APPENDIX
NOUS,
NOETIC ENERGY & HEART, ACCORDING TO OUR HOLY FATHERS
Our
nous has to be in our heart.
The
nous is the priest, and the heart is the inner altar of man, and it
should be devoted to God.
The
human nous, according to our Church Fathers, has to be inside us, in
our heart, and should be praying there ceaselessly (be officiating,
conducting a ceaseless Divine Liturgy in the inner altar of the human
heart).
The
nous is not supposed to be scattered outwards through the senses, but
ought to “come to oneself” (or to one’s senses, like the
prodigy son).
This
means that the energy of the human nous, which is scattered through
the senses into the environment, has to return to the essence (ousia)
of the nous, which is located inside the human heart.
We
point out here the following facts about what we discern in the human
soul:
- essence, which is located in the heart (and is called “deep heart”) and
- energy (which is called noetic energy).
The
noetic energy is operating in the heart of the spiritually healthy as
noetic ceaseless prayer (nous), and in the brain as intellect
(logic).
Then,
when this returning of the nous to the heart is completed, the nous,
through itself, “ascends to the meaning of God”. Then, the noetic
energy functions properly. Then, the nous, according to our Holy
Fathers, functions/operates naturally (by the laws of nature, κατά
φύσιν).
