Soul & Brain - 2
Most of us strive to achieve and in some measure succeed the good fortune realized by the life of Dr. Eban Alexander. An accomplished career in Medicine, a happily married relationship, and wonderful children blessed Dr. Eban.
But the universe is not perfect, be it a meteor crashing into the earth, a hurricane destroying a city or a bacterial meningitis illness attacking Dr. Eban brain. But good fortune continued to bless Dr. Eban. After seven days in a coma caused by a rare disease that normally results in death or a vegetative state, Dr. Eban made a full recovery thanks to a Miracle aided by Medical Science (From my experience, God does not like to work alone).
What was unique about his near death experience, is that his “entire Neocortex – the outer surface of the brain, the part that makes us human - was shut down”. This event differs from other human trauma injuries and illnesses where the brain is still functioning. Dr. Eban compares his illnesses to pulling the electric plug on a TV. “Pull the plug and the TV goes dead. The show is over, no matter how much you might have been enjoying it”.
In many other reported cases of near death experience, the brain continues to function in some capacity because the injury or illness originated in another vital organ like the heart. The bright lights, visions or out of body experience were generally attributed to the brain going into safe mode to lessen the pain and trauma to the individual. This off course does not account for everything that occurs during a near death experience but it made some sense until Dr. Eban’s illness and recovery. Now those occurrences need to be re-evaluated in the light of this new data about our brain and consciousness.
As a neurosurgeon and scientist, Dr. Eban understood the causes, events and his recovery from his illness. He was surrounded by other scientists, who aided in his recovery and now possess new data for their research. They along with other neuroscientists are laboring to expand our knowledge of consciousness and the brain.
But before we continue along this path, it time for a flashback to the past. If this was movie, at about now the picture on the screen would become wavy and fuzzy. Let’s pretend the words on this page are getting wavy and fuzzy, assuming that it did not happen earlier when reading the articles on my web page.
We now turn to Anthropologists who paint a picture of the world of our early ancestors. Once they became conscious of themselves and their environment, they were very frightened. Surrounding them were creatures that were bigger, stronger, faster, more agile and sometimes deadly. Add to this scene violent weather and they knew they were not in paradise.
One source of comfort and support for our ancestors was the feeling they were not alone. Spirits were an integral part of their world. The concept arose when dealing with their mortality. When family members died, the survival skills, love, and happy memories of the departed remained in their mist even though the loved member was physically gone. Burying their dead with tools and food stuff indicated our early ancestors believed in a transition to a spiritual afterlife.
The first evidence of burying their dead with tools and food were the Neanderthals between the years 100,000 to 70,000 years ago. The next precursor to our species was the Cro-Magnon people (10,000 to 40,000 years ago). They also buried their dead with supplies, painted animal pictures on cave walls to ensure a successful hunt, and worshiped a fertility god so that their crops would be plentiful and their families would flourished.
It is fair to ask now, how does a brief lesson in Anthropology 101 have to do with topic at hand about the brain? The answer is that from Humanities very beginning our brain was wired to seek out the sacred. In turn this spiritual quest contributed to the complex evolution of the human brain.
Evolutionary scientists see a correlation between the development of the brain’s complexity and religious activity. Religious and spiritual phenomena are highly complex activities. They involve emotions, thoughts, perceptions, and behaviors. They became the bases for authority, moral laws and very important they fostered social interactions and cohesion. Our ancestors seeking the sacred led to the development of a complex brain.
To be continued in “Soul & Brain - 3” to be posted by May 7, 2013
Most of us strive to achieve and in some measure succeed the good fortune realized by the life of Dr. Eban Alexander. An accomplished career in Medicine, a happily married relationship, and wonderful children blessed Dr. Eban.
But the universe is not perfect, be it a meteor crashing into the earth, a hurricane destroying a city or a bacterial meningitis illness attacking Dr. Eban brain. But good fortune continued to bless Dr. Eban. After seven days in a coma caused by a rare disease that normally results in death or a vegetative state, Dr. Eban made a full recovery thanks to a Miracle aided by Medical Science (From my experience, God does not like to work alone).
What was unique about his near death experience, is that his “entire Neocortex – the outer surface of the brain, the part that makes us human - was shut down”. This event differs from other human trauma injuries and illnesses where the brain is still functioning. Dr. Eban compares his illnesses to pulling the electric plug on a TV. “Pull the plug and the TV goes dead. The show is over, no matter how much you might have been enjoying it”.
In many other reported cases of near death experience, the brain continues to function in some capacity because the injury or illness originated in another vital organ like the heart. The bright lights, visions or out of body experience were generally attributed to the brain going into safe mode to lessen the pain and trauma to the individual. This off course does not account for everything that occurs during a near death experience but it made some sense until Dr. Eban’s illness and recovery. Now those occurrences need to be re-evaluated in the light of this new data about our brain and consciousness.
As a neurosurgeon and scientist, Dr. Eban understood the causes, events and his recovery from his illness. He was surrounded by other scientists, who aided in his recovery and now possess new data for their research. They along with other neuroscientists are laboring to expand our knowledge of consciousness and the brain.
But before we continue along this path, it time for a flashback to the past. If this was movie, at about now the picture on the screen would become wavy and fuzzy. Let’s pretend the words on this page are getting wavy and fuzzy, assuming that it did not happen earlier when reading the articles on my web page.
We now turn to Anthropologists who paint a picture of the world of our early ancestors. Once they became conscious of themselves and their environment, they were very frightened. Surrounding them were creatures that were bigger, stronger, faster, more agile and sometimes deadly. Add to this scene violent weather and they knew they were not in paradise.
One source of comfort and support for our ancestors was the feeling they were not alone. Spirits were an integral part of their world. The concept arose when dealing with their mortality. When family members died, the survival skills, love, and happy memories of the departed remained in their mist even though the loved member was physically gone. Burying their dead with tools and food stuff indicated our early ancestors believed in a transition to a spiritual afterlife.
The first evidence of burying their dead with tools and food were the Neanderthals between the years 100,000 to 70,000 years ago. The next precursor to our species was the Cro-Magnon people (10,000 to 40,000 years ago). They also buried their dead with supplies, painted animal pictures on cave walls to ensure a successful hunt, and worshiped a fertility god so that their crops would be plentiful and their families would flourished.
It is fair to ask now, how does a brief lesson in Anthropology 101 have to do with topic at hand about the brain? The answer is that from Humanities very beginning our brain was wired to seek out the sacred. In turn this spiritual quest contributed to the complex evolution of the human brain.
Evolutionary scientists see a correlation between the development of the brain’s complexity and religious activity. Religious and spiritual phenomena are highly complex activities. They involve emotions, thoughts, perceptions, and behaviors. They became the bases for authority, moral laws and very important they fostered social interactions and cohesion. Our ancestors seeking the sacred led to the development of a complex brain.
To be continued in “Soul & Brain - 3” to be posted by May 7, 2013
