The science of belief.

"Our virtues and our failings are inseparable, like force and matter.  When they separate, man is no more."    - Nikola Tesla

I love this quote.  While geeking out with my husband and watching some super cool History Channel shows, we heard this. It spoke to me.... crazy Tesla spoke to me (a fellow-crazy). I love the idea that we are not able to be one without the other.  We, as imperfect human creatures, are expected both to be our "sparkly best" (for some reason that description stuck in my head and I could NOT come up with anything else), and also to fail at it.  And that's great because we fail quite frequently!

Brian and I do really love to geek out.  Some of our favorite topics of conversation include science, physics, Metaphysics and religion/spirituality.  It's one of the things about my husband that immediately attracted me to him.  He understood and shared my scientific and logical mind, and the very sure opinion that science and discovery bring us closer to God and not further away.  He operates more in the philosophical side of this, and I in the psychological, but it sparks some great conversations!

So tonight, when scrolling through the tv listings and seeing History's "Proving God", we both looked at each other with a little glimmer in our eyes :-)  Brian, in fact, immediately shut his laptop (we were co-computing as good married couples do), situated on the couch and focused ALL attention on the show.  I was floored!  Even Badger games are viewed with the laptop open....

The show went through various aspects of this concept, but one area of this subject that I've always found fascinating is the neurophysiological study of how our mind believes.  A book that I read years ago (when Brian and I first started dating, actually!) called Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief outlined many of these same concepts, showing the effects that spirituality had on our biological functions. 

I think it's very enlightening to sit down and really ponder these mysteries.  If you're someone that prays or meditates (even if just in yoga class), how does it make you feel?  How does it affect your body?  And if you think of that physiological change, what sort of affect does it's enemy, STRESS have on the body?  We've all heard (and felt) that stress is bad for your health and exacerbates many conditions, but how many times have they told you that the best way to counter stress is through spirituality? 

I think we've all lost concept of the word PEACE and what that means.  Inner peace, outer peace, rest in peace, "peace be with you".... it's become nothing but words words blah blah words.  My God! Isn't the season of Christmas the time when we send out cards wishing each other peace, but feel it the very LEAST?!  As someone who suffers from some MAJOR anxiety (more on that in a blog post that I've written many times (adhd) but never posted), I have my own tug-of-war going with Peace.  It's as if I actually have an angel and a devil on my shoulders, but one is my "shiny happy people mode" and the other is "motherfucking crazy person mode."  So I guess I'm not in any position to truly advise others on how to find Peace (try soft rock).  We need to be aware of it's affect on us, and how we can bring it into our own lives and help to bring it to others.  Lord knows we could all use a little more peacefulness.

More on the other science-y stuff another day.  This turned into a hippy dippy peace and love fest, which wasn't at all where I was going with it :-) 

And now for the thrilling conclusion: Brian just came over to me to say goodnight and said that he'd like to leave me with a joke! About meditating! Oh good, what a great end to my story!  Except that it's SO totally dorky and I didn't get the punch line :-)  All great jokes have to be explained, right??......

"A Buddhist monk goes into the dentist, and finds out he needs a root canal.  'As long as you don't give me anesthetic, Doctor' the monk says.  The dentist argues, 'My God man, you'll be in terrible pain! Are you sure?!' The monk quietly and surely says 'Most certainly. I'll just transcend dental medication.'" [See: Transcendental Meditation]

Hahaha! (eyeroll)