The Heart

"Nowadays the word heart always sounds a little naive or commonplace. When I was young it could still be spoken without embarrassment, but now it's a term no one uses anymore. On the rare occasions when it gets mentioned, the reference isn't to the heart in the fullest sense of the word, but only to some malfunction, anemic tissue caused by a blocked artery, say, or problems with an auricle; there's no longer so much as a hint about the heart as the center, the essence of human nature. I've often wondered why it's been ostracized like this.
"He who puts his trust in his own heart is a fool" - Augusto often used to say that, quoting the Bible. But why on earth should such a person be a fool? Is it because the heart is like a combustion chamber? Because there's darkness inside there, darkness and fire? The mind is as modern as the heart is ancient. These days people who follow their hearts are considered to be close to the animal world, to uninhibited nature, while those who follow reason are close to the upper spheres of reflection. But suppose things aren't like that, suppose they're just the opposite? Suppose it's this excess of reason that's starving our lives?"
-susanna tamaro