Place of the "Heart" in Mystical Epistemology

The heart is the focus of man's existence and throne of mysticism. Mystically speaking, it is the single source to acquire intuitive and illuminative knowledge; a source which is the locus of mystical experiences and has visible and hidden realms to look at the exterior and interior, earth and heaven; and if it is known and blossoms, and if its dark and light veils are removed, epistemologically it will go across all worlds of beings, and become a chamber to look from which at the Friend, and Throne of the Beloved. The heart receives manifestations of the Essence, Attributes and Acts; and through its dialectical progress it goes from certain knowledge to certain truth to chilliness of certainty to receive Dominical and Divine grace so that divinely inspired knowledge may appear in it. Epistemologically, in mysticism the heart relies on a mechanism according to which by purification of the soul and refinement of the heart one is able to go to journeys through spiritual states and hidden openings. In the present writing, nature and place of the heart in mystical epistemology, factors of and obstacles to existential perfection of the heart, mechanism of mystical knowledge, characteristics and functions of the heart are discussed briefly to provide an introduction to the issue of the heart's achievement and esoteric journey i.e. mystical experiences and intuitions, and weigh them.