The Man Who Thinks with His Heart

This is the story of a humanity that thinks with its heart.

For centuries, humanity has taken pride in its mind. It invented, built skyscrapers and developed technology. Yet reason alone was not enough; it often brought arrogance, ambition and war beside it, silencing the heart. Yes, reason by itself carried us toward comfort, abundance and health—but was it enough to make us happy? It was not.

If people thought with their hearts, what kind of world would this be? Which wars would never have happened? Which tears would never have been shed? Which ruins, grudges and hatreds would have disappeared? As I said, this is an imagined parallel story of a humanity guided by the heart. Such a history was never written, but for a moment, shall we imagine what might—and might not—have happened if it had been?

If people thought with their hearts, little Ayşe’s mother would not have been killed before her eyes. A child who watched her mother’s throat being cut would never have said, ‘I saw the bones in my mother’s throat.’ What could a child possibly understand from such horror?

If Adolf Hitler had thought with his heart, he would never have carried out a genocide whose ending he also knew. He would have protected innocent people. If those directing wars had thought with their hearts, thousands of children would not have been killed and civilians would not have been abandoned to hunger and helplessness. Jerusalem and Gaza would be cities of prayer rather than bombs, and children would not be left without mothers or fathers in meaningless wars.

If crowds thought with their hearts, they would not lynch a young person simply for thinking differently. People with hearts as hard as the stones in their hands would not have dragged and stoned Farkhunda Malikzada to death merely because her views differed from theirs.

Christians would not have killed Jews, Jews would not have killed Muslims, and Muslims would not have killed Christians. They would have said, ‘Our God is one; we believe in the same God.’

Had Özgecan’s murderer thought with his heart, he would not have killed that young woman. Had a father taught his son to think with his heart, the story would not have become an atrocity.

If politicians and human traffickers thought with their hearts, they would not turn hope into voyages of death. Aylan Kurdi—would that child’s body have washed ashore? In a world guided by the heart, Aylan would have been waving to fish from an inflatable duck in those same waters.

If provocateurs and attackers thought with their hearts, they would not have set fire to a hotel; thirty-three lives would not have burned to death in Madımak.

If people thought with their hearts, they would not make life harder for those beside them or continue kicking someone after he had fallen. A man who thought with his heart would not betray his wife; he would look each night at the blessing granted to him and feel gratitude. He could not strike even once if he truly thought with his heart.

If commanders and militias thought with their hearts, they would not have massacred more than eight thousand people, and a city in the centre of Europe would not forever be remembered through mourning. Srebrenica’s face would not remain sorrowful for all time.

If a pilot thought with his heart while dropping atomic bombs on civilians, he would imagine the child playing in a park at the moment the bomb fell and refuse to press the trigger. That child would not have burned alive.

If gunmen and those who incited them thought with their hearts, they would not have marked Hrant as a target and killed him; society’s conscience would not have been wounded in this way.

We would not be so sharply divided if those who engineered society thought with their hearts. We would be embracing one another more often today.

If those who operate gambling businesses thought with their hearts, they would imagine the homes they destroy and refuse to continue. If those producing and selling drugs were shown the young lives being shattered, perhaps they too would think with their hearts and walk away.

If decision-makers and those who neglected oversight thought with their hearts, they would not disregard safety, and 301 miners would not have remained beneath the earth.

Had we thought with our hearts, the First and Second World Wars might never have occurred. The money spent on them could have gone to science, art and the joyful laughter of children. How beautiful that would have been.

A politician who thought with the heart would understand that behind every ideological decision stand thousands of tears and children going to bed hungry.

While following the road of reason, we lost the road of the heart. We produced and consumed more, yet loved one another less. We reshaped the world but left our inner lives barren.

What if we thought with our hearts? Children would wake from dreams, not fear. Tables of friendship rather than battlefields would be prepared; bridges rather than borders would be drawn. The one language that made us human would be the language of conscience.

If we thought with our hearts, this picture might deserve the place of honour in the finest museum. Its creator would have painted it not with the mind, but with the heart. Most viewers might see only a picture, but for those who understand, it is a mirror. Look into it and see: history will repeat itself as long as humanity refuses to think with its heart. On the day it does, history will be written again—and perhaps we will be the ones who write it.

Everyone reading this now has two choices: to think with the heart and win, or refuse to do so and lose. Remember: in the end, good people will win and those who choose evil will lose.

Thank you.