I will show in Chapter 1 The History of the Brain, views on the
brain have changed quite dramatically. And we don’t have to go too far back for
evidence, for instance, Shakespeare always refers to the use of the brain,
’braining it’ as a demonstration of stupidity.
For Shakespeare, incidentally, true also of religious iconography, the heart with it dramatic, pulsing blood
imagery was the seat of our souls, and the brain was a derided, dull
instrument.
But today the view of the
brain has changed dramatically, and so has the language that accommodates it. Today,
most people now accept that we are predisposed, ‘hardwired’ to behave in
certain ways. But beyond the acceptance that we are hardwired to act in certain
ways how is a book like Your Brain and
you going to help the individual. One
way is by understanding that our brain silently operates a great deal of our
lives without us being consciously aware.
For instance we are usually unaware of our breathing or
heartbeats yet there are parts of the brain dedicated to these functions. In an extension of this imagine
this scenario. You are sitting around a
table at your next business meeting. Now the head honcho comes into the room, and
you suddenly become renewed, alert. Our
cousins, the chimpanzee illustrates this predisposition very well. In group gatherings their attention heightens
when in the presence of the dominant male, illustrating how hardwired they are
to status.
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