Functions of the Heart


The emotion of the Heart is desire and joy.

Commentary:
Strong and excessive emotions, like anger or jealousy, can lead to Heat and damage the Heart. The experience of the emotions takes place in the thorax. Jealousy causes the pulse to increase and the blood pressure to rise. Desire leads to Heat and damages the Heart. Desire is the absence of tranquillity and peace. Being under time pressure can easily give rise to excessive emotion, for example, a red traffic light can be reason enough to cause an excessive emotion, which in turn raises the pulse rate and the blood pressure.

"I want" is the root of desire. We all want to have certain desires satisfied, e.g. buying a new car, or to be successful in business, and so on. Goals are necessary in life, but it is important how we deal with our emotions and attachments, especially if we don't get what we want. We can only try our best and appreciate the driving force of desire to inspire us to work hard to achieve our goals.