RELIGION AND BRAIN

 RELIGION AND BRAIN

The Neocortex and the Astrocytes

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea. 2 And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her  husband And I heard a great voice out of Heaven, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them; and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God. ⁴ And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.” ⁵ And He that sat upon the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said unto me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” ⁶ And He said unto me, “It is done! I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the Water of Life freely. ⁷ He that overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.” (Revelation 21:1-7 – 21st Century King James Version)

 

THE THREE GREAT AGES OF THE WORLD

            Primitive times

The exact nature of civilization, or to use a more exact expression, although more extensive, the same society, has only sometimes occupied the world. Humanity has grown, developed, and matured like us. He became a man from childhood, and we now witness his old age. Before the era, which modern society calls ancient, there was another era, which the ancients called fabulous, which would be more accurate to call primitive. Here, then, are three successive ages in civilization, from its origin to the present day. Since poetry always overlaps society, we will try to unravel, according to the form of the latter, what must have been the character of the former in the three great ages of the world: primitive times, ancient times, and modern times.

In primitive times, when a man wakes up in a world that has just been born, poetry wakes up with him. His first word is a hymn in the presence of wonders that dazzle and intoxicate him. He is still so close to God that his meditations are hymns, and all dreams are visions of him. In the outpouring of him, he sings as he breathes. His lyre has only three strings: God, the soul, and creation, but this triple mystery envelops everything; this triple idea encompasses everything. The land is still almost deserted. Families are in it, but not towns, fathers, or kings. Each race exists quietly, without property, without law, without friction, and without war. Everything belongs to each and every one. Society is a community, and nothing bothers the man who vegetates in the pastoral and nomadic life with which all civilizations begin and which is conducive to solitary contemplations and whimsical fantasies. His thought, like his life, is like a cloud that changes shape and path depending on the wind that blows it. Behold the first man, behold the first poet. He is young and lyrical; his prayer condenses his religion, and the ode is all his poetry.

Ancient times

Evidence for agriculture emerged in about 9000 BC in eastern Turkey and spread through the Fertile Crescent. Settlement at Göbekli Tepe began around 9500 BC and may have the world’s oldest temple. The Nile River Valley has evidence of sorghum and millet cultivation starting around 8000 BC, and agricultural use of yams in Western Africa perhaps dates to the same time. The millet, rice, and legumes cultivation began around 7000 BC in China. Taro cultivation in New Guinea dates to about 7000 BC, with squash cultivation in Mesoamerica perhaps sharing that date. Animal domestication began with the domestication of dogs, which dates to at least 15,000 years ago, and perhaps even earlier. Sheep and goats were domesticated around 9000 BC in the Fertile Crescent, alongside the first evidence for agriculture. Other animals, such as pigs and poultry, were later domesticated and used as food sources. Cattle and water buffalo were domesticated around 7000 BC, and horses, donkeys, and camels were domesticated by about 4000 BC. All these animals were used not only for food but to carry and pull people and loads, significantly increasing human ability to do work. The invention of the simple plow by 6000 BC further increased agricultural efficiency.

Modern times

The Renaissance

The Renaissance was an artistic-cultural movement from Italy that spread through Western Europe from the fifteenth century.

The cultural manifestation of a change in the European mentality went from a theocentric worldview, typical of the medieval period, to an anthropocentric one. This change, manifested in the intellectual, cultural, and philosophical current known as Humanism, is considered the beginning of the Modern Age. Anthropocentric thought emphasizes the human faculty to access world knowledge through reason. In this sense, the people of the Renaissance considered themselves inheritors of Greek and Roman cultural values. “renaissance” refers to recovering these classical values after the Middle Ages.

The artistic Renaissance is usually divided into two moments:

1-      The Quattrocento, or First Renaissance: from approximately 1400 to 1480, had the city of Florence as its center.

2-     The Cinquecento, or High Renaissance: from 1480 to 1520, centered in Rome, from where it spread across Europe.

Adan creation

The creation of Adam is part of the decoration of the vault of the Sistine Chapel made by Michelangelo Buonarroti between 1508-1512.

Psyche’s notion in Aristotle offers an interpretative frame capable of gathering and nourishing a group of contemporary approaches that study the mind-body problem. The fact that Aristotle’s notion of psyche, or soul, considered vital functions that are not mental, such as digestion or reproduction, makes more accessible an approach to the naturalistic, and at the same time non-reductionist, theory of Aristotle about relations between mind and body. Nowadays, neuroscience studies have reopened this debate and have made necessary a new synthesis where different disciplines meet.

Michelangelo, perhaps the most outstanding artist of the Renaissance, was an architect, painter, sculptor, and staunch lover of human anatomy. In fact, he was also famously known for dissecting hundreds of corpses during his studies of the body.

Considering the facts, Michelangelo’s hiding features of human anatomy in his paintings should not come as a great surprise. Such is the case of the image of God, and the Host of heaven framed within what looks like a human brain, one of his paintings on the panels of the Sistine Chapel.

The work shows God, who looks up to Adam, exposing his right hand through the “brain’s frontal lobe,” trying to communicate with Adam. However, Adam is fallen by his disobedience and lost any contact with his Creator, God. 

Adam was sentenced to death, but God is a God of mercy: “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy.” (Psalm 103:8 - 21st Century King James). “So speak ye, and so do, as those who shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy, who hath shown no mercy; and mercy rejoices against judgment.” (James 2:12-13). Reach out to Adam like the brain neurons communicate through synapses, not touching each other but through a small gap.

 

              What Synapses Do

Synapses connect neurons and help transmit information from one neuron to the next. When a nerve signal reaches the end of the neuron, it cannot simply continue to the next cell. Instead, it must trigger the release of neurotransmitters, which can then carry the impulse across the synapse to the next neuron.

Once a nerve impulse has triggered the release of neurotransmitters, these chemical messengers cross the tiny synaptic gap. They are taken up by receptors on the surface of the next cell.

These receptors act like a lock, while the neurotransmitters function like keys. Neurotransmitters may excite or inhibit the neuron they bind to.

Think of the nerve signal like the electrical current and the neurons like wires. Synapses would be the outlets or junction boxes that connect the current to a lamp (or other electrical appliance of your choosing), allowing the lamp to light.

 

God is the True Light. Jesus said, I am the Light of this world, and wanted to enlighten us with His light. (The Quantum Physics Law of Entanglement).

 

Next blog, I will try the theme of the Post-Modern Times. These last times we live now, where people go from here to there and Science multiplies in exponent terms.