From: Aryeh (Arnie) Gotfryd, PhD [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Aryeh (Arnie) Gotfryd, PhD
Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2010 10:31 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: A New Brain for the Summer
B"H
Dr. Arnie Gotfryd, PhD
Exploring the Interplay of Science and Faith
Since the body and soul are bound together, integrated into one composite
entity, it is obvious that every event occurring to the soul will set off a
similar occurrence in the body.
The Rebbe, Mind Over Matter, p.362.
A New Brain for the Summer
Ahh. Summer.
No more pencils, no more books... The kids are free! ...but not too free.
They need structured activities to keep them safe, happy and well, so the
prevalent custom is to send them to camp. They make new friends, learn
skills, have fun, and go on trips. They may even do some book learning,
especially if they go to a Chabad camp where learning is a fun yet integral
part of the experience.
The integration of spirit, mind and body is a popular theme in wellness
circles these days. My first exposure to the concept was on a school trip to
Eastern Canada. I was gazing out the bus window while passing through the
campus of Mt. Allison University when an odd inscription caught my eye on a
very big building with classic looking pillars.
Engraved in stone above the entrance were the words "MENS SANA" which
immediately prompted two thoughts. The first was, "Wow, that's a big
building just for a shvitz, and the second was, realizing that the word
sauna has a "u" in it, "How many years has that spelling mistake been
there?"
It only took a moment till I caught on for as the bus moved ahead I saw the
rest of the inscription, "IN MENS CORPUS." My Latin was never that good but
it didn't take much shvitz to surmise that this was the athletic building
and the message was, "A sound mind in a sound body."
For some, mental and physical health would be rewarding enough for a kid's
summer camp experience, but not for the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Looking ahead to
the coming academic year, he compared camp to a long jump. If you stand and
jump, there's only so far you can leap, but if you take a few steps back and
get a run at it, you can jump a great deal farther.
A Jew needs to be involved in study all the time, and at first glance the
summer break is a distraction from that mission. The Rebbe points out to us
that the child learns more extensively and more energetically in the coming
year because of those few steps back in the summer. And that extra umph is
worth it as we will shortly see.
On one of his visits to Camp Gan Israel in upstate New York, the Rebbe said
a chassidic discourse[1] on Psalm 23 that speaks directly to
spirit-mind-body integration. In that 1956 talk, thirty years before anyone
in academia started taking these things seriously, and fifty years before
the concept became popular,[2] he spoke about neuroplasticity, the brain's
ability to change physically as a result of mental exercise.
Citing the Zohar[3], the Rebbe explains that "the material of the brain is
relative to the intellect, and moreover, the material of the brain becomes
purified[4] by extensive intellectual study, and even more so through
intense intellectual concentration, because it is a vessel for and unites
with the intellect that dwells within it." In another talk,[5] he explains
the two-way impact of soul-body interactions, going into detail about
"physical creases in the brain" that form when comprehension is achieved by
virtue of intensive and extensive intellectual effort.[6]
The Rebbe elsewhere[7] expands on the subject, explaining that superficial
study does not register physical change whereas much deep study will
actually change, not only the structure but even the dynamics of the brain.
Moreover the furrows thereby created increase the surface area and hence the
mental capacity of the brain.
An additional pedagogical trick he cites (forbidden in any library - shh,
they're reading - but mandated in any yeshiva study hall) is to gesture,
sway and speak aloud while learning since the more physically involved we
are in the learning experience, the better the lessons are remembered.[8]
Of course this all makes a lot of sense now, but it's only in recent years
that secular science and society have started to acknowledge any of this.
For centuries the brain was considered a fixed organ and intellect was
either a physical result of it or some kind of a ghost in the machinery.
Either way, the structure and dynamics of the brain were believed to be as
hard wired as your motherboard.
No longer.
We have watched in the lab as sea snails double their neural connections
through learning.[9] We have seen the same in rodents, monkeys and even
humans. We have seen how a stimulating environment increases the weight,
health, blood flow and oxygenation of the brain.[10] We have seen mentally
retarded people train their brains to professional performance.[11] We have
discovered how to cure dyslexia and learning disabilities by using specific
exercises to build and reinforce new neural networks.[12] We can use
imagination to cure illness[13] and computerized brain exercises to
eliminate ADHD[14] and slow down aging.[15] Brain training software didn't
even exist a decade ago and now it's a 300 million dollar industry.[16]
Returning to the green pastures discourse[1], the Rebbe drew an analogy
comparing that infinitely miraculous, dynamic place between our temples to
the Temple in Jerusalem. The meat of the matter is that just as the physical
brain is organically engineered to be the nexus of spirit, mind and body
within man, so too is the site of the Temple physically predisposed and
sensitively primed to serve its specific function of unifying G-d, mankind
and the physical world at large.
There's an expression, "What happens at camp stays at camp," but in this
case it is not so. The Rebbe's green pastures discourse is itself a "mind
over matter" phenomenon, exemplifying the newfound synergy of Torah and
science, a modern fulfillment of an ancient prophecy about the times of
Moshiach.[17]
Poetically, it was Gan Israel campers who came up with the song, "We want
Moshiach NOW!" It's been repeated so often, so intensely, and so vocally,
with clapping and dancing, joy and anticipation that I'm sure the very
foundation of the Temple mount is resonating and ready for the time of all
times when not just the kids, but we all, will be as free as a camper on a
summer day.
[1] Talk of 16 Tamuz 5716 (1956)
[2] as explained at length in the 2007 NY Times bestseller, The Brain That
Changes Itself, by Norman Doidge (Penguin).
[3] Zohar III p.140a, and p.262a
[4] similar to discoveries of Michael Merzenich who found that neurons that
fire together wire together, enabling them to fire in a synchrony that
increases their signal/noise ratio, thus "purifying" both the medium and the
message.
[5] 23 Tevet 5720 (1960)
[6] Sefer HaMaamarim 5687 (1927), p.254
[7] Sefer HaSichos, 13 Menachem-Av 5750 (1990), p.120
[8] Talmud Bavli, Eiruvin p.54a
[9] http://erickandel.blogspot.com/2007/09/1-kandels-big-discovery.html
[10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Rosenzweig
[11] http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/thelens/2008/fixingmybrain/
[12] www.learningbreakthroughprogram.com
[13] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo
[14] http://www.playattention.com/ABOUT-US/PAbrochure.pdf
[15] http://www.positscience.com/science
[16] http://www.sharpbrains.com/market-report/
[17] Likutei Sichos, Vol.15, p.42ff.
Dr. Aryeh (Arnie) Gotfryd, PhD is a chassid, environmental scientist, author
and educator living near Toronto, Canada. To contact, read more or to book
him for a talk, visit www.arniegotfryd.com or call 416-858-9868
GOOD NEWS
for elementary school students in Fall 2010.
Maxi Mind In-School Programs
to remediate ADHD and
other Learning Disabilities
Generously sponsored by
Tzivos Hashem Canada
www.maximind.ca
Space is limited.
contact [log in to unmask] to reserve today.
Looking for a speaker on the interplay of science and faith?
Call me at (416) 858-9868, or visit me at www.arniegotfryd.com.
Shabbat Shalom,
Aryeh
Forward email
This email was sent to [log in to unmask] by [log in to unmask]
Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ |
Privacy Policy.
Email Marketing by
Aryeh (Arnie) Gotfryd | 396 York Hill Blvd. | Thornhill | Ontario | L4J 3B7
| Canada
__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature
database 5243 (20100701) __________
The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
http://www.eset.com
__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature
database 5243 (20100701) __________
The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
http://www.eset.com
-----------------------
To change your mail settings or leave the C-PALSY list, go here:
http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?SUBED1=c-palsy
|
