The Four Chambers

The human heart has two entrances, two exits and four mysterious chambers. The walls that protect it are thick and windowless. A passage through its corridors is perilous. But the things that flow through the heart take root in a man's bones and reach into his furthest extremities. Because the heart is the mouth of the soul and the best of lives is one where the fork is constantly at your lips. Life rewards the discriminating. The front entrance is wide open at a man's birth but the things that pass through make it narrow. Those who love every piece of flotsam die hungry no matter how much they eat. Love should never be fickle and at times that can mean enduring dry spells and seasons without rain. The first chamber of the heart is a room of treasures and only treasures can find their home here. If the chamber is empty a man hasn't truly lived and if the chamber is full the poor man counts himself among the rich. There are a lucky few who sit like an island in the river of life and the strong currents swirl around them. But for the rest of us life tends to sweep the heart clean and things pass into second chamber and out the exit. The second chamber is like the rear window of a car. The things within it grow smaller over time until they fade into oblivion. The second chamber is cold where the first is warm and dark where the first is bright. Some have called it memory. Like the second stomach of a cow, it exists to extract every last dreg of nourishment from the food of life.

If there were only one entrance to the heart it's unlikely that any of us would last into old age. But the heart also has a back door. The things that pass through it are humble yet they can sustain a man. The front of the heart is ruled by want and the back by need. As the former becomes more narrow the latter becomes more wide and the chamber behind it is the third, a space built to warehouse all the small comforts of life. If this room were a fire it would never get warmer than a comfortable bed. And if this room were a candle it would never be brighter than starlight. Enough to light your path but not enough to illuminate the world. The contents of the third chamber never stay. The river of life washes it clean for even the luckiest of men. And all things flow into the last chamber of the heart where there's no value looking behind and looking ahead is like staring into darkness. When something you want leaves your life, you take notice. But when a need is fulfilled a man just continues on. Day by day. Year by year. Until eventually he doesn't.

In the court of the dead a man's heart is weighed. There are harsh gods here. There is a force intent on consuming man and god save him, if nothing in his life mattered or bore weight. Nature abhors a life wasted and one of the most insubstantial of human pursuits is the quest for knowledge. There are a certain class of learned men known as wizards whom life abhors more than most others. Their hearts are so empty that they have perfected the art of robbing the hearts of others. Old wizards are the most dangerous of thieves.