The School of Evolutionary Herbalism

The function of the intellect is to dissect, separate, and analyze. It sees the observer as distinct from the observed, while the heart sees the observer as part of, and connected to, what’s being observed.

That’s why the mind has such a hard time with wholes. It tries to understand something by breaking it into pieces and scrutinizing each one in isolation, but as soon as you dissect something, each part acts differently than it would as part of the whole.

None of this means the intellect is bad. Instinct, intuition, and intellect each serve a purpose, and none is superior to the others. The intellect on its own can be unhealthy, but when it connects with the heart, it becomes integrative and balances an overly rational or rigid mind.

In the human struggle for fulfillment, we’re ultimately seeking wholeness and completeness within ourselves and our place in life. Because the mind’s job is to separate and analyze, we can’t get there through the intellect alone. It takes the heart. 🌿