mmmm, brains.
Over the past few days, yahoo news has coughed up a few great stories. I do my best to evade, escape, and elude the “news” (falsely so called). If you want to know how this benefits me, ask me.
Upon exiting from my yahoo email account, a few stories happen to slip past my defenses, so I consider them from time to time. The past couple of days have proven themselves as one of those times.
You can find the first story by clicking on the title:
Loneliness Affects How The Brain Operates
If you want to really understand the study, go find the text of the study itself, and read 5-10 other news stories from different stories. This will have the added benefit of revealing to you the slant of each individual news outlet. In addition, you will gain experience in discerning essence from opinion. This skill will prove infinitely valuable in many realms.
Earlier this month, I posted about 20 different renditions of the same song. The essence is the song itself. Not the lyrics, not the music, not the bands, not the writer. The song emerges by way of these items, but it does not consist of them. The song itself. The mind may attempt to defy this simple assertion. Fine. Allow it to do so. The mind does not equal the essence.
Consider for a moment that each human, each creature, and each object all exist as different renditions of the same song….
I digress.
The study above discusses the effects of loneliness on the brain. It also points out that the brains of lonely people operate differently than the brains of highly socialized people. The basic premise of the study says that the reward response in the brain of a lonely person does not operate in the same way that it operates in the brains of non-lonely people.
The study asserts that lonely people do not experience as much beneficial feelings from social rewards as non-isolated people.
A funny coincidence, for all who believe in Jesus and Santa, that the number of people involved in the study amounted to 23.
This story led me to another study. Click here on Future Pundit for a great discussion of it.
The premise of this study states that, “the pain of rejection looks similar in a brain scan to the neuronal activation pattern seen with physical pain.” Speculation has circulated in various scientific and esoteric circles, and in esoteric scientific circles, and in scientific esoteric circles, that the brain cannot tell the difference between imagined stimulus and real stimulus. This study provides one bit of data backing up that assertion.
Loneliness....Enjoy!
I have long said that to make it easier to challenge my fears, I would take risks that have no threat of physical danger. This study helps to explain why confronting our social fears feels like real pain. In a sense, the pain of rejection has the same effect on the brain as real physical pain. In that way, it could be said that the pain of rejection is a real physical pain.
Perhaps this experience of social rejection also leads one to move away from social activity. Once the painful response happens over and over in social situations, the pain would likely override the pleasure received from social rewards. This leads the brain to loneliness.
What does the brain want? To attain pleasure and avoid pain. To find warm and avoid cold. So, if the brain gets more pleasure out of non-social rewards, it will shift all behavior and activity of the creature in which it resides. How will it shift behavior? It will shift a person toward more non-social activities.
Now, you may notice that many of the studies point this out as a negative aspect of loneliness. However, many artists, writers, scientists, and researchers may disagree. It may be this unique brain condition that allows genius to emerge….something to ponder. Go after the essence of the studies. Avoid the interpretations they try to serve on the side.
One final study on loneliness that tickled my brains can be found at the following link:
Loneliness Breeds Belief In Supernatural
What kinds of implications do you infer from this study, when taken in this context with the other two, posted above?
Sustenance comes in many forms. Sometimes it takes a little loneliness to get around to thinking about something more than the next night’s party, the next night’s party and the next night’s party. Could life really exist on Earth? Could life have a purpose that evades most humans most of the time? Could each of us have very specific Work to do that we avoid doing by getting lost in endless socializing?
I have no idea. What the hell am I gonna wear tonight?
Lest anyone think that this means that I do believe in God or that I don’t believe in Gawd, examine the following bit of wisdom from a classic loner, Leonard Cohen, “You say I took the Name in vain/ Hell, I don’t even know the Name/ And if I did, well, really, what’s it to ya?/ There’s a blaze of light in every word/ it doesn’t matter what you heard/ the Holy, or the broken, Hallelujah”
Take some time out and listen to this Holy of Holy songs…..find the essence, and you will find that you have gone a long way toward finding your own…..
The essence of song.
The false self that dies today is the one who doesn’t know how to use loneliness in small doses to accomplish things worthy of exclaiming, “Hallelujah!”
That said, I miss you, She, and I am glad I will see you soon. Much love. Hallelujah!
Enjoy,
-GTD
