The Greek – Armenian mystic Gurdjieff saw the human being as a three brained being: A head brain, or intellect; a heart brain, what we might today call emotional intelligence; and a gut or instinctive brain, which could be our “animal” intelligence, as well as kinesetic intelligence. We are far more than a mind/brain.
Neurones of the Central Nervous System (CNS) are found not only in the brain, but also in the heart and the gut. There is intelligence in all the organs of the body. (See article below) There are different kinds of intelligence. Healing and wholeness come not just from cognitive understanding. Any system of human understanding, any therapy or school of healing worth its name, must address our experience in all its dimensions or aspects. Alas, “Scientism”, (in contrast to science), has reduced the human experience to that which can be measured on a machine.
Modern education largely focuses on the rational intellect. There is some attention given to sport, usually with a competitive focus. And the arts are still hanging in there by the skin of their teeth, despite frequent downgrading and budget cuts.
We need to encourage more wholistic approaches to education, therapies, and our general concept of what a human being actually is. In the case of healing and general well-being (seemingly rare in these times), working with voice and movement, for example, can be combined with both nurturing emotional support, and with cognitive and rational understanding. Philosophers and poets from ancient times have espoused the benefit of movement, for example, as a way of digesting intense mental learning. We need a three pronged approach.
We are not just a brain in a jar!
We are body: tissues, bones, organs, blood, neurochemicals, instinct, movement, pleasure.
We are heart: we are the longing and wounded child buried away, we are kindness, we are delight, we are grief for the earth and the ones who have passed, we are touched and moved to tears by a painting or a song.
And we are mind: rational and reasonable, weighing up the evidence, gathering information, comparing, categorising, imagining, remembering.
The head centre is an important part of our being, but the neglect of the other centres has led to a great imbalance that shows up in almost every area of modern life. Impoverishment of, and even disconnection from, the heart and gut are part of a vicious cycle of blocked and rigid emotions, repression, distrust of our innate intuition and embodied wisdom. Lopsided development leads to alienation from self, others, and the earth. Disregard for the heart and gut by our political, economic, and social systems enables the trampling of such qualities as flexibility and kindness, and the desecration and commoditisation of the arts and cultural life. Now it’s all about competition, economic rationalism, and the cult of the hero. It’s survival of the fittest. Only the hero takes home the prize. No room for second place.
It’s hardly conducive to healthy community is it? Where’s the tribal spirit of interdependence and cooperation? In reality we are no different genetically from our caveman ancestors, who were social beings and lived in interdependent tribal groups. Homo sapiens – the man who knows. But knows what? We have indeed eaten from the Tree of knowledge of good and evil, and we have been paying for it ever since.
Hard headedness has led to hard heartedness. The soft underbelly of our animal self has been attacked and it’s deep wisdom rejected. It has had no choice but to armour itself against the tides of so called human progress. It hides underground, along with all our other “non-desirables”, waiting for an opportunity to be heard, and in the meantime, wreaking havoc with our sense of well-being. We need to bring back balance to our understanding of ourselves. Scientism has reduced us to little more than robots: hormonally automated bags of guts, blood and bones.
An education, a consciousness, a life, that seeks to bring balance to the three centres of intelligence can only make us more complete, more whole, more fully who we are as human beings. Life is vast and deep. Our mental/rational self is only one thread of this great tapestry. Who can understand the fullness of this mystery?
https://hubpages.com/education/your-second-brain-is-in-your-heart
The Song of the Ancients 