The Seat of Intelligence

I am very happy to be currently attending my first actual Neuroscience classes. As a result of the new type of instruction, new questions have risen in my mind in places or subjects that I never considered before. The most recent comes with an interesting historical detail that relates strongly with the Book of Mormon

Of course with the beginning of a new subject, the curriculum calls for a quick summary of historical facts about the subject. Neuroscience followed this same pattern with a description of the various scientific breakthroughs starting at the beginning of man and down to today in connection with the brain and nervous system. The history is long and probably uninteresting to most so I will not share it all. What I do want to share is an interesting fact that I had not really given serious attention. As humans we have no always known about our body and their several functions obviously. One important case is the brain and its intelligence center role. It wasn't until the 4th century B.C. that man first proposed that the brain had control over intelligent functions. Before that point, the heart was largely considered the center for the mind and control of the body. Now this is not a breath taking fact and I don't expect it to amaze anyone. The importance of this fact has to do with the history of the Book of Mormon and even the Bible and I'll show you why.

We must first remember the chronology of the Bible and Book of Mormon. The Bible is easy because it records from the beginning of the Earth until today. Earliest records were written by Moses so we must more strictly keep in mind the chronology of the writers instead of the content. The Book of Mormon is even more interesting however because it takes place from approximately 600 B.C. until 400 A.D. According to the two of these timelines, the writers and authors of these records were among the generations who still believed that a humans intelligence, emotions, and judgments were controlled by the heart. Large evidence of this can be found in the Egyptian traditions that date possibly even in the time of Moses. When embalming their dead, these people thought so little of the brain and its necessity that instead of placing the brain in a jar with other important organs, they scrambled it, pulled it out through the nasal openings and threw it out. Gross yes, but this must make one wonder then about the certain beliefs of even prophets and men of God all across the world during these very early days.

When Lehi took his family into the wilderness and his family sailed across to the Americas, he had missed the first serious objections to the heart-mind theory by approximately 200 years. He took with him the original feelings of the egyptians and possibly other cultures who still believed the mind remained in the heart and that intelligence and control was seated in that same organ. Realizing this lack of knowledge, I took my investigation to the Book of Mormon itself. Again, I could list an incredible amount of sources to back all of this up, but I don't care to spend the time on that here in this post. However, I recommend looking up "Heart" in the index of the Book of Mormon to see how it is used in the language of the people of Nephi. Essentially, there are many many references which place the heart and mind as connected things. Phrases like "Open your hearts that you may understand the things of the Lord". "...and understand with their hearts", "...and he prophesied whatsoever the Lord put into his heart", "...and they did understand in their hearts the words which he prayed.", "... ponder it in your hearts.".

Of course as is my way, I will not make a declaration of truth in this case, but I do find it overwhelmingly evident that the people within scriptural record must have had a knowledge of the mind that is different from what we now know today. Now this obviously does not alter the intent of the doctrine and the principles that we learn from the Gospel, but it makes one ponder the minute details in which how people pictured the reception of knowledge and the governance of oneself.

Also as is my way, I notice that there are also some details that refute my findings. You'll notice in certain repeated phrases that words like Mind and Heart are always separate. Meaning one is never used to completely describe the other. An example is the common phrase "Heart, Might, and Mind". Phrases like these make me ponder the distinction even though their understanding should clump pretty much all three together into one. Perhaps there is simply no word to describe it all together or they had a decent understanding of separate functions of the heart knowing it as a life giving organ, a strengthening organ, and (to them) a center of emotion and belief. There are many more examples of this interesting mind-heart separation that I will not include here but i again encourage the reader to investigate this deviation from my theory.

Ultimately I still believe that the ancient believers understanding of anatomy was significantly limited and therefore their beliefs of functions of inner organs are most likely skewed in some way. One last confusing note came from a temple visit I made a few days ago. While participating in certain ordinances, prayers were said that described portions of the body and their functions. One of those prayers described the brain being the center for intellect. Now, remember that from modern revelation and careful scripture study it is evident that the saints of the New Testament performed temple ordinances as we do today. Whether the prayers said then were exactly the same as we perform them today I have no idea and there's really no way we can know. However, if they WERE the same, then there arises an interesting thought. Although Hippocrates would have already made his theory that the brain was the seat of intelligence, Aristotle later refuted that claim and cemented once more that the heart controlled the mind and once again the heart was viewed as the control center. Those living in the time of Christ most likely were still living in a time influenced by Aristotle theories. Thus, for the prayers of temple ordinances to claim that intelligence was in the brain, they would be challenging the common beliefs of the time. Did some members have a trouble with this concept? I have no idea. Were the prayers said differently in conjunction with their current beliefs? Again I can't say. One more question to ask the God above when I get back home.

The Illusion

A day or so after I returned home from my mission, I watched my first movie. For no particular reason it was the movie Wolverine. I barely even remembered that such a movie had been made so there was little to no reason for choosing to watch it. However, because of watching that movie, I had the surprise of my life. I encountered one of the greatest contrasts that I've ever seen. A contrast that I continue to see appear in my life on a very regular basis. Keep in mind the specific timeline that I had JUST returned home from my mission. My mind was still focused solely on the Lord and the eternal perspective of my life. No other alternatives had been introduced to me as to what the world was made up of. Then I watched Wolverine. This movie depicted mutants with special super powers who were fighting the war of good vs evil. The world they lived in accepted the fact that such mutants existed and that it was a normal way of life. Upon finishing the movie I noticed something both shocking and disturbing. Just from watching that one movie, my own vision of the world around me had temporarily been altered. For a few moments I was almost willing to believe that mutants did exist on this world and that that was the world that I was a part of. As I returned home from watching the movie and knelt by my bed to pray, I noticed that it was incredibly more difficult to feel as if I was in the presence of the Lord. It was more difficult to have faith that the Lord was hearing my prayers. For a moment I actually questioned which world existed, the one with a Heavenly Father and the other with mutants. Of course because I had only watched a movie I was relatively quickly able to establish for a certainty what the truth was. However, the fact that I had to question that gave me quite the uneasy feeling.

This is not a once in a lifetime experience. It did not result from a lack of faith or a wobbling in my testimony. Remember that I had just returned from my mission so my faith was incredibly strong. Because of this experience, I have taken careful note to watch what experiences I have when I watch certain media productions, whether they be movies, television, or even plays. Each one present a new reality, a new possibility, a new world. The frequency of these presentations is daunting to he who desires to stay on the straight and narrow.

It is my feeling that this is surely in favor of the devils initiative. He seeks to make the truth, the real world, the actual reality seem like it is simply an option between other possibilities. He creates so many stories, so many fables and myths that man is forced to question which one is fabricated and which one is not. What faithful followers of Christ once had no trouble distinguishing as truth now have trouble wondering if the story of the creating of the world is simply another story to be presented for entertainment. Of course it is silly for one to believe that superheroes fly around in the sky, aliens come and destroy the world, or that one could find lost treasure right in their own basement and become the most popular person ever. Despite the silliness of this, these are the fantasies of a prideful people. Satan knows this and therefore with the increase of media presentation technology, such fantasies become more and more plausible to the mind. In someones mind, they may watch enough movies about superheroes that these super people are just as plausible as Heavenly Father. They cant see their superheroes but they have faith that they're out there. How sad it is that the devil is able to use the same methods that followers of Christ use to strengthen their testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to strengthen the faith of every day people that man made fantasies are in fact true.

The question then is how do we separate the fakes from the truths? This brings about the importance of the famous scripture in Alma 32. Here Alma teaches that faith can only be acquired by doing, not just believing. Each principle of the Gospel must be tested so that one can understand the reality of the Creator. The Gospel teaches true principles that offers good promises that will be fulfilled every time. The land of Narnia in the books and movies also teaches principles, but they too must be tested for their reality. Solid truths, and no falsehoods must arise from a true source. As many times as you want to try and get to Narnia... you will fail. As many times as you want to feel the spirit from serving a neighbor... you will always succeed. As many times as you try and jump off a building and fly you will most definitely fail. And as many times as you attempt to change your life through repentance through the gift of the Atonement, you will succeed.

I do still find it sad that we must take such time to distinguish between the true and the false realities but this is the world we live in. This shows me the true foresight of the Lord in preparing such counsel for our generations that we might know how to distinguish the Lord's will and the Lord's way from what is depicted by the media. Because of this realization of the heavy impact of media on my mind, I now cant help but caution myself in how frequently I watch certain types of movies or other type of media productions. Video games are high on that list as well since with those situations you are actually in control of what goes on and therefore you become a part of a different world. For an hour you picture yourself as a Jedi Knight or a WWII soldier. Neither will ever be true of your identity but for a moment you have the chance to experience it. The way you look at yourself becomes warped and you feel as if you are capable of things you once were not. However, it is sadly the case that many find this to be untrue. I reflect on stories I hear through the news of those who became lost in video games centered around violence. They wrapped their minds around the idea that they were trained killers on a mission to either save or doom the world for whatever reason. In real life they put themselves in a real violent situation and soon learn that they are not the immortal character they created for themselves in their games. They are weak and in fact have close to nothing because they gave it all up for their gaming world.

I personally warn all individuals, both male and female, to avoid addictive media entertainment. Media is for enjoyment and uplifting purposes and not to drown out the world that we live in. There is nothing we can do in a false world but we can do anything in the real world. God is real, it has been tested and it has been proven. He has actually appeared to man on a number of occasions and he has a plan for us. If we follow it and live the Gospel we will not fall short of the happiness that he promises for us. Moderation is absolutely necessary when we place ourselves in situations in which we are presented with a number of false realities. Otherwise, the devil will have his way and the eternal world that we live in will simply become one possibility out of thousands.