Sunday, January 6, 2008

One day in science class I realized that the heart does not speak

I was told to simply listen to my heart and I will know God is real. You might think it's obvious to theists that the heart does not speak, it actually just pumps blood, but bring this up and there is usually a moment of silence. They think about it. I think about it. They decide they are talking about the soul when they say heart.

I've decided that what you are really experiencing is coming from the brain. It was learning about what the heart does, and what it doesn't do that caused me to be interested in the brain. Neuroimaging was fascinating to me, especially because emotions had a place on the map of the brain.

Let me remind you that I was young, and I believed that I could feel god in my heart. I did not believe this because I had felt god in my heart, but because I had been told over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over that that was something that happened in the heart. Not one christian, while teaching me this, ever made mention that they weren't meaning it literally. What they mean is that they do not understand what the brain does, and so they take away from the power of the brain, and they give that power to god and say that it manifests in their heart, or their soul, or their guts. Any place but the brain, because apparently god is not allowed to reveal things to you via the brain. Jesus lives in your heart.

4 comments:

Merk said...

Now that you mention it, I've experienced the same thing. I've been told that your soul is what makes you uniquely you and is the part of you that lives on when you die. Where is my soul? I asked. They weren't sure, but they were sure it wasn't your brain.

It seems ridiculous when you think about it. With your brain.

Anonymous said...

I was going to comment on this, but I'm on my lunch break and it got WAY too long for a comment anyway. Remind me about this when I see you tonight. :-)

Kamina said...

I'll try!

Isaac Weber said...

This was loovely to read