HEALING THROUGH UNITY

***********************QUOTES OF THE MONTH****"
Intone, O My servant, the verses of God that have been received bythee, asintoned by them who have drawn nigh unto Him, that the sweetness of themelody may kindle thine own soul..." (Baha'u'llah, "Baha'i Prayers," p. 3)"...although sound is but the vibrations of the air which affect thetympanum of the ear, and vibrations of the air are but an accident amongtheaccidents which depend upon the air, consider how much marvelous notesor acharming song influence the spirits! A wonderful song giveth wings tothespirit and filleth the heart with exaltation...." ('Abdu'l-Baha, "Compilation on Music," in Vol. II of "TheCompilationof Compilations," p. 75)


Music is considered a higher brain function, meaning that appreciatingandmaking music stimulate parts of the brain thought to have developed muchlater in evolution. The front part of the brain (frontal cortex) iswhereworking memories are stored and also plays a role in rhythm and melodyperception.Pain is considered a lower brain function because it is processed in themore primitive sections of brain anatomy, so I was surprised to learnthatchronic pain and music appreciation are both associated with widelyspreadhyperactivity in the prefrontal lobes of the brain.In the 1940s and 1950s, some psychiatrists began treating intractablechronic pain by surgically disconnecting their patient's frontal lobesfromthe rest of the brain by a process called a leucotomy. Antonio EgasMonizwon a Nobel prize in 1949 for inventing this operation.What is truly odd about the results is that while the patients selfreportedand were considered recovered, their pain didn't actually go away. Whathappened was that they no longer cared about hurting!Researchers and physicians concluded that while sensing pain was a lowerorder brain function, probably necessary for survival, suffering wasdefinitely a higher brain process."Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional?"What if we could give ourselves a daily, non-surgical leucotomy --withoutthe nasty side effects -- to deal with our own suffering?Isn't this a central theme of religion -- that true detachment does notprevent or negate pain, but rather, mitigates our suffering from theslingsand arrows of outrageous fortune?Prayer and meditation have been used for centuries, and recent researchhasproven that they affect brain function and lower stress. It turns outthatmusic and rhythmic movement assist greatly in being able to focus bothprayer and meditation.Take two songs and call me in the morning?