The Heart Is the Fastest Tool | What Are the Characteristics of This Powerful Tool?
Every being has a prominent characteristic in its essence that cannot be separated from it. For example, the characteristic of a lion and a tiger is being predators; the characteristic of a snake and a scorpion is biting; the characteristic of the sun is shining; the characteristic of a mother is being kind, and the characteristic of snow is being cold. All these characteristics depend on the essence and creation of these elements, but what is the most prominent characteristic of the human dimension, or our heart? The answer is that the heart is the fastest tool for reaching and acquiring something, but why?
Have you noticed whenever we want to start or accomplish something, we always consider compatibility and harmony? For example, when we plant a garden, we choose plants that suit our region’s climate, resulting in better and faster growth. Or when we travel to an unfamiliar area, we seek help from a native guide to get us to our destination faster. So it is natural that in moving toward the hereafter, we also use a tool that is compatible with the conditions and characteristics of the hereafter, so that we face fewer obstacles and challenges.
The truth is that in the hereafter, there is an infinite realm that knows no limits and boundaries and is not governed by any laws of the material world. Among all the dimensions and faculties of our existence, only our heart has such a capacity. Our physical body is confined to many limitations even in this world, and only our heart has the ability to break the material and natural frameworks and move toward infinity. Therefore, the heart takes the most direct and immediate path, and for this reason, the heart is the fastest tool.
Paths to Acquiring Light
In previous lessons, we understood that there is no stopping in our journey toward the hereafter. We are constantly in the process of transformation and acquiring light or fire on our path toward the hereafter, whether we are aware of it or not, preparing for birth into the hereafter. However, only a healthy or robustly healthy birth can bring us bliss, and this bliss depends on the amount of light we have acquired from the world. On our path to acquiring light, we are presented with two options. We can either use our sensory, imaginal, estimative, and intellective tools, or move our hearts. Undoubtedly, our sensory, imaginal, estimative, and intellective tools can only benefit us when they support the heart. Otherwise, they act as veils and obstacles, immersing us further into our material nature and animality.
The heart’s principal advantage over the senses and imagination lies in its power and speed. In fact, sense perception, imaginal, estimative, and intellective faculties generate actions, not tools. Only through repetition and consistency can actions be converted into valuable assets and tools. This repetition and consistency help our heart move and ultimately lead to acquiring assets. If actions are not acquired and turned into assets, they remain only rewards and can easily be lost. But movement with the heart directly creates assets and tools within us and does not easily disappear. We only realize the difference between the heart and our other faculties when we understand the difference between tools and actions. For example, imagine we are going to travel alone for kilometers in a mountain. No matter how much provisions we carry, our supplies will eventually finish. However, if we have tools for hunting and preparing food, we do not have to concern anymore. On the path toward the hereafter, our movement with the heart also leads to the acquisition of tools. But if the actions of our other faculties do not lead to a movement of the heart, they only provide temporary nourishment.
The Relationship Between Thought and the Heart’s Speed
The innate essence and structure of the heart are such that it needs fuel to speed along the path toward its beloved. This fuel is obtained from thought and contemplation. The power of thought sets us apart from other creations. True thought can create a transformation within our hearts, achieving results that would otherwise require years of practice and effort. For example, consider someone who wants to diminish worldly attachments through various exercises and austere practices, while another person, through contemplation on the transient nature of this world and the eternity of the hereafter, brings his heart to this stage.
On the path to reaching the purpose of creation, resembling Allah, and acquiring divine names and attributes, we have a very long journey ahead of us. Realistically, the limited life span in this world does not provide us with enough time for acquiring all the divine names through practice and repetition. We may not even encounter the conditions required to acquire a particular name during our lifetime, or the number of times we encounter those circumstances may not be enough to acquire a name and turn it into an asset.
This is where the need for a wise Creator who is aware of all the conditions and characteristics of our existence becomes more evident than ever. He has gifted us with a heart unbound by material concerns, enabling us to accomplish in minutes what would normally take decades. The heart is the fastest tool and does not need a field of action or preparatory conditions to reach its goal. This is because before any such conditions arise, the heart has started its journey and moves toward its destination with the power of thought. For a heart that has engaged in contemplation and aligned itself with divine attributes such as mercy, forgiveness, and beneficence, actions merely serve as affirmations of its existing possessions and assets.
A Heart of Divine Essence
Furthermore, our heart is divine in essence and tries, in a normal and balanced state, to reach its Beloved. As we have learned in previous lessons, each of our faculties is trying to reach its beloved and find peace alongside it. Naturally, movement with a heart that is aligned with Allah and naturally shows no resistance to the path toward Him is the fastest way.
Just like a race car is designed for high-speed performance, our hearts have the inherent potential to perform great tasks at high speeds on an infinite scale. When we fill our hearts with sensory, imaginal, estimative, and intellective beloveds, we not only divert them from their true purpose but also degrade their dignity from the infinite level to the lowest material levels. It is like employing a vehicle built for global racing to perform mundane transportation tasks.
In fact, all of us humans possess the heart as the fastest tool for moving toward the hereafter. However, only a select few use this powerful tool—those who appreciate their inherent human worth, the brevity of life in the womb of the world, and the greatness of eternity.
In this lesson, we stated that the heart is the fastest tool for moving toward the hereafter and that our bliss in the hereafter depends on acquiring light. Movement with the heart directly leads to becoming, and creates assets and light within us. While movement with other faculties leads to actions that require repetition and consistency to turn into assets. Our limited lifespan in this world does not provide us with the opportunity to acquire all divine names and attributes. Therefore, the fastest path to our destination is contemplation to set our hearts in motion. Since our hearts are aligned with Allah, they normally do not see any obstacles in reaching Him. Among all the ways we have ahead of us, the heart is the fastest tool and the most direct means for our movement toward the hereafter.
Do you also use your heart as the fastest tool for speeding toward eternal bliss? Share your experiences in this regard with us.