the idea of one energy

Instead of waiting

We’ve all heard so many affirmations like everything will be okay. It’ll all get better eventually. The light at the end of the tunnel. Just hang in there. All of these reassurances are based off of the present reality not being what you want it to be. The assumption that you are not satisfied with what is happening in your life right now. That you have to go through some kind of suffering, a debt, to achieve that something you want. On the surface, this may be true. Nothing ever truly worth it comes easy. You are never given a one-way ticket to success. And sometimes facing that reality is what a lot of people struggle with when achieving their goals. And the light at the end of the tunnel is supposed to be some kind of motivation, knowing that things will get better once we get passed this suffering. As if every struggle in itself will dissipate once you’ve attained that one thing you are working towards. But personally I feel like that puts so much burden on every day life...

theories on brain localization

There are three major theories on how the brain is organized, in terms of its structure and function. Phrenology was proposed by Gall in the late 18th century who thought it was possible to determine character traits by examining the external bumps on the head. All behavior/mental function was assigned a location in the brain, and using more or less of these regions determined these bumps. The aggregate field view was raised by Flourens (1920s) using experimental evidence that showed that all areas are important for each mental function. So any part can perform all functions and there was no localization. Cellular connectionism (supported by Hughlings Jackson, Wernicke, Sherrington, Ramon y Cajal) states that individual neurons are signalling units that are arranged in groups, each having a particular function. References E. R. Kandel, J. H. Schwartz, T. Jessell, Principles of Neural Science (McGraw-Hill, New York, ed. 4, 2000).

Is there an emotional brain? (arguments against)

The limbic system has been commonly referred to in scientific literature as the emotional brain. But we know now with more information and advanced technologies that the limbic system is an ambiguous concept, it is what LeDoux says is just a “useful anatomical shorthand”. One evidence that challenges this theory is that areas that are considered unique to mammals (therefore termed the “mammalian brain”) is also present in ‘primitive’ creatures such as reptiles and amphibians. For example, a study conducted by Gilles Laurent and colleagues in 2018 using single cell RNA-sequencing technology showed that the neurons of the pallium of reptiles had similar genetic makeup to that of the hippocampus and amygdala of mouse and humans! These areas are what MacLean included in the limbic system theory, yet they are present in these ‘lower’ animals. Moreover, the same study showed that the anterior dorsal cortex of the pallium in reptiles was similar to the human neocortex, which is a layer ...

mind & heart = spirit

Search This Blog