The Awakened Heart becomes an organ of perception. As it grows into this new function through deep inner work and healing, it becomes part of the nervous and sensory systems, giving us empathic access to other people, animals, and Nature.
Rudolf Steiner wrote more than 100 years ago . . . .”The awakening of the etheric heart is an important step in this development, as it can transform the perception of the sense-world into the steps of higher cognition. Through imagination and inspiration, we penetrate deeper in our inner being and at the same time we enter into the realm of the spiritual world.
The last step in the awakening process involves intuition — when the heart becomes the eye through which we see the spiritual from within in the light of the inner Sun. This is where we can meet the Being of Christ in the etheric.”