Neuroscience and ToB

   
     Many of you will remember when Dr. Curt Thompson came to Truro on Oct 31, 2010 and gave a Rectors Forum talk and a sermon based on his book "Anatomy of the Soul: Surprising Connections between Neuroscience and Spiritual Practices That Can Transform Your Life and Relationships."  Dr. Thompson is a Falls Church based Christian psychiatrist, and here’s how his book is described on his website:

First, at our core, we all are desperate for joy, courage, kindness, and security. We long for these qualities to be displayed in our children, our families, our communities, and ourselves. Second, new discoveries in neuroscience – the study of how our brains function – reveal that our interactions with each other help shape our brains and relationships in ways that either point to the qualities above, or point to negative, harmful qualities. Anatomy of the Soul examines the process of paying close attention to our brains and our relationships—a process that not only strengthens our awareness of their existence, but enhances our ability to become more joyful, courageous, kind and secure as we interact with those around us.

 I have been reading Dr. Thompson’s book alongside our ToB teachings and have found so many statements in Dr. Thompson’s book that confirm the perspective we have been learning about how God has created human beings. Below are only a few. (I may integrate more in later posts.)  Though not addressing the specific area of sexuality, he does build on the larger discussion of how God creates us to be in communion with each other. Do they sound familiar?

Without input from other minds, a single mind becomes anxious, then depressed, then hopeless, and then dies, either by intentional means (suicide) or more passive forms of poor self-care. It is not good for man or woman—or a neuron or a brain—to be alone (112). 

While connection may not be our top need for immediate physical survival, our Creator has formed us in such a way that there is nothing more crucial to our long-term welfare. In fact, virtually every action we humans take is part of the deeper attempt to connect with other humans (109). 

I will argue that it is only through this process of being known that you come to know yourself and learn how to know others (23). 

It is only when we are known that we are positioned to become conduits of love (3). 

First you must become aware of how we are all shaped by the interactions within and between our minds. You then can become intentional about your relationships (xvii). 

If you encounter a therapist or a good friend who, when you feel sad, responds with empathy and comfort, your memory of the feeling of sadness will change, even if every so little at first. You will not have changed the facts of your past, but you will change your memory of it (78). 

If forgiveness hasn’t been modeled for you, it will also be quite difficult for you to anticipate a future in which you will readily forgive (85). 

There is no such thing as an individual brain. Transformation requires a collaborative interaction, with one person empathically listening and responding to the other so that the speaker has the experience, perhaps for the first time, of feeling felt by another (137). 

It is no surprise that the whole of Scripture points to the idea that God is not first and foremost intending to save us as individuals. His desire is to redeem the entire world, and we as a body of people, inextricably connected by emotion are being saved in the process (99). 

We all tend to do with God exactly what we do with the people in our lives (83).

     As we approach Pentecost, I also appreciate his mediation exercise “Practice Being Known”:

Imagine yourself in a physical environment that is peaceful and calm (ocean, lake, forest, meadow, etc.)…Next, allow yourself to sense God’s presence. There is no right or wrong way for him to appear or be revealed…Sense, if you can, God looking you directly in the eyes as he says these words [“You are my (son or daughter), and I do so love you. I am so pleased with you and that you are on the earth.”] Do not turn away from his gaze. Do not resist his voice. Allow yourself to be in his presence for several minutes. Do not leave this place in your mind quickly. What do you feel? What do you feel God feeling as he looks with tenderness and strength into the windows of your soul?...I invite you to practice this meditation—it only takes a few minutes—each day for six weeks…changing the neural networks of your brain. Practically, this exercise may lead you to a deep awareness of being known and cared for by your Father (147).

As Thompson further says about Moses: “God speaks with Moses after he see that Moses is willing to pay attention to him (Ex 3:4)….When God talks and we attentively listen, wonderful, beautiful, terrifying things happen” (51).

     The Anglican church embraces Scripture, tradition, and reason as the bases of our faith. So it is encouraging to see how new findings in neuroscience back up the theological anthropology and “the process of being known” that we are discovering in our study of John Paul’s teachings and move us away from the religion of individualism that permeates our society.