HUMAN LIFE A PRECIOUS GIFT

The Human Brain

With astonishing efficiency, the brain decodes the streams of signals pouring in through the nerves from the sense organs. Moreover, it links these signals with details stored in its memory. Thus, a certain smell may immediately trigger the brain to retrieve a long-forgotten experience or event. And if you see just a small part of something familiar-the tip of your cat's tail, for example-your brain will fill in the missing details so that you know your cat is nearby.

Of course, your brain was not preprogrammed with images of cats, just as it was not preprogrammed with the smell of a rose of the sound of running water or the feel of fur.  Your brain learned these associations.  The experiences of people who were born blind but have been given the ability to see, perhaps through surgery, make this evident.  Their brain has to learn to interpret the flood of visual signals now flowing to it.  How do such people fare?

They soon report the ability to detect color, motion, and simple forms. But after that, progress varies. Children, especially  the very young, continue to learn quite well.  But that is not the case with adults. Even their ability to recognize faces remains highly impaired.  And, tragically,  a common feature with "cured" adults "is initial euphoria followed by disappointment and disorientation with the restored vision, often leading  to severe depression," says the Koch Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology.

These facts help us to appreciate more fully the degree of healing that Jesus Christ performed during his ministry on earth.  The blind and the deaf not only had their eyes and ears opened but also began to recognize the sights and sounds around them. Likewise,m the mute spoke normally, which would have been especially amazing in the case of those born with  this disability.  (Matthew 15:30; Mark 8:22-25; Luke 7:21, 22) And we can be confident that none of the blind who were healed spiraled  into depression. In fact, one healed man courageously  defended Jesus, saying to Jesus' religious enemies:  "From of old it has never been heard that anyone opened  the eyes of one born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing at all." -John 9:1-38. 

In the following article, we will examine some of our inner qualities, including courage and love. Have you wondered why humans alone have the potential  to display such qualities?  To be sure, the existence of such uniquely human traits has presented a major obstacle to people  who wish to prove that we are merely highly evolved animals. 

Next time: HUMAN LIFE A PRECIOUS GIFT -INNER GIFTS THAT ELEVATE US

From the Awake! magazine