The Privilege of Being a Nucleus

Welcome to Heart's Nucleus! The inspiration for the title of my blog comes from a quotation from the Sufi teacher Hazrat Inayat Khan that has inspired me for many years. He wrote that it was his wish that his students, those who feel in their hearts the sacred trust of the teachings they have received, not only use them for their personal unfoldment "but shall feel the privilege of being a nucleus for the reconstruction in the coming spiritual world."

So what does it mean to BE a nucleus, first of all, and more specifically, what does it mean to BE a nucleus of the heart?

According to the dictionary the nucleus is the core, the central mass of protoplasm present in most plant and animal cells, that contains most of the hereditary material that is necessary for its functioning, growth, and regeneration. And if there's any organ that serves an analagous function in the human being, it's the heart -- the core of our being. What an amazing realization it is when we begin to understand that the "hereditary material" stored in one's heart is not just the distillation of all of our personal experiences, but that, through the human heart, we have access to, and participate as part of, the nucleus, the core, the evolutionary inheritance of the Heart of all beings!

I used to think that being a nucleus (in the way it was described in the quote above) meant taking responsibility for being the 'center' of something: a meditation class, or a group of students, or of a community. I saw it as a call to action, kind of a challenge to step up and be the spiritual battery from which others in our 'cell' would be able to draw. And while it was, indeed, a privilege to serve as a nucleus in this way, I realized after a while (OK, it took me quite a long while!) that functioning as a nucleus and BEING a nucleus were two very different things. And Hazrat Inayat Khan doesn't say, "serve as a nucleus." He said we should BE one. So it's puzzled me for a long time what he really meant.

That's where the photograph in the upper right hand corner of this page comes in. (You thought it was just artistic, right?) It's a photograph of a human heart cell that was derived from what's called an iPS (induced pluripotent stem) cell -- an engineered cell that acts like (but isn't) an embryonic stem cell. An iPS is actually made from other cells, and when it's inserted in the nucleus of yet a third cell it becomes that type of cell! An iPS has the potential to produce virtually all cell types. One day recently I was meditating on being a nucleus, and this stem cell research popped into my mind.

How amazing to realize that that the 'cells' of our individual hearts are made from, and contain the DNA of, the "universal stem cell" material we call the Heart of All. AND that, simultaneously, the experience derived from our living a fully human and purposeful life actually changes that genetic material, that nucleus! The privilege of being a nucleus comes from living in the awareness that we are, at the same time, created from the DNA of the Heart of All, and participate in the ongoing process of evolving the nuclear material of that Heart at the same time.

So that's why I've called this Heart's Nucleus. The more we're aware of the role we play in this evolutionary drama - the more we understand the privilege of being this nucleus, this DNA that is both created and creative - the greater our ability to be an intrument for the spiritual reconstruction of the world. It's what we all want most to do, isn't it? The work we feel most drawn to and most compelled by. And everything we could possibly need to do it we either have, or we can become. What a privilege to realize that our hearts not only contain all the genetic material of the nucleus of the One Heart but that they also have the "pluripotent" power to differentiate, to become something new, even something we never thought we were capable of becoming, to fulfull this transformational purpose.

So don't just stand there! BE a nucleus! And in so doing, let's reconstruct the world together.