is built on assumptions (specifically with respect to the nature of man) that are simply, and demonstrably, false. The workers, by and large, had the common sense to recognize this, and rejected it; its proponents were almost exclusively bourgeoisie.

Certainly we aren’t called to be emotionless rationalists (i.e., Mr. Spock is not our ideal), but I do believe Lewis (and Johnson, quoted above) have the priorities right–the emotions are to be subordinate to the intellect. The alternative leads to “how can it be wrong when it feels so right?”

I guess it all depends on whether what is in the intellect is right or wrong, like you say about Communism. Lewis’s answer in The Abolition of Man is that there are certain fundamental values, which he calls the Tao, which are always true, and must be adhered to. But even there, for example, Abraham did not adhere to the fundamental value “do not murder” when he was ready to murder Isaac, because there is a more fundamental value in everything, namely, obeying God. Is this obedience primarily intellectual? I guess in Abraham’s case, one could say it was, because he knew that whatever God commanded must be right. But in our daily lives, I think the decisions we make are not deduced from apriori beliefs, but on the basis of specific feelings we have on a minute-by-minute basis. Presumably, these feelings, as a rule, do not contradict the Tao. But doesn’t it happen that we sometimes have a strong feeling that we need to do something, and don’t understand why, but definitely feel it is the right thing to do? And in that case, the intellect does not play the leading role.

Dimitry

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever.” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8)

I remembered an example of feelings determining action, without recourse to intellect, from Lewis’s life. This is from “The Efficacy of Prayer” from “The World’s Last Night” collection:

“Some years ago I got up one morning intending to have my hair cut in preparation for a visit to London, and the first letter I opened made it clear I need not go to London. So I decided to put the haircut off too. But then there began the most uncountable little nagging in my mind, almost like a voice saying, ‘Get it cut all the same. Go and get it cut.’ In the end I could stand it no longer. I went. Now my barber at that time was a fellow Christian and a man of many troubles whom my brother and I had sometimes been able to help. The moment I opened his shop door he said, ‘Oh, I was praying you might come today,’ And in fact if I had come a day or so later I should have been of no use to him.”

Dimitry

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever.” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8)

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“The most uncountable” should, of course, read “the most unaccountable”. Sorry.:roll_eyes:

Dimitry

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Dimitry,

Thank you for quoting a passage I was trying to call more precisely just the other day. “The Efficacy of Prayer” is, for me, one of Lewis’s most valuable essays. But I wouldn’t call that “nagging in my mind, almost like a voice” a matter of feeling. I love Jonathan Edward’s term, “spiritual sensibilities”. To me that is the nudging of the Spirit, speaking to the mind, moving the heart and enabling the will. That nudging of the Spirit is often–I daresay, usually–contrary to my feelings, e. g. It would be good to go and play a hymn; your husband would appreciate it just now." My feelings: I am in the middle of writing this reply, and I want to finish this first." When I obey, the feelings are joy and peace are like none other. Lewis obeyed, and we are all blessed by hearing the “why” of that divine leading.

Lois

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Lois, “to go and play a hymn” – do you play the piano, in addition to writing poetry?

Dimitry

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever.” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8)

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Thank you, Dimitry. Not well–had a year’s lessons when I was 7, and quit because my brother easily played what it took me all week to learn. So I just play hymns, ones that are not too hard. I do love hymns. And while reading about David the King putting singers in the tabernacle (I may not have that right) a few years ago, I thought that would be a good way to start the day. So I try to do that, sometimes asking the Lord what He would like for me to praise Him with. The Church has such a rich legacy of hymns, and many of them I have grown up with.

Belated Lewis connection: So I only partially share Lewis’s opinion of church music being “second rate theology set to third rate music.” That is woefully true of some, but not all hymns. John Newton, Charles Wesley, Horatio Bonar–I am blessed by fresh poetry, by Biblical images set to just the right music for congregational singing.

Likewise, which sent me looking for an earlier topic I’d posted on the subject. Here it is:
https://talk.spare-oom.com/t/fifth-rate-poems-set-to-sixth-rate-music/19896