The Spiritual Doorway in the Brain: A Neurologist's Search for the God Experience by Nelson Kevin

Author:Nelson, Kevin [Nelson, Kevin]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group
Published: 2010-12-30T05:00:00+00:00

“Fight or Run”

In the protected archives of the library’s special collections lies the daily journal of one of science’s greatest physiologists, probably William James’s most accomplished student, and from a scientific perspective arguably a thinker more influential than James himself. Walter B. Cannon was stocky and average in height; his Midwestern clothes were neat but contrasted sharply with Harvard’s well-groomed elite. He was devoted to his family, magnanimous to his professional rivals, and an early, active force in protecting Jewish scientists in Europe during the Nazi era.

James and Cannon respected each other, but they had a complex relationship. Cannon spent much of his career arguing against the “James-Lange” theory of how the body expresses emotions, especially fear. The difference between them was kind of like the argument about which came first, the chicken or the egg. James held that emotions depend on our body’s physical reactions. You see a bear, your heart thumps, you experience fear: the fear comes from the sensation of your heart thumping. Cannon took the opposite position: you see the bear, the brain feels fear, your heart thumps.

Cannon’s theories have turned out to be closer to the truth. Patients whose autonomic nervous systems have been destroyed, with hearts disconnected from their brains, can still feel fear. The bear can not set their heart to thumping, but they can still feel afraid of bears.

For many years, portraits of Claude Bernard and Charles Darwin hung in Cannon’s office. In 1865, Bernard introduced the idea of the milieu intérieur, referring to the stable environment the body provides for each of our cells. Cannon dynamically expanded that idea to include chemistries like blood sugar and oxygen, which, he later proved, were also important during threat and crisis. Coining the word “homeostasis,” Cannon showed how the body normally kept nutrients like sugar and oxygen balanced within a narrow range. He examined those physiological mechanisms at work when a crisis threatens homeostasis. Such threats include bleeding, pain, and fear.

Cannon discovered that the adrenal glands secrete a hormone, which he called adrenaline. Adrenaline acts in concert with the sympathetic nervous system based on nor-Adrenaline, the nerves’ and brain’s form of adrenaline. Nor-Adrenaline is slightly and insignificantly chemically different from the body’s more widely known adrenaline.

The adrenal gland and its companion, the sympathetic nervous system, are the body’s first defense against attack. Confronted with danger, the body must be instantly primed to struggle or flee. The lung’s air passages open to receive air and enrich the blood with oxygen. The heart races and blood pressure rises to deliver the blood where it is most needed—the brain and muscles. Simultaneously, adrenaline liberates sugar from the liver into the blood. Dilated arteries supply muscles with the nutrients needed for action. Pupils dilate, letting in light, aiding our vision. Sweat dissipates the heat created as our muscles burn up energy. The body stops producing saliva so precious water can be used to expand our blood supply and make sweat. Blood is diverted away from organs that are not immediately needed, like the gut and skin.

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