The Incarnation of Christ and the Working of the Brain
by
Charles Graves
We have stated that, because of ‘sin’ (living in ‘no-god’ and its unfortunate separation of the human from God and necessary food) that ‘redemption’ was needed to solve this problem. The redemption for sin consisted of eating the body and drinking the blood of Christ’ as in Holy Communion, This is the biological operation at work, so long as the human will does not prevent this.
But what is the ‘belief’ that undergirds this reality? It is the ’Incarnation’ of the man Jesus as an historical person. That Jesus actually existed is hardly doubted because of historical testimony, but what about his and other’s claims that he was the ‘incarnation’ of God, that he was God? John the Baptist said it was so, and many disciples and apostles, but in what way can this incarnation be looked upon neurologically? What does the Incarnation look like in the human brain? The key to the link of Jesus, an historical phenomenon, with the brains of each human born on earth is difficult to picture since most humans have never seen Jesus and yet many who have not seen him ‘believe in him’, ‘believe he is God’, ‘believe he is the son of God’ etc.. The key to such belief is the personage the ‘Holy Spirit’. In this personage we have an entity which can be described as ‘mental’ or ‘brain-characteristic’.
What is a spirit? We define spirit in humans as ‘character’, ‘charism’, personality, etc. Moreover, spirit is often considered in contrast to ‘flesh’ or ‘body’. ‘They saw a spirit’ means that such spirit was perceived apart from any fleshly body. Hence, mentally and brain-wise, we can say that spirit can be ‘in the brain’ as well as in someone’s personality in history (outside the body). The Christian idea concerns the ‘holy’ spirit, i.e. a special kind of spirit which is healthy (‘is whole’) rather than evil or harmful. And, apparently, this kind of spirit, like an ‘evil spirit’ can exist inside a human brain (as the psychiatrists tell us).
Jesus and his disciples ‘cast out the evil spirits’ and the Bible often says that this expulsion was done ‘by the Holy Spirit’. If the evil spirit is in a person’s brain, then the ‘holy spirit’ which ‘^casts out’ the evil spirit must also operate within the brain. Hence, one of the divine aspects of God – the Holy Spirit – is ‘biological’ – existing within the brain. It is the medium by which the meaning of ‘Jesus’ (i.e. that Jesus is the ‘incarnation of God’) acts within the brain to heal what is in such brain.
Just as each human being has his/her own ‘spirit’ so each also has the ‘holy spirit’ active within their brains. Its task is to confront the ’evil spirits’ caused by sin (‘no-god’). In fact, the holy spirit must be a special set of neurons and synapses which are activated especially when ‘evil spirits’ become too predominant within the brain’s operations. Just as ‘redemption’ becomes necessary for humans because of the existence of ‘no-god’ and its corollary ‘death’ (no food is available to preserve life) so the existence of the holy spirit is necessary in the brain to reflect the ‘Incarnation’ of God. God was incarnated in history to ‘bring redemption’ from ‘no-god’, and the way God incarnates himself or herself is by the holy spirit acting within the mind and body as it confronts ‘evil spirits’. Hence, the almighty God is ‘incarnatable’ both in an historic person – Jesus – but also in the holy spirit acting within each person’s brain and body.
Now, we have to try to explain how this holy spirit acts, physiologically, in the brain, i.e. how it beings ‘redemption from sin’.
There are two ways of envisioning the operation of the holy spirit in the brain: (1) destroying the ’evil spirits’ and (2) redeeming the ‘no-god’. In the first case the evil spirit is the memory of a trauma lodged in the hippocampus preventing several normal synapses to function as well as sending out messages for several other brain synapses to begin to function. When the ‘holy spirit’ meets this stored memory, it ’replaces’ it thus ‘driving out the evil spirit’. The replaced ‘shell’ of the trauma goes to a place of disabled memories. This is termed ‘healing’ in Biblical or psychological terminology.
In another type of activity, the holy spirit, in the form of neurons and synapses, encounters memories based upon ‘no-god’ ethical choices (which ultimately need redemption) and the confrontation also involves replacement of the no-god memory of ethical choice, and it is likewise relegated to the place of disabled memories in the hippocampus and elsewhere. This is what is called ‘conversion’ in religious / psychological terminology.
There are special characteristics of ach of these activities: for ‘healing’ it is quite possible that the ‘shell’ of the trauma re-appears in its original shape because of some newly-arrived stressful factors and ‘ seven demons replace the original (single) demon’ as the Gospels describe it. The final state of the sufferer is worse than before. It means that the stressful situation involved in the trauma has perhaps produced oxytacsin which in a new, stressful situation is released again by the hypothalamus simply because the same stress reappears. The situation may produce depression (‘7 demons’ re-establishing themselves as active). The memory of that release of depressing-producing hormones is also stored, ready to be once again ‘useful’ (i.e,. supposedly providing the body with some resistance to the effect of the trauma but, in fact, causing renewed depression and other side-effects. The holy spirit has, thus, a continual role in preventing all of this.
In the second case, of ‘conversion’, the holy spirit confronts the synaptic complex of ‘no-god’ ethics not only once in each human but time and time again, since the ethical choice is always available to human beings. And the holy spirit ‘helps’ the human in each ethical quandary to make a new choice whenever ‘no-god’ appears. The holy spirit then is continually resisting ‘no-god’ and counseling the human not to fall into the no-god realm. It does this by its own pattern of neurons and their specific anti ‘no-god’ synapses.
The influence of the holy spirit here prevents ‘no-god’ ethical decisions from providing ‘no-god’ memories stored in the hippocampus. These would block the individual from ‘heaven’, i.e. from going beyond death and receiving all the nourishment which ‘heaven’ is supposed to bring to the ‘godly’ persons who are not living in ‘no-god’.
Finally, how is this biological holy spirit related to the historical individual called Jesus? The brain has, perhaps, heard about Jesus in churches or the media and, according to Christian theology, there is an intimate relation between this Jesus and the holy spirit called the ‘third Person of the Trinity’. The Trinity consists of God (a Father), Jesus (called ‘God’s son’) and this holy spirit. Somehow the external (in history or in actuality) Jesus has an invisible connection to the internal (in our brains) holy spirit so that ‘thinking about Jesus’ also means ‘thinking concurrently about the holy spirit’. There is a ‘echo’ in our brains when the stimulus of (hearing about or thinking about) Jesus provokes a re-alignment of neuronal and synaptical structures in the brain i.e. a stimulation of neuronal complexes representing the holy spirit and its activity. It is through such an ‘echo’ that the Incarnation of the historical person of Jesus influences, and reacts within, the brain’s neuronal structure, thus ‘incarnating’ Jesus together with the holy spirit is a complex neuronal structure.
This structure based upon the echo is the neuronal structure which (1) brings healing to trauma and also (2) contributes to the replacement of ‘no-god’ ethical choices and their memory in the hippocampus. Because the second one is not ‘traumatic’ there is much less oxcytacsin released into the blood stream and there are no ‘7 demons’ re-filling some old ‘shell’.
Finally, we should ask the question about the role of ‘baptism’ vis à vis the working of the brain. It was during the baptism of Jesus that John the Baptist (Jesus’ cousin) said: ‘the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus as a dove’. This is the same holy spirit that is working inside our human brains, but what is the relation between them vis à vis baptism? It is the same as the holy spirit given to each human at birth - which spirit has an echoing, complementary relation to Jesus, an historical person as explained above. Apparently, the Holy Spirit which ‘descended upon Jesus as a dove’ at his baptism, being equivalent to the holy spirit inside of our brains – such link is strengthened when each individual is baptized with water ‘in the name of Jesus’. Baptism allows the holy spirit within the brain to collaborate with the Holy Spirit which ‘descended upon Jesus’ after he was baptized by John.
Moreover, receiving baptism makes the person a ‘church member’, which may have connection as to whether the internal holy spirit is rejecting ‘no-god’ ethical choices. Church members help each other in such ethical affairs which points us to another chapter in theology about the ‘Holy Spirit acting within the Church’. We shall also see that this involves echoes among the brains of the church members.
Charles Graves
12 January 2021
But what is the ‘belief’ that undergirds this reality? It is the ’Incarnation’ of the man Jesus as an historical person. That Jesus actually existed is hardly doubted because of historical testimony, but what about his and other’s claims that he was the ‘incarnation’ of God, that he was God? John the Baptist said it was so, and many disciples and apostles, but in what way can this incarnation be looked upon neurologically? What does the Incarnation look like in the human brain? The key to the link of Jesus, an historical phenomenon, with the brains of each human born on earth is difficult to picture since most humans have never seen Jesus and yet many who have not seen him ‘believe in him’, ‘believe he is God’, ‘believe he is the son of God’ etc.. The key to such belief is the personage the ‘Holy Spirit’. In this personage we have an entity which can be described as ‘mental’ or ‘brain-characteristic’.
What is a spirit? We define spirit in humans as ‘character’, ‘charism’, personality, etc. Moreover, spirit is often considered in contrast to ‘flesh’ or ‘body’. ‘They saw a spirit’ means that such spirit was perceived apart from any fleshly body. Hence, mentally and brain-wise, we can say that spirit can be ‘in the brain’ as well as in someone’s personality in history (outside the body). The Christian idea concerns the ‘holy’ spirit, i.e. a special kind of spirit which is healthy (‘is whole’) rather than evil or harmful. And, apparently, this kind of spirit, like an ‘evil spirit’ can exist inside a human brain (as the psychiatrists tell us).
Jesus and his disciples ‘cast out the evil spirits’ and the Bible often says that this expulsion was done ‘by the Holy Spirit’. If the evil spirit is in a person’s brain, then the ‘holy spirit’ which ‘^casts out’ the evil spirit must also operate within the brain. Hence, one of the divine aspects of God – the Holy Spirit – is ‘biological’ – existing within the brain. It is the medium by which the meaning of ‘Jesus’ (i.e. that Jesus is the ‘incarnation of God’) acts within the brain to heal what is in such brain.
Just as each human being has his/her own ‘spirit’ so each also has the ‘holy spirit’ active within their brains. Its task is to confront the ’evil spirits’ caused by sin (‘no-god’). In fact, the holy spirit must be a special set of neurons and synapses which are activated especially when ‘evil spirits’ become too predominant within the brain’s operations. Just as ‘redemption’ becomes necessary for humans because of the existence of ‘no-god’ and its corollary ‘death’ (no food is available to preserve life) so the existence of the holy spirit is necessary in the brain to reflect the ‘Incarnation’ of God. God was incarnated in history to ‘bring redemption’ from ‘no-god’, and the way God incarnates himself or herself is by the holy spirit acting within the mind and body as it confronts ‘evil spirits’. Hence, the almighty God is ‘incarnatable’ both in an historic person – Jesus – but also in the holy spirit acting within each person’s brain and body.
Now, we have to try to explain how this holy spirit acts, physiologically, in the brain, i.e. how it beings ‘redemption from sin’.
There are two ways of envisioning the operation of the holy spirit in the brain: (1) destroying the ’evil spirits’ and (2) redeeming the ‘no-god’. In the first case the evil spirit is the memory of a trauma lodged in the hippocampus preventing several normal synapses to function as well as sending out messages for several other brain synapses to begin to function. When the ‘holy spirit’ meets this stored memory, it ’replaces’ it thus ‘driving out the evil spirit’. The replaced ‘shell’ of the trauma goes to a place of disabled memories. This is termed ‘healing’ in Biblical or psychological terminology.
In another type of activity, the holy spirit, in the form of neurons and synapses, encounters memories based upon ‘no-god’ ethical choices (which ultimately need redemption) and the confrontation also involves replacement of the no-god memory of ethical choice, and it is likewise relegated to the place of disabled memories in the hippocampus and elsewhere. This is what is called ‘conversion’ in religious / psychological terminology.
There are special characteristics of ach of these activities: for ‘healing’ it is quite possible that the ‘shell’ of the trauma re-appears in its original shape because of some newly-arrived stressful factors and ‘ seven demons replace the original (single) demon’ as the Gospels describe it. The final state of the sufferer is worse than before. It means that the stressful situation involved in the trauma has perhaps produced oxytacsin which in a new, stressful situation is released again by the hypothalamus simply because the same stress reappears. The situation may produce depression (‘7 demons’ re-establishing themselves as active). The memory of that release of depressing-producing hormones is also stored, ready to be once again ‘useful’ (i.e,. supposedly providing the body with some resistance to the effect of the trauma but, in fact, causing renewed depression and other side-effects. The holy spirit has, thus, a continual role in preventing all of this.
In the second case, of ‘conversion’, the holy spirit confronts the synaptic complex of ‘no-god’ ethics not only once in each human but time and time again, since the ethical choice is always available to human beings. And the holy spirit ‘helps’ the human in each ethical quandary to make a new choice whenever ‘no-god’ appears. The holy spirit then is continually resisting ‘no-god’ and counseling the human not to fall into the no-god realm. It does this by its own pattern of neurons and their specific anti ‘no-god’ synapses.
The influence of the holy spirit here prevents ‘no-god’ ethical decisions from providing ‘no-god’ memories stored in the hippocampus. These would block the individual from ‘heaven’, i.e. from going beyond death and receiving all the nourishment which ‘heaven’ is supposed to bring to the ‘godly’ persons who are not living in ‘no-god’.
Finally, how is this biological holy spirit related to the historical individual called Jesus? The brain has, perhaps, heard about Jesus in churches or the media and, according to Christian theology, there is an intimate relation between this Jesus and the holy spirit called the ‘third Person of the Trinity’. The Trinity consists of God (a Father), Jesus (called ‘God’s son’) and this holy spirit. Somehow the external (in history or in actuality) Jesus has an invisible connection to the internal (in our brains) holy spirit so that ‘thinking about Jesus’ also means ‘thinking concurrently about the holy spirit’. There is a ‘echo’ in our brains when the stimulus of (hearing about or thinking about) Jesus provokes a re-alignment of neuronal and synaptical structures in the brain i.e. a stimulation of neuronal complexes representing the holy spirit and its activity. It is through such an ‘echo’ that the Incarnation of the historical person of Jesus influences, and reacts within, the brain’s neuronal structure, thus ‘incarnating’ Jesus together with the holy spirit is a complex neuronal structure.
This structure based upon the echo is the neuronal structure which (1) brings healing to trauma and also (2) contributes to the replacement of ‘no-god’ ethical choices and their memory in the hippocampus. Because the second one is not ‘traumatic’ there is much less oxcytacsin released into the blood stream and there are no ‘7 demons’ re-filling some old ‘shell’.
Finally, we should ask the question about the role of ‘baptism’ vis à vis the working of the brain. It was during the baptism of Jesus that John the Baptist (Jesus’ cousin) said: ‘the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus as a dove’. This is the same holy spirit that is working inside our human brains, but what is the relation between them vis à vis baptism? It is the same as the holy spirit given to each human at birth - which spirit has an echoing, complementary relation to Jesus, an historical person as explained above. Apparently, the Holy Spirit which ‘descended upon Jesus as a dove’ at his baptism, being equivalent to the holy spirit inside of our brains – such link is strengthened when each individual is baptized with water ‘in the name of Jesus’. Baptism allows the holy spirit within the brain to collaborate with the Holy Spirit which ‘descended upon Jesus’ after he was baptized by John.
Moreover, receiving baptism makes the person a ‘church member’, which may have connection as to whether the internal holy spirit is rejecting ‘no-god’ ethical choices. Church members help each other in such ethical affairs which points us to another chapter in theology about the ‘Holy Spirit acting within the Church’. We shall also see that this involves echoes among the brains of the church members.
Charles Graves
12 January 2021
Photograph: ‘rock painting’ in Australia photographed by Graeme Churchard, Bristol (UK)
