As we’ve noted, modern men are, in general, more at home with thinking and action than with feeling. But only with a certain kind of abstract, objective, and impersonal mode of thinking. We are good at scientific investigation, accumulating data, market research, and rational analysis. We are not so good at linking up our minds and our hearts and thinking clearly about the deep experiences and longings of our lives. We are much more apt to ask “How can we do it?” than “What’s worthwhile doing?” As Aldous Huxley once said, “Our means are human. Only our ends are ape chosen.” We are good at technological modes of thought, but ignorant of the art of meditative thinking. It is only a slight exaggeration to say that we have become machine-minded. Our minds, our hearts, and our genitals often seem to exist in exile from one another. It is not that we think too little – we will certainly not be healed by irrational emotionalism or mindless fanaticism – but that we haven’t learned to think in a holistic manner.
We need to acquire a heartful mind…
Sam Keen – Fire in the Belly