I want to believe

The ‘Guard heart from stone’ principle - Mr. Libel's views

I never thought I'd see the day when the libelist became the libelee. Granted, I may have had it coming for quite some time now, but listen, boy. You have a long travel ahead of you on the road of slander if you are ever to be deemed apt. You see, as things look now, kiddo, you can't touch me.
Nothing else needs to be said about the futile attempt that was made on my character in the previous post. Why the brouhaha, anyway?

Guard heart from stone. My recollection of the occasion of coining is a tad turbid. Whether this is due to some sort of consumption or due to the natural workings of the memory (or both) I cannot say. Nevertheless, the exact moment of origin is unimportant. What is important is the evolution of its meaning and beauty. Now the best way to describe it is perhaps not as an idiom, but rather as a meme, or as an in-joke between members of The Club.
My opinion about the beauty of Guard heart from stone is that it to a large extent can be derived from the conciseness of the phrase. In few past occasions have I come across phrases so aesthetically pleasing.
And as to the meaning: We have demonstrated that one can ascribe it multiple meanings, and this is just what the acolytes of The Club have done.
Let us start from the other end of the matter. What most obviously may strike some at first glance are the words heart and stone. Fair enough. Heart of stone, guard against that. Q.E.D. Finished now? Not by a long shot.
So what fancy interpretation do you have in mind, if you won't settle for that rather satisfactory one? you might ask. A warranted question that I will address shortly (and extensively.)

Guard heart from stone's beauty extends far beyond the mere words that it is made up of. And what worth is beauty when not shared? In my rather humble my opinion, beauty not shared is for all I care fit for the dump.
That's why I wish to share my interpretation of the idiom with you, Reader, dear and faithful.
After the aforementioned callous assault, I have finally the grandeur of setting petty straw men aside, so let us get to the point.

If I were to compress the entire interpretation into one word, it would turn out to be awareness. Now, if we take heart not only to mean the metaphorical heart (love style), but actually your entire cognitive self, lock, stock and barrel, Guard heart from stone takes on a wholly different meaning. For clarity, let us define stone as things unwanted. (Let us here disregard from that we may not always know what we want, or what's best for us.)
As creatures of habit, we are likely to follow certain behavioural schemes, or at least in general a general and consistent way of handling situations of a certain sort that we are faced with on a daily basis.
Given the realisation how we are likely to act under these circumstances, one is better to enter them, and act, with this knowledge in mind. (And in some instances even avoid some actions altogether.) That is: be aware of your inclinations in order to get an edge over yourself.

To quote the 16th Century English cardinal Thomas Wolsey:

"Be very, very careful what you put into that head,
because you will never, ever get it out."

I would modify that quote to:

"Be very careful what you put into your heart, because it's not always in your best interest to tear it out for things that could've been worked out in such a way so that it didn't have to come to this."

I believe that will suffice.

The ‘Guard heart from stone’ principle - Etymology and introduction

In looking back on (and discussing) the reflective surface that is the Treatise, me and Mr. Libel have found (and dealt with) odd bits of curiosa regarding the hazardous process of communication. Besides flirting with postmodernism and exploring mind-altering substances, we are always trying to embark from the most constructive of premises. Despite our continuous and valiant strife to cleanse the cumbersome and ineffective way of conveying information from unnecessary interfering agents, we have encountered misunderstandings - and will undoubtedly continue to do so. This is no setback, mind you. We refuse to be dejected. When one chooses to live life in reality, reality must be faced squarely (and oftentimes kicked in the nuts for bad behavior). Consequently, we take every precious opportunity to learn from past experiences. Confusion, to a certain degree, will always arise whenever humans are involved, and few subjects are as prone to misconception and multiple interpretations as idioms.
Enter ‘Guard heart from stone’.

The term is loosely recollected¹ from a series of books by Terry Goodkind. In one of them, the main character (Oafy-Country-Boy-Turned-Saviour-By-Questionable-Lack-Of-Originalty-By-The-Author) is about to face a rapid assimilation of immense knowledge that, presumably, will paralyze and force him into extreme detachment from currently dear-held beliefs and motivating emotions. Before departing, he is asked to heed one final piece of advice: “Ward left out. Ward right in. Guard your heart from stone”.

I believe I first used those words - shortened by my memory to only ‘Guard heart from stone’ - when trying to describe one of the paths that were available to me in dealing with high levels of female-induced emotional distress².
I erroneously made it into a binary choice of either coping with it or shutting down emotionally, but have since then realized that few things are discrete enough to be properly pigeonholed by conventional means. It is with pride that I now sort my information into significantly larger holes that are not just black or white, but contain various shades of gray too.

My definition of ‘Guard heart from stone’ was taken to mean something like “Detachment is not a valid option, since down that path lies the gate to the cold, barren wastelands of callousness and rancor. Only cowards dwell there.”
     Now, imagine my surprise when Mr. Libel explained his interpretation of my noble approach with an analogy that went something like this³:
“Like… Image your heart… There are these small stones flying and they’re attacking it, piercing it... They’re the things that make you tick… Something-something.”
     Alas, my memory fails me here, but I assume that what Mr. Libel meant was that you should know yourself good enough to recognize what makes you tick.

I believe that he himself will make a statement regarding the ‘Guard heart from stone’ principle. His post may also contain proper amounts of eschatology. Or was that in upcoming acts of our ongoing ‘Tale of a Secretary’? Ah, the suspense.


¹ I don’t read books, I devour them.
² Also known as ‘heartache’.
³ I shan’t miss an opportunity to libel Libel.