What does it mean to be human? Knowing about the specific functions of the brain can help

In the next posts, I will describe conditions of being human. A human body is a product of millions of years of evolution. Knowing how the MINDBODY functions, helps to feel free in the knowledge, and wisely use the natural gifts installed in us.

Human Faculty BRAINS:

In case it’s news to you, we have many brains in the head and in the body.

The brain in your head has 3 parts: reptilian (your lizard ), mammalian (your cat or zebra) and prefrontal (the Angel).

Brain 1: reptilian, your lizard

First to develop, is pure instinct, actually behaves like a lizard. Scared, frozen, suspicious, tense, threatened, fearful, it tells you that every danger is lurking everywhere and the world is out to get you. Reactive, reacts to everything with fear and creates vicious cycles in your life. People dress up their lizards in stories. The lizard’s fears can not be described in words, they are sensations in the body, but because we have a gift of Words and Speech, we wrap our lizard in stories that explain and justify our behavior. These stories often have very little to do with the deep end of the fear. When you find yourself acting out of fear, refuse to act like a lizard, question the story you tell yourself.

Brain 2: Mammalian

The brain that holds trauma. Million little deaths that we experience as humans and what happens with the soul? Are there any traumatised zebras?

Next to develop in the process of evolution. Think of herds of herbivores sticking together- there is safety in numbers. Think of wolves hunting together, who are involved in a sophisticated communication and collaboration teamwork to get food. This brain is about emotions and socialising. It’s a survival part of the brain, being a part of a social group increases our survival rate. Mother nature installed adaptive mechanisms and survival mechanisms in all creatures. As humans, we always adapt to our social environment, parents first, through emotional reactions. We have one very significant response to threat that we share with all mammals- trauma response. This response happens in our middle brain- limbic system/ emotional system. If our needs are ignored or we feel threatened, we go into a fundamental mammalian reaction of fight, flight, and freeze.

Just like your lizard ( reptilian brain) your zebra can not speak. In healing, this is important because, if trauma response is preverbal, we can not possibly treat it with talking. This is one of the reasons why “talking therapy” has been ineffective in treating deep stresses which are results of trauma response. Trauma response is sustained in the MINDBODY.

When I make a comparison with zebras and you in your traumatic response to overwhelming stress, I get asked, “Are there any traumatised zebras?” Science tells us, that mammals get out of their trauma response quickly simply by shaking. Say, a lion holds a zebra, the zebra freezes, which is like a little death. All the energy that the zebra had utilised for an escape before being held, is still there inside her, but on a forceful break. When a moment permits, the lion gets distracted, the zebra will utilize every bit of this enormous amount of energy to escape. If there is no chance of survival, the freeze response will make the death painless. Some say, that this moment of freeze is the moment of tiny death, when the soul or a piece of it flies out of the body.

This is the same story for us, when we are held in a situation, often as children or youngsters, that is painful. When we are hurt emotionally, ignored we can go into the trauma response of freeze. But all the energy stirred up in us for defence, cannot be used. We can’t run, fight, we freeze and stay. In essence, in this moment, our MINDBODY experiences a little death, with pieces of our soul shattered and some flying out. There are no words for it, only emotions and sensations in the body.

We later carry this survival energy in our MINDBODY for many years as ongoing stresses. This energy can often manifest through psychological and physical symptoms. As we grow, we use words and stories to explain our patterned behaviours, our heartbreak and inability to be happy, peaceful and calm. However, the reason for the unhappiness is inside the emotional brain which can be only treated and healed with by another emotion.

Brain 3: The Angel

The last brain to develop is your prefrontal cortex, which gives the ability to analyse, synthesis, deduct, explain, predict, and hold meta cognition. All these functions have to do with, yes, you got, WORDS. Words are the real King for this brain. Yes, it speaks, and speaks lots!

This brain is an extremely useful evolutionary addition to our two ancient brains. Unfortunately, as any new technology, it is often misused. This brain in particular, is being used for wrong purposes when it comes to healing deeper emotional pain. Psychoanalysis insists that we should utilise this brain to heal trauma and emotional ailments. Wrong. It can't do the job! Even though it really genuinely tries.

One way it tries to help is by making stories. The Angel brain makes sense of the world by creating stories that explain our emotions, behaviours arising from deeper pain, and fear we carry. The stories have value and they work, by giving temporary relief to the pain, but sadly, they don’t hold, and as the symptoms exacerbate, the brain modifies the stories again and again.

Another way it tries to solve emotional issues is by judging our emotions and reactions. When we are traumatised, the back and the middle part of the brain are activated; and your brain is mainly in the reactive cycle. You overreact, you are triggered, you blow up more, or you shut down more. In an attempt to help, the Angel brain starts judging you, managing you and telling you about everything that is wrong with you and how to make it right. In fact, it is scared of your reactions and at the same time, is aware of its inability to solve the issue. It will keep using words in a desperate attempt to keep you safe.

Remember, the birthplace of trauma is in the middle brain, which uses emotions and sensations and doesn’t understand words and analysis. How can the wordy Angel brain possibly help to heal?

Now, I hear a very valid question from you: why do we call it the Angel. Remember, it was created for higher functions. By its design, it makes you almost godlike. You, the owner and the user of the Angle brain, the creator, the artist, the builder, the novelist, the philosopher, the rocket scientist. The job of this brain is to project into the future. When we force it to heal the trauma, in fact, we force it to stare at the back of your head, and of course, it won’t know how to heal. The logic of the Angel brain will always fail because you can’t heal emotion with logic.