Baha'i Faith/Symbolism/Heart

In the Baha'i faith, a heart is almost always the essence of something. It could be the heart of a single person or the heart of an entire country. But, it's always important to identify the heart of things. If you identify the heart of something, you should measure that heart against the greatness of God. Of course you will find that their is always room for improvement. But, some hearts need more improvement than others.

Relation to Other Symbols
The heart symbolizes the essence of something. Therefore, it can and should be related to almost every other symbol we can find in the Baha'i text. That's because it is important to know the essence of things. The Baha'i text uses a heart to symbolize a multitude of things including the Shrine of The Bab, the twelve central states of The United States, and a sacred vineyard.

The Bab
The Bab most often used the heart to refer to the hearts of individual followers. In the early stages of the faith their was a need to emphasize adherence to the text. That is to say, he wanted the early followers to adjust their hearts in order to accommodate the text. He did not want them adjusting their interpretation of the text in order to accommodate vain imaginings and idle fancy.