Mysteries of the Mind

This is a fascinating story of a homeless person who was once headed for Carnegie Hall, he is an extraordinarily gifted musician. But then life took a strange turn for him and his mental illness, schizophrenia, took over and he became a homeless street person.



He was gifted but unfit to live a so-called normal life. How can the mind be so well wired for certain abilities yet missing other instincts of survival? Those are the mysteries of the mind and of life. We claim to know so much yet we know so little. A while ago I read a book by a well-known brain surgeon, Dr. Wilder Penfield, who lived in Montreal. In his book he indicated that he has some understanding of the physical part of the brain but that the mind is something else and beyond his grasp and understanding as it has no physical existence. He then had his own theory of God, that if the mind is evolved enough it can make that connection which cannot be explained in physical and so-called scientific terms. In his explanation, the mind has the ability to access God and that ability is developed in varying degree for different human beings.

As far as quality of life, I don't know who is better off, this musician or Bill Gates. Who is happier we do not know. Just think of the worries of the rich when stocks are tumbling. Some even committed suicide. At least this musician has none of those worries.

Life remains an extraordinary mystery and we are a long way to understand it. I will say both fanatic religious and fanatic atheists are at extremes. By fanatic atheists I mean the extremes such as Joseph Stalin of the former USSR who did the killing in the name of social justice - some social justice. Capitalism does the killing for greed in the name of God. So who is better? I do not know. Or who is the worse? I will say both extremes.

We have a long way to go to fully understand life, but in the meantime if we can learn to live peacefully then that in itself will be a monumental achievement. What limited study I have done of religions, I have found that they all teach peace whether it is Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism or Islam. However, people forget the peace part and declare God as partisan to their cause and then proceed to kill in his name.

I hope someday that we will evolve to a better and more peaceful world provided we do not destroy the globe through our selfishness and greed. That destruction could take place through wars or plain destruction of the environment and one strong indicator of environmental destruction is accelerating global warming. The earth and life on it evolved over centuries and it could devolve too, as it may be in the nature of things, but we must not contribute to its devolution or destruction.

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