One of the most fascinating critiques of popular Western notions of self that Indian philosophy can offer is this: “mind” and “heart” are two different names for one and the same thing. They merely emphasize different aspects of that single entity. That is to say, the Indian tradition holds that the locus of emotion and the locus of thought are one and the same, and therefore subconscious thoughts frequently manifest as emotions, and subconscious emotions as thoughts. Both thoughts and feelings are vibrations of citta, or the “heart-mind-stuff.” They are actually two ends of a single spectrum. (If this were not true, we could never talk about our feelings or feel strongly about our ideas!) The difference between thoughts and feelings is simply that thoughts are vibrations (vṛttis) with a greater linguistic or rational component, while feelings are vibrations with a greater affective charge. The difference is not absolute but one of degree. (…)