Make a distinction between spirit and matter. This will help you understand the different avenues leading to spiritual knowledge.
To understand matter we have material means, and to comprehend the spirit we have spiritual means. Matter is understood through mind or intellect working upon data given through different senses. The spirit, however, can be understood only through the spirit itself.
This highest form of understanding, in which the spirit enjoys self-knowledge without using any instrument or medium, is difficult to attain. The best way to approach the spirit is through the heart, as it is direct. This is in contrast to the mind-approach that is founded on sensations, proceeding through inference and proofs to arrive at conclusions.
The heart, which in its own way feels the unity of life, seeks fulfillment in love, sacrifice and service. The focus is on giving, rather than on taking. The heart derives its driving power from the innermost spiritual urge, expressing itself through immediate intuitions. The heart has no need for proofs or intellectual corroborations that the mind seeks while dealing with material objects.
In its objective handling of the material world, the mind is saturated with experiences of multiplicity and separateness. So it feeds egocentric tendencies that divide humanity, making it selfish and possessive. But the heart, feeling in its inner experiences the glow of love, has glimpses of unity of spirit. Hence it seeks expression through self-giving tendencies that unite humanity, making it selfless and generous.
Unsurprisingly, there is conflict between the inner voice and the deliverances of the intellect based upon apparent and superficial aspects of life. Between the two extremes of a life harassed by wants and a life completely wants-free, you could arrive at a practical mode in which there is harmony between the mind and heart.
When there is such harmony, the mind does not dictate the ends of life; it only helps realise those ends that are given by the heart. It does not lay down conditions to be fulfilled before an utterance of the heart is adopted for translation into practical life. In other words, the mind surrenders its role of judge, accepting unquestioningly the dictates of the heart.
The mind is a treasure-trove of learning, but the heart is rich in spiritual wisdom. The so-called conflict between religion and science arises only when there is no appreciation of the relative importance of these two types of knowledge. It is futile to try to glean knowledge of true values by exercise of the mind alone. In most persons the mind accepts ends from the promptings of wants, but this means denial of the life of spirit.
Only when the mind accepts its ends and values from the deepest promptings of the heart does it contribute to the life of the spirit.
The mind ought to work in tandem with the heart, subordinating factual knowledge to intuitive perceptions. The mind has a place in practical life, but its role begins after the heart has had its say. Spiritual understanding is born of harmony between mind and heart. Harmony of mind and heart does not require the mixing up of their functions; it is the most important condition of the integral, undivided life of spiritual understanding.
By Avatar Meher Baba