Nous
The intellect — to be drawn down into the heart
The nous (νοῦς) — the intuitive intellect, the part of the soul that can directly apprehend spiritual reality. In ordinary life the nous is dispersed outward through the senses and the discursive thoughts (logismoi); the work of hesychast prayer is its gathering inward and downward into the heart. Symeon the New Theologian's Third Method describes the practitioner 'closing the door of his cell, sitting in a corner, raising the mind above every vain and transient thing, and bowing the chin to the breast' — a posture meant to assist the descent of the nous to the heart-place.
Point 1 of 4 in Hesychast Prayer of the Heart
Cross-tradition overlaps
No overlapping points are registered for this point.
Sources
Symeon the New Theologian, The Three Methods of Prayer (primary_canonical)
Symeon’s Third Method of Prayer (in Philokalia IV) describes gathering the intellect from distractions and directing the nous inward through a disciplined bodily posture and breath. This is the textual basis for depicting the nous as descending toward the heart in hesychast practice.
Gregory Palamas, Triads (primary_canonical)
In Triad I.2, in the discussion of hesychast prayer and the purification or return of the nous, Palamas defends the inward gathering of the intellect against Barlaam’s criticism. The citation supports the theological framing of the nous as recollected rather than dispersed.