ABOUT THE BRAIN AND REGENERATION

The brain is a mysterious organism. It is a vast array of electrical circuitry that is continually active so long as that organ is alive. The other organs respond to the brain and all that activity is hidden in the unconscious.

If we had to use cognition to cause our hearts to beat or control the glands, we would be nothing more than a dimwitted automaton, which by the way, may look human and do super-intelligent things, but have no organisms to control. They are without a heart and are much like the “Tin Man” of the Wizard of Oz.

Human beings are a chosen and peculiar kind, different than all the other genera. God made us that way and with a complexity well beyond the other animals, and certainly beyond artificial beings with artificial intelligence.

Somehow, there is intelligence in the afterlife. In the story of the rich man and the beggar, there is an afterlife conversation. The text of it follows: 

²³ (The rich man) And in Hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. ²⁴ And he cried and said, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” ²⁵ But Abraham said, “Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. ²⁶ And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.” (Luke 16:23-16)

 Note that both Lazarus and the rich man were dead, and that Abraham was long dead. This encounter was an out-of-body- experience but all three of the people still had awareness, reason, logic, and memories. Abraham said, “remember” to the now dead rich man. He had the capacity to remember things that he had done on Earth.

On the other hand, Lazarus was removed from Hell in the heavens. There was a great gulf that could not be traversed. The thoughts of the rich man could not be received by the thoughts of Lazarus. There was some type of barrier that could not be crossed, and it seems that it was a thought barrier.

Now consider the brain. Each side of the brain has its function. However, a dysfunctional person can have the brain divided by surgery and the ability for one brain to communicate with the other is totally hampered. Each side of the brain can still perform but there is no communication to perform all things. With the brains separated, there is no longer a sense of connectivity. It would be as if there were two separate people in one mind.

The brain consists of two hemispheres with a bridge-like connection. Wikipedia says, “The median longitudinal fissure separates the human brain into two distinct cerebral hemispheres, connected by the corpus callosum.” The bridge is the “corpus callosum” (a tough body) a flat bundle of nerves wherein the two hemispheres are open to communication.

The lateralizing are things pertaining only to one side of the brain. The bridge between them allows one hemisphere to communicate with the other hemisphere. Ironically, existence — the seen and the unseen — is divided into two hemispheres as well with each appearing to be all there is since there seems that there is little communication between the two.

As such, people are much the same way. It is as if, the “fiery darts” of the Serpent (Ephes 6:16) severed the bridge between the hemispheres of the brain. Ironically, the left brain senses the visual and other sensory fields on the right side, and the right side the converse.

If our right hand offends us, as scripture relates, Jesus provided the recourse, “If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off” (Mat 5:30). That should not be taken literally. The left brain is the judgmental hemisphere. It evaluates the information it receives and determines its usefulness. The left brain then sends the information to the right brain that basically controls the actions of the individual. What Jesus may have been saying was to ignore the left brain’s poor judgment.

You cannot do that yourselves. Only Jesus can judge rightly, so the right thing to do is to test all things according to the Word, “²¹ Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. ²² Abstain from all appearance of evil” (1 Thes 5:21-22). We can control our “worlds” so to speak but can only do so by heeding divine Thought.

Isaiah was somewhat knowledgeable about the brain functions, just like Jesus because his thoughts were from the Thoughts of God. His “hemisphere” was distant from the “hemisphere” that God was in, but God transmitted His Thoughts through a “firmament” as was related in the beginning, to wit: “And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so” (Gen 1:7).

God created two worlds. I believe the first “hemisphere” was the invisible world (chapter one), and the second “hemisphere” the visible (chapter two) with some degree of overlap just as with the two hemispheres of the brain.

The waters pertain to all things: semen, materiality, genetics, and even thoughts. All things have a counterpart that balances the whole. Even the Cosmos has two parts.

For instance, righteousness is represented by good. We are to “prove,” or test, all things, and retain what is good, then abstain from what is not good. That is the left brain’s function. Thus, heaven would symbolically be the Thoughts of God, and the world the thoughts of man.

Mankind is depraved but not totally depraved. They can still test all things and go with the good. We have retained our thought processes which are so much more advanced than the other genera. We can evaluate good and evil and hang onto what is good. The animals see all things as good, and their judgment is based on instinct, for the most part. Of course, they retain some emotions, but overall, they do what they want to do. (That is mankind’s genetic inclination as well.)

The story of the rich man and Lazarus is included to make a point; that even the heavens have two hemispheres and hence the separation of the waters from the waters as well. All things have two different existences, just like the human brain.

Somehow death was a loosening of the “silver cord” (Eccl 12:6). When Adam and Eve “died” (Gen 3), the silver cord was loosed, then the “golden bowl was broken.” The golden bowl,” or literally, the “brilliant globe” (Strong 2006), was “bruised.” Perhaps, Solomon was referring to death as tampering with the corpus callosum to separate the brain hemispheres… the broken “globe” — the separation of the mind, half worldly and the other half not.

Sin was the introduction of the knowledge of good and evil. Before the separation of the corpus callosum knowledge would not require judgment. All things were “very good.” (Gen 1:31). With sin, things were divided between good and evil, and mankind would require judgment; hence the left brain would dominate whereas before the whole brain of man was dominant (Gen 1:26).

Lucifer became the dominant kind with sin. Something happened to the “silver cord” of mankind, specifically Eve, who was the mother of all living. It was “loosen” which can mean many things but the most applicable is “afar off” (Strong 2006). Cain’s name means “wanderer” in the sense that he was cursed to the land of Nod (“Wandering”).

Implied with Genesis 4:1 is that Eve bare the “creature” Cain, indicating that he was not fully human. (BLB Institure 2023). What was different with Cain? He knew evil and he was likely a giant (Gen 6:1).

Recently a characteristic in the brain of humans was discovered called, “general arousal” (GA). It “is what wakes us up in the morning and keeps us aware and in touch with ourselves and our environment throughout our conscious hours” (Rockefeller University 2018); its “actual name -- the nucleus gigantocellularis (NGC), which is part of a structure called the medullary reticular formation… (NGC) are “large neurons in the NGC with links to virtually the entire nervous system, including the thalamus, where neurons can activate the entire cerebral cortex” (ibid).

Is the giantism spoken of in the Bible NGC and its affect, General Arousal? Perhaps something happened in the person of Adam with sin that could not be seen, so God marked him, somehow. The outward mark would point toward something within! “The Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him” (Gen 4:15). I suggest that something happened to the nature of the “beast” (creature) Cain. Perhaps his general arousal was excessive and thereafter that desire was in the genera of all the living thereafter. He had large neurons and now so does everyone!

Is not judgment still dependent on arousal? Aren’t decisions still dependent on emotions? Do not think of just sexual arousal but many other lusts.

Paul wrote, “Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others” (Ephes 2:3). “Times past” in that argument were times from the beginning. Paul was speaking of genetics. He was retelling the story of the creature whose desires were of the flesh and mind. He was speaking of the nature of the children, or gens, of wrath. That implies Cain, whose genome is now within everyone. We are all children of wrath, and it came from him. And now we all have nucleus gigantocellularis (NGO). Is that coincidental, or was the inward mark that God identified in Cain’s genome?

Many things are different in the brains of humans that differ in the other creatures. If mankind was totally depraved, our minds would be identical to the apes. Not so! Our minds are similar but much different, just ask any gorilla and he will have no answer what it is.

Now let’s speculate for a moment. Perhaps, as He said, mankind was created in the Image of God. How many Images is there of God? One true God with one Mind. How is it, then, that mankind has two minds? Because he now serves two masters (Mat 6:24). Those who do are unstable double-minded men (Jas 1:8). As such, all mankind, before rebirth serve two masters. Not the two Images (Selem) — God and (Nahas) — the Serpent, but mankind — Cain.

Adam remained God’s kind because he was protected by the grace of God. Cain was the creature that we now wrongly call “humans.” We are all genetic mutations because of Lucifer. We are no longer “as God” but “as Cain” who is of the Wicked One (1 John 3:12).

Who is the master of the human domain? Or own minds. What is the focus of our minds? General Arousal. That is the “giant” within all mankind. We are our own masters and have the god of self, it is the self that is dominant unless we crucify the flesh; that “ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God” (Rom 12:1). That would mean to give up the General Arousal (GA) instinct (since it is genetic) in favor of God’s Will.

Animals do have two brains. In general, all animals have two brain lobes. The strange thing is that they can function with either one intact although the lobes are asymmetrical (not alike). It is if creatures do have two brains and we all favor one side over the other! Our brains are our “masters,” and we perform according to the dominant side.

In the beginning, Adam had dominion over the other animals (Gen 1:26). That means that Adam would “prevail” over the other animals. He would be the dominant genus among the other genera.

Was He like God? Was Adam a real one brain genus or at least with two lobes that were symmetrical. After all, God (the One Mind) created all things in pairs: material and space, positron and electron, matter and antimatter, and even waters from the waters. Is it not probable that He would have created a single-minded man wherein the hemispheres of the one brain were symmetrical.

I know all this is conjecture, but does it not make sense from a scriptural standpoint? Does not the science align for the most part with scripture? Don’t let the science scare you because God is the “Science” that scientists discover, and usually do not find Him there!

The master we are to serve is which brain lobe. A double-minded man would use judgment (the left lobe) that messages the action hemisphere (the right lobe). They would judge what is right and most often favor their own wills. Everyone tends to do what is right in their own eyes (Deut 12:8). Born-again Christians should do what is right in “God’s Eye.” If the right brain is dominant, then judgment would not be as important, although it remains recessive since we are all humans.

The right brain, given detachment, from the left brain, would not use judgment at all. Perhaps, without the left brain functioning at all, the right brain would always function rightly. Unfortunately, perhaps, the halves of the brain, if they remain attached, function together as one brain. One side messages the other to perform certain functions, and those functions are performed.

Is it a coincidence that angels, including Lucifer, are “messengers” and that the left brain is the messenger side of the brain? That distinction may have been because the “Messenger” got into the mind of the first offspring of Eve.

But what if the left brain is incapacitated? The left brain is alleged to be analytical and the right brain creative. Thus, the left is judgmental, and the right is creative — like their Father in heaven.

In scripture, judgmental is associated with the “Serpent.” God had told Adam not to eat or he would die. The Serpent became the judge of that, “Ye shall not surely die” (Gen 3:4). Because Lucifer was the “Beast” creature, he judged wrongly. As far as lost men, they too most often judge wrongly because they seem to do what they think is right, but often are doing the wrong choice.

“Born again” (John 3:7) means to be regenned in the Image of God. Of course, with that decision to trust God, humans still have two brains but with God in charge, Christians are regenned to judge rightly. God may do something about the General Arousal (GA) in our minds to make that less general. That seems to be the truth, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16).

Rather than our minds focusing on the things of the world, the focus is on the Will of God. The left side of the brain relinquishes judgment and trusts God to do the judging. Jesus even said so, “Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Mat 7:1). He as well have said, Quit using your left brain! Be creative like your Father in heaven, and let Him decide what is right.

Again, this all seems to be a fabricated comparison, but I soon realized that although I have my own “sense of ownership,” I detect that the “Sense of Agency” belongs to God. Consider those two brain functions: 

The sense of agency (SA), or sense of control, is the subjective awareness of initiating, executing, and controlling one's own volitional actions in the world. It is the pre-reflective awareness or implicit sense that it is I who is executing bodily movement(s) or thinking thoughts. In non-pathological experience, the SA is tightly integrated with one's "sense of ownership" (SO), which is the pre-reflective awareness or implicit sense that one is the owner of an action, movement or thought. If someone else were to move your arm (while you remained passive) you would certainly have sensed that it were your arm that moved and thus a sense of ownership (SO) for that movement. However, you would not have felt that you were the author of the movement; you would not have a sense of agency (SA). (Wikipedia 2001-2023)

 I do not have this type of knowledge. God directs me the way that He wants me to go. When I set down to create thought provoking ideas, it is my fingers that hits the keys, sometimes awkwardly, but the Sense of Agency belongs to God. My thoughts are not my thoughts, but His. I am merely the owner of the action of typing, and a haphazard owner at that!

Paul wrote, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Cor 13:5). Translation: You are only to have the sense of ownership (SO) but Jesus the Sense of Agency (SA).

Do you not know yourselves? That it is God that inspires the knowledge of the truth, as Timothy wrote? That He is the “Agent” that presents the ideas into our heads? That we only operationalize what is on His Agenda?

Of course, Jesus is not physically in us. However, His Spirit is, or at least, should be. The Image of God is in the Christian, but not in the “reprobate” (the damned). Christians are no longer to be double-minded but single-minded, having two brains as is the case but the two brains working in harmony with a common cause — to honor God. As such, with the focus on God, then the General Arousal instinct that all the animals have, becomes a General Meekness that Christians need not live for arousal.

“In Christ” means that Christ owns you. It is you that operates, but God is the Agent that motivates you as a Christian. Arousal is not the motivation but glorifying the Creator Agent.

I can only add two and two and hopefully come up with the right answer. God seems to indicate that many of the things that I write are truthful. We are not meant to know everything but to realize that there is a “Mystery of God” that many have tried to solve: 

⁷ We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: ⁸ Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Cor 2:7-8)

 There is a mystery about the generation of the world and its people. That God did so “unto our glory” has great signification. Our glory is the Image of God in which we were generated. It is the way we were before sin changed mankind. Paul was saying that our genera was once like God’s, but mankind behaved as the beasts behave. We degenerated to the point that there is no way we can change back because it is genetic. Hence, only the blood of Jesus is efficacious because every nuclear cell therein bares the Image of God!

Regeneration is single-mindedness in harmony to the perfect Will of God. It is not something that we do to change, but by grace we are regenerated. Grace is essentially changing us back to the way God intended with one mind like the Father.

Is it coincidence that Calvary is the “Place of the Skull”? And that the cranium is the shield from danger to the brain? And is it coincidence that Paul persuaded the multitudes to become Christians, and that persuasion changes the functioning of the brain? Is it coincidence that with Saul’s conversion to Paul took him from “Questioning” to “Humbled” as his entire nature and thoughts were changed? Is it coincidence that the mind goes with the Soul when it dies? None of those things are coincidences!

That adds much meaning to scripture: “But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth” (Mat 16:3).

(picture credit: iStock)