One of the more significant current events in the health sciences is the elaboration and clarification of the mind-body connection. Significant because it has science changing direction away from reductionism, the theory that every complex phenomenon can be explained by analyzing the simplest most basic physical mechanism that are in operation during a phenomenon.
Thinking of Creation as separate fragments has created damaging illusions. One of the worst of these is thinking of humanity as separate from the natural world. This has allowed the exploitation and destruction of our natural environment. On the other hand, thinking of Creation as interconnected, interdependent and interrelated would have had humanity acting as stewards of the planet without which we cannot survive. We call this worldview Oneness.
The two worldviews available to us, duality (Paradigm B) and Oneness (Paradigm A) are defined by their beliefs, attitudes and values. Most of our species has chosen P-B and one of the values in P-B is violence. Americans are the most violent of the nations and tribes living in that context (see Current Events #144). Living in the context of P-B we are not able to distinguish illusion from reality and therefore unable to appreciate the consequences of the fear-driven choice of violence which paradoxically gives us the illusion of safety.
Violent behaviors of any kind are damaging to both our physical and mental health because our body and mind are inextricably linked. “Yelling, name calling and humiliation can be just as detrimental to the brain as physical violence, especially in the formative years. When examining all facets of childhood abuse in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network Core Data Set, researchers discovered ‘psychological maltreatment was most strongly associated with depression, general anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, attachment problems and substance abuse.’” (1)
“Todd Feinberg, a professor of clinical psychiatry and neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, says the brain labors to create a unity of experience, knitting together our partial selves via numerous cortical mechanisms into a unified whole, into a sense of self, a consistent feeling of individuality and agency.” (2) In other words, our species is one with all of Creation and we create our own reality.
Click on the link below to deepen your understanding of the role that the brain plays in aiding humanity in internalizing the worldview of Oneness.
Insight # 146: “So you are locked into physical situations that are corroborated by the great evidence of sense data—and of course it is convincing because it reflects so beautifully, so creatively, and so actively, your own ideals and beliefs, whether they are positive or negative.” (3)
Link:
- “The Brain” in this blog and also in print version, The ABC’s of Simple Reality Vol I (2018), by Roy Charles Henry, pages 49-52.
References:
- https://www.avoiceforththeinnocent.org/emotional-abuse-brain/
- Dominus, Susan. “A Mind of Their Own.” The New York Times Magazine. May 29, 2011, page 34.
- Roberts, Jane. The Nature of Personal Reality. New York: Bantam, 1974, page 47.
