The Direction of the Heart from NPR's "This I Believe" series

A friend asked me recently how I knew it would be all right and I told her what I believe.

I don’t believe in fate, but I believe in causation. I don’t believe in destiny, but I believe in certainty. I don’t believe in miracles, but I believe in the direction of the heart.

I believe in action and reaction. I believe in force and momentum. I believe in the law of falling bodies and I believe in falling in love.

I believe when one heart falls for another it falls at a rate of constant acceleration approaching the speed of light. I believe a heart can fall so swiftly it soon reaches the horizon of inevitability and I believe the force that pulls it inward is ultimately irresistible.

I believe in a course of action. I believe in the inexorable march of love. I believe that no force exerts itself in the spinning cosmos or the quantum plane more strongly than the direction of the heart. I believe that time is no cure, that only the completion of the journey sees the end of the heart’s unchosen path, and I believe that completion leaves the heart forever changed.

I believe that I will see that journey through and that I will emerge on the other side of that horizon and will have come full circle and face a choice. I believe in the power of choice and I believe in the necessity of right. I believe that I will choose the truth; that in the fullness of time more questions are asked than answered but one answer resounds – I live and breathe in the direction of my heart.

I believe that the choosing, in fact, is an illusion, that I haven’t really any choice. The direction of my heart leads me surely and safely back to you. I believe as much in these things as I believe the sun will rise and I believe that I will always love you.

That is the direction of the heart, darlin’.