By Ian D’Souza

It seems like everywhere you look, someone is urging you to “follow your heart”. TV, music, literature, internet-you name it. “Go with your gut.” “Trust your intuition.” “Do what’s right for you.” “Pursue your dreams.” “Believe in yourself.” It all amounts to pretty much the same thing:

“Follow your heart.” Anyone who faces an important decision can’t possibly go wrong, it seems, if only they’d just follow their heart.  Inherent in this rhetoric is the instruction that the desires of the heart are the guide to fulfillment. Or, if you like something, then that’s your calling in life.  “Follow your heart” is a creed embraced by billions of people. It’s a statement of faith in one of the great pop cultural myths of the Western world, a gospel proclaimed in many of our stories, movies, and songs.

It all seems very innocent and common sense-like and many have fallen prey to this advice. However, seen within the bigger picture, the unrelenting advice to “follow your heart” is part of our culture’s overarching perception of ‘the good life’: figure out what will make you happy, and pursue that. And whatever you do, don’t let anything or anyone (such as wows taken, financial obligations, stuffy old institutions, your own anatomy, religion, books, or logic) deter you. Continue reading →