My wife and I spent several hours last night watching the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. This morning we started watching the news again still trying to absorb what has happened.
We cannot imagine what the parents, family and friends went through, are going through today, and will continue to go through for years to come. And, we thank God that the teachers were able to respond in an intelligent and calm manner to protect and then evacuate their students.
Of course, we all ask ‘why did this happen’ and ‘how could this happen’? And, even when we have the answers we will never really understand. Our conscious mind just cannot digest something as horrible as this.
As a nation, and across the world, our hearts reach out to this community. We pray for them, no matter what our beliefs.
At a time like this I think of John Lennon’s song, ‘Imagine’.
“… Imagine all the people living life in peace
You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us and the world will be as one”
Showing posts with label understanding the brain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label understanding the brain. Show all posts
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Our sense of self
I just took a break from the rewriting of my book this morning to view another interesting video on TED – Ideas worth Spreading. The eighteen minute presentation recorded this year is by Antonio Damasio and the subject is: The quest to understand consciousness.
Short Bio: Neuroscientist Damasio's research in neuroscience has shown that emotions play a central role in social cognition and decision-making. His work has had a major influence on current understanding of the neural systems, which underlie memory, language, and consciousness.
In this presentation he begins by explaining that “Every morning we wake up and regain consciousness -- that is a marvelous fact -- but what exactly is it that we regain?” Antonio Damasio uses this question to provide a glimpse into how our brains create our sense of self. It is fascinating because I never really considered ‘the sense of self’ ... where is comes from and how it works. His visuals helped better explain the interconnectivity of the brain.
It was also interesting to me, from a person living with Kennedy’s
Disease, how certain parts of the brain stem impact your abilities to move and feel as well as create the mental state of a coma after a stroke, for example. The explanation of the coma state was fascinating, but the point he made about another state, ‘complete paralysis’, where you are imprisoned within your own body even though you have a conscious mind gave me pause.
If you have the chance, watch the video. It is well worth eighteen minutes of your time.
Short Bio: Neuroscientist Damasio's research in neuroscience has shown that emotions play a central role in social cognition and decision-making. His work has had a major influence on current understanding of the neural systems, which underlie memory, language, and consciousness.
In this presentation he begins by explaining that “Every morning we wake up and regain consciousness -- that is a marvelous fact -- but what exactly is it that we regain?” Antonio Damasio uses this question to provide a glimpse into how our brains create our sense of self. It is fascinating because I never really considered ‘the sense of self’ ... where is comes from and how it works. His visuals helped better explain the interconnectivity of the brain. It was also interesting to me, from a person living with Kennedy’s
Disease, how certain parts of the brain stem impact your abilities to move and feel as well as create the mental state of a coma after a stroke, for example. The explanation of the coma state was fascinating, but the point he made about another state, ‘complete paralysis’, where you are imprisoned within your own body even though you have a conscious mind gave me pause. If you have the chance, watch the video. It is well worth eighteen minutes of your time.
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