Walking Trees

This topic began on the first of this month with an overview on trees. The rest of this thread will look at the applications of the Brain Overview" post. The book that helped me make the connection between what we've been discussing on this blog for the last two plus years and the latest discoveries in brain research is Dr. Leaf's "Who Switched Off My Brain?"

In this post we will deal with the first feedback loop: the formation of a full thought. A full thought is made up of an experience through the senses, associated memories, and emotion.

An experience comes through the five senses, for example, I drink grapefruit juice. The thalamus sends an alerting signal to the brain to find out if this is a negative or a positive experience. In this example I feel a positive feeling...happiness and lightness...I'm energized. (Notice, this is why people will respond with a feeling from their memory before they can identify a specific event.)

Then the thalamus sends a signal to actively search the "trees in the brain" (dendrites) to find specific memories associated with tasting grapefruit juice. In this example, preschool in Southern California comes to mind...

The thalamus has a full thought: taste of grapefruit juice, preschool, and a happy feeling. The thalamus can recycle this information to make the thought even fuller.

The process is repeated, this time the alerting signal wants to know how I feel about grapefruit juice and preschool...then it searches for the connection. This time, the information comes back that I used to have grapefruit juice and some kind of cracker for snack at the preschool I used to go to.

If I stay in this loop long enough, I will realize that the cracker was a Wheat-Thin and that I haven't drank grapefruit juice or ate Wheat-Thins in a long, long time...if I stay in this loop longer I may think about the kids I knew or the songs we sang in preschool.

INTELLIGENCE
The speed at which I go through this loop is a measure of my intelligence. The faster I go through this loop, the more intelligent I am. The example we just covered can occur in seconds. What are the variables that affect the speed of this feedback loop?

First is whether the loop can be completed at all. If the loop can't be completed, then there is no need to discuss speed. A lack of connections and dead ends would prevent the loop from being completed. Basically, I wouldn't be able to form a full thought because I can't find an emotion or a feeling associated with the experience.

If I am able to complete the loop, then the second variable would be the strength of the connections. If the connections are strong in my trees then I'm less likely to hit a dead end and have to back up to a main branch.

Third, my willingness to search my memory. The memory may be physically accessible, however, I may build a road-block and not allow myself to follow the branch to the memory. For instance, if I'm going to go down a path that holds pain or will prove I'm wrong, I can choose to avoid that path.

When people are defensive, abruptly stop conversations, contradict themselves, switch topics, become easily distracted, attack with emotionalism, and/or state they don't have a good memory, the cause can be the lack of connections in the trees of their brain. If you could see their "trees" they would look shriveled and lack connections.

I see people as walking forests...some are completely covered with trees bearing fruit...some are mostly covered with regions of lushness...and some have isolated pockets of greenery among acres of thorny bushes.

Let's look at the following Bible passage more closely:

"And they come unto Bethsaida. And they bring to him a blind man, and beseech him to touch him." (Mark 8:22, ASV)

They brought a blind man to Jesus in order to be healed.

"And he took hold of the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village; and when he had spit on his eyes, and laid his hands upon him, he asked him, Seest thou aught?" (Mark 8:23, ASV)

Jesus took hold of the blind man by the hand and walked him out of the village! The blind man was touched by Jesus for a long time...he spent a lot of personal time with Jesus. Then Jesus spit on him! Jesus also asked him if he saw "aught".

Take a second and think about what it would be like for one drop of Jesus' blood to touch you. This blind man had part of Jesus' physical being become a part of his physical being. Jesus is the Life! What would it be like to have part of the Life physically become part of your physical life? What would happen to the ability of the physical part that received physical Life from Jesus? Saliva has healing properties...would having these healing properties on our eyes allow us to see like Jesus?...that is, beyond the physical?

Is there any other healing recorded in the Bible where Jesus spent this amount of time with someone OR shared a part of His physical Life? In this healing, He does BOTH. To me, this would be the Ultimate source of healing prior to shedding His blood on the cross.

"And he looked up, and said, I see men; for I behold them as trees, walking." (Mark 8:24, ASV)

Take a moment and state your will as to the meaning of this verse. More specifically, did Jesus fail at a "perfect healing"? Did Jesus not achieve "OUGHT" healing? You can make up any excuse you want (blind man's lack of faith, etc.) if you think Jesus' attempt at healing him was less than perfect (IS)...the excuse is not the point. Use your brain intentionally. Make a decision whether you think the blind man is less than OUGHT.

Why don't we read this verse as "I see men" as a success, and everything after the "for" as the reason why he sees so well?

Notice there is nothing in this story that says it wasn't a success. When Jesus didn't heal someone, the Bible always gives the reason it didn't work.

"Then again he laid his hands upon his eyes; and he looked stedfastly, and was restored, and saw all things clearly. And he sent him away to his home, saying, Do not even enter into the village." (Mark 8:25-26, ASV)

I personally believe Jesus "over healed" the blind man. The blind man didn't see physical things clearly. I think the blind man saw with such resolution and beyond physical limitations...he had Jesus' physical Life on his eyes! Why wouldn't he see people as trees...walking? Jesus helped him see physical things clearly...he toned down the blind man's resolution...and told him not to "even enter into the village". I believe He didn't want the man to tell everyone else exactly what he saw while it was fresh in his brain. This story is like a litmus test...it is just as easy to see it as an "over-heal" as an "under-heal". The person hearing about the story has to bring themselves to this story.

This healing was for our understanding...

I realize I could be wrong. If I'm wrong, then I'm willing to face God and explain why I thought Jesus was able to do something more than what He did. If a person is wrong about this being an "under-healing", then they have to be willing to explain to God why they thought Jesus wasn't able to do something.

As for me, ever since the ICRS last month, all I see is people as trees, walking.

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