We Have to Get Our Hearts to Feel Again

Love is More Powerful

Apr 23, 2025

Pope Francis was a Franciscan, the first ever to achieve the papacy. Some say he was transformative for the church. Maybe. It really does not matter. With all the glow-up around Francis upon his death, you can find enough criticism of his tenure. You cannot please all the people all the time.

Was Francis a “Progressive” Pope? Not really. But turning around the centuries old Church would be something akin to Jesus moving the boulder to reemerge in the Resurrection.

“Apart from the writings of "integralists," mostly in ivory towers, the Catholic church has revised its previously authoritarian views of human rights, religious freedom, and the relationship between church and state, as well as its conclusions about the eternal destiny of "separated brethren."” –Pastor Russell Moore

Francis emanated Franciscan energy; he was more Sufi than Catholic…Francis lived Mystic Christianity.

Like another Friar, Fr. Richard Rohr (a Mystic Christian), Francis preached an “impersonal” faith, one that focused on love as the true message of The Christ.

This is also the message that Joseph Campbell preached. My favorite story of his was the priest at the pool that he told Bill Moyers. It goes like this:

“I had a very amusing experience, which might be well worth telling. I was in the New York Athletic Club swimming pool, and you know, you don’t wear your collar this way or that way when you’re in a swimming pool. And I was introduced to a priest, “This is Father So-and-so, this is Joseph Campbell.” I’m a professor, he’s a professor at one of our Catholic universities. So after I’d had my swim, I came and sat down beside, in what we call, you know, the horizontal athlete situation, and the priest is beside me. And he said, “Mr. Campbell, are you a priest?” I said, “No, Father.” He said, “Are you a Catholic?” I said, “I was, Father.” He said, and now he had the sense to ask it this way, “Do you believe in a personal God?” I said, “No, Father.” And he said, “Well, I suppose there is no way to prove by logic the existence of a personal God.” And I said, “If there were, Father, what would be the value of faith?” “Well, Mr. Campbell, it’s nice to have met you.” And he was off. I really felt I had done a jujitsu trick there.” –Joseph Campbell

He goes on to refine the experience, saying; “…that meant that he also recognized the possibility of the Brahman, of the transcendent energy.”

Francis emulated this understanding of the ‘transcendent’ in everything he did. His pilgrimages to wash inmate’s feet, his constant message of lifting the poor and the least of us. He lived a Christlike life. Perhaps his most potent messages were those regarding immigrants, in direct contrast to most right-leaning countries…including the United States.

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“With charity and clarity we are all called to live in solidarity and fraternity, to build bridges that bring us ever closer together, to avoid walls of ignominy and to learn to give our lives as Jesus Christ gave his for the salvation of all.” –Pope Francis

You Know Who That God is? It’s You.

“When you are awakened at the level of the heart to compassion and to suffering with the other person. That’s the beginning of humanity. And the meditations of religion properly are on that level, the heart level.” –Joseph Campbell

Francis asked us to get our hearts to “feel” again. And Campbell tells us this is the beginning of humanity.

What does it take to get us to this place? Is it meditation, prayer, acts of service?

I struggle with this daily since I suffered a TBI (traumatic brain injury) in 2018. Nothing has been the same since then and ‘loving’ has been an elusive matter. My default emotional state is best described as “mnyah.” I have been through hours and hours of therapy and techniques.

Recently, I was introduced to “Love Your Brain,” and, although I am in the beginning stages, it has me wondering about the potential connection of Love and Brain. One thing I have learned in the groups is that I am not alone. The crazy, insane and debilitating thinking is something most of us share and to which we can each relate.

What does it mean to be “awakened at the level of the heart?” It means moving away from the cognitive (IQ) and moving more deeply into emotions (EQ). Brain, Love. Love, Brain.

For me, it means seeing other humans as a complex creatures that have needs, wounds and energy. Francis implored us to do this with all people…“for the salvation of all.”

Going Slightly Mad

As the current power structures assault our senses with hogwash and complete Orwellian logic, we are caught between our need to awaken our hearts while being bludgeoned with insanity and nonsense.

Welcome to the world of TBI. One moment things seem ‘normal,’ and the next it is dissociation city. Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

Where is the thread for the awakening? Richard Rohr tells us that; “What we’re talking about creates a people of hope, and a culture of hope that doesn’t slip into cynicism and despair. Easter is saying, we don’t need to go there. Love is going to win. Life is going to win. Grace is going to win. Hallelujah!”

Hafez says, “So I will always lean my heart as close to your soul as I can.”

If you have read any of A Course in Miracles, the basic theme is, as Wayne Dyer describes it, “There are only two emotions - Fear and Love. Go with Love.”

They are all asking us to let go of the temporal and move toward our hearts ‘feeling.’ To move toward love. I am working on learning how to love more. It seems to be about letting go. Einstein told us, “Don't let your brain interfere with your heart.”