Chapter 8 of the Suwen: The Heart

心 者 ， 君 主之 官 也 ， 神 明 出 焉 。

The heart holds the office of the Sovereign and Flame Keeper. The awareness that comes from divine light ensues from it.

The heart is considered the empress, in charge of all that goes on in the body. In order that the body will function properly, through the orders of the empress, it must be aware of all that is going on. In this, it is the sovereign and sacred holder of the light of awareness. It must always have a flicker of this light alive in itself, as it stores the spirit of Shen. When the Heart is healthy, the shenming emerges from it, lighting all parts of the body in a way that allows the heart to know completely what is going on and deal with any signs of imbalance immediately. The shenming can illuminate the physical body as well as all of the spirits that reside within and once illuminated, the heart issues it’s mandate for which parts of the kingdom must be rebalanced.
The Heart is the arrow, flying free and hitting it’s target perfectly and then being removed. It must be open and receptive to all of this and through it’s awareness, show the arrow where to fly, and through it’s ability to step back, allow the arrow to return when the job has been completed. The unhealthy Heart shoots arrows out in all directions, never calling them back, or is too encumbered to shoot out any arrows at all. The word “sin” comes from the arabic root, “to miss the mark,” and here, it is truly sinning when we our Hearts are not receptive and willing to both be aware and to step away from office when the time comes.
The emperor is charged with performing the rituals which invoke divine power. It is also through our healthy daily rituals that our Heart can remain balanced and aware.