The pastoral theologian
spoke of the heart from

his head: “There our deep-
est thoughts, intuitions,

emotions, and decisions
find their source.” There?

The heart pumps blood.
All of the thoughts intuit-

ions, emotions, and de-
cisions find their source

in the brain, but he is not
speaking literally or scien-

tifically. He is speaking
metaphorically (or maybe

speaking intuitively of
something else yet to be

discovered) of the place
of compassion. That used

to be “the bowels.” So,
maybe the brain has a

heart and the heart has
a brain and, yes, we all

have bowels. Fortunately,
our metaphors are moving

on up from the alimentary
canal to the place where

I pound my fist in grief,
joy, love and heartache.