The Brain

MON., SEPT. 24, 1984, 5:40 AM
FARM, STUDY

You are surprised, o son, at this rather anatomical title this morning. You have some sense of how I shall relate it to the spirit, but you still must have lots of faith that it can be the basis for an entire Teaching. Perhaps there will be some digressions…

The brain is an absolutely marvelous development in the human, particularly when it is evident that this structure started with the same two cells from whence came all the rest of the body. No one can truly understand this structure with its myriad functions, and your understanding is certainly minimal. Yet you need not study to know the brain in more detail, for I shall give you what is most important. Yes it is more important that you use your brain to relearn the seasons in Ecclesiastes than the parts and functions of the brain. Why, then, did I suggest this title?

The brain is the coordinator and unifier of bodily function, much as the spirit is for you as a whole person. Therefore, while the spirit is more romantically and picturesquely identified with the heart, you know that it certainly has more “business with” the brain. It just doesn’t seem proper, nevertheless, to link the spirit with this that is the analog of the computer, the ultimate in machines. But today I urge you to do this… with the insight that the heart can be kept going by mechanical and “outside” electronic means, that a functioning artificial heart is on the horizon, but there is no such mechanical replacement of the brain. The brain is thus the most relevant organ to a full, functioning life.

Spirit is a part of each portion of the body. Just as there is blood associated with every living part, so also is there spirit. Some people’s hands evidence spirit. In some, the face radiates spirit. Be willing to observe this day and discern. Yet the main arena is the brain, for here the spirit must come to some balance with the mind (the intellect) and with the emotions. In some, the mind, functioning in the brain, can be contentious, perhaps denying the very existence of spirit. Some who were in your class yesterday felt, emotionally and in spirit, during the class, the reality of that Teaching and of My role in its origin. Yet when the emotional ties were broken the mind tried hard to deny the reality of spirit. The brain abets this process, for the intellect is its main function. In some cultures there is far less conflict within this structure… and in some there is the encouragement of even more.

As I have told you, in the absence of strong spirit the mind, with the brain as its fundamental base, is the most likely coordinator and attempted unifier of the person, whose dimensions are always in unique relationship, one with the others. It can have some success, but is always inclined to want its own way.

The brain is a physical structure, and therefore can be affected by physical forces. Fatigue is an important one, and hunger (and low blood sugar) is another. Alcohol and other drugs can invade and affect the brain and thus can hinder the full functioning of the mind. Trauma to the brain is the most serious, wherein destruction takes place that may permanently limit the function of mind.