|
by David Icke
May 2000
from
DavidIcke Website
recovered through
WayBackMachine Website
Spanish version
|
The
Reptilian Brain.
The Key to Understand The Illuminati
and the World We line In?
"To know
the Illuminati, Mr. David,
you must study the Reptile"
Credo
Mutwa |
I had a message from someone recently claiming that what I say about
humans having a reptilian brain is not true. In fact it was one of
the most provable pieces of information I have written, as anyone
who studies the brain will confirm.
But I thank the questioner because it prompted me to put together
this package of information which not only shows that the reptilian
brain exists - but also how vital it is to the manipulation of the
world by
the Illuminati-reptilian
bloodlines.
As
Credo Mutwa, the
Zulu shaman, told me:
"To know the Illuminati, Mr. David,
you must study the reptile."
It is important for people to know the
basics about the reptilian brain because it,
(a) reveals where the
character and attitudes of the Illuminati come from
(b) how and
why we are manipulated mentally and emotionally in the way that we
are through television and other imagery
It is to do with the
manipulation of the reptilian part of the human brain.
There are three articles detailing the reptilian brain presented for
you here… and my comments are in (italics.)
THE REPTILIAN BRAIN
Now we go below the surface "reality" of the
neocortex and into
parts of our brains which are still a great mystery to the infant
"upstairs."
These intelligence centers have enabled life to survive
in varied forms for millions of years. They are not to be discounted
even if they don’t speak the language of the neocortex.
 Again, I will be general.
The reptilian brain is the most ancient of
the brains. It has two hemispheres, just like the neocortex, and it
may be that they relate functionally to the left and right
hemispheres of the neocortex.
The reptilian brain consists of the
upper part of the spinal cord and the basal ganglia, the diencephalon, and parts of the midbrain
- all of which sits atop
the spinal column like a knob in the middle of our heads.
It is thought to represent a fundamental core of the nervous system
and derives from a form of mammal-like reptile that once ranged
widely over the world but disappeared during the Triassic period
having provided the evolutionary link between dinosaurs and mammals.
All modern mammals have this reptilian complex, including humans.
(It was the interbreeding or fusing of
reptilian DNA to mammal DNA which created the Illuminati
reptilian-human hybrid bloodlines and allows the "purest" of this
breed to move between human and reptilian form.)
First and foremost among the traits generated through the reptilian
brain is the drive to establish and defend territory. This is fueled
by an extremely potent "will-to-power", exemplified among lizards by
the ritual behavior of two rainbow lizards competing for dominance.
These animals have beautiful colors and like many lizards, use
headbobbing and pushups in assertive, aggressive, courtship and
greeting displays.
In a contest, once the gauntlet is thrown down,
the aggressive displays give way to violent combat, and the struggle
is unrelenting. In victory, they are tyrannical dictators in the
extreme. In defeat, they lose their majestic colors, lapse into a
kind of depression, and die two weeks later.
(This is classic Illuminati behaviour.
Fighting each other and humanity to the death to impose their will
and dominance. Winner takes it all)
At least five human behaviors originate in the reptilian brain.
These have been denoted as isopraxic, preservative, re-enactment,
tropistic, and deceptive.
Without defining them, I shall simply say
that in human activities they find expression in:
-
obsessive-compulsive behavior
-
personal day-to-day rituals and
superstitious acts
-
slavish conformance to old ways of doing
things
-
ceremonial re-enactments
-
obeisance to precedent, as
in legal, religious, cultural, and other matters
-
responding to
partial representations (coloration, "strangeness," etc.), whether
alive or inanimate
-
and all manner of deception
(If I had to do a quick summary of Illuminati
behavior, it would be something like the above - the traits of the
reptilian brain. Look at The Biggest Secret, my talk videos, and
this website. They expose all of the consequences of this behavior -
obsessively, compulsively, advancing their agenda at all costs; the
obsession with rituals, ceremony, and symbolism; and…yes, yes… all
manner of deception!)
All movies and television likely are a projection of the reptilian
brain. How so? Movies and television (video games, etc.) are all
undeniably dreamlike, not only in their presentation of
symbolic-reality, but also in that humans experiencing movies, etc.
have the same brain wave patterns as when they are dreaming. And
guess where dreaming originates in your head? In the reptilian brain
(although other parts of our brains are involved).
(The movie and television industry is not only
controlled by the reptilian bloodlines, it was created by them in
the first place. The Illuminati are controlled by the traits of
their reptilian brain and they seek to manipulate humanity through
the manipulation and stimulation of the reptilian part of our
brain.)
The "language" of the reptilian brain is visual imagery. All
communications transferred by reptiles are done so by visual
symbolic representations, each having specific meaning.
(Exactly. And what have I exposed again and
again in my books and talks? How the Illuminati communicate with
each other and to the human subconscious with endless symbolism and
visual codes.)
Reptiles do not dream, but animals which have evolved from the
reptiles (mammals & birds) do dream. Why? Because the reptilian mind
is still operating in them and we humans call that mental state
"dreaming." There is no "dreamstate" in reptiles because this
mentality is their waking state.
It is repressed during our waking
hours (but still functioning --- it never sleeps) by chemicals
released neocortically--- then the reptilian is allowed to function
during sleep and dream, when the left hemisphere is in turn
repressed. But obviously, the reptilian brain is not satisfied being
relegated to the "nightwatch" of an inert body. It wants far more
than that.
Humans invented rituals and ceremonies, and then,
theater. Now where
do you suppose those revelations came from? Theater, with its famous
theorem of the "suspension of disbelief"
(which is simply another
way of saying, "Put your left brain to sleep.") is a re-invention of
the reptilian mental-state "out-there".
And of course, now we have
excellent duplication of the reptilian mindset with movies and
television, etc.--- which by some estimates, occupies up to 16-18
hours of our time per day, when you add in sleep-dream time.
Ritual, ceremony, theater, movies, television, video games, etc.;
all of which was created out of the territoriality need-compulsion
and the will-to-power of the reptilian brain.
(All confirmation that the reptilian part of
the human brain is the "battlefield" on which control of our reality
and this planet is being contested.)
This "territoriality" and "will-to-power" is manifested in a variety
of ways in human behavior, as are other reptilian traits. Let me
give some examples, though you will soon realize that an abundance
of examples is present in our civilization. "He" wants to marry her,
and "She" might very well be interested, but they agree that before
marriage can be considered, he must have a "good job" with a steady
income and a "good future".
"They" are rainbow lizards
(or any
number of other reptiles, birds & mammals) whose "courtship"
consists of the male showing his ability to establish and protect a
certain "space" before he will be considered a suitable mate... in
short, this kind of compulsion/obsession is reptilian, no matter
how much rationale the left brain of the neocortex applies to
justify it.
(On the Leading Edge website, traits and
consequences of the reptilian brain are listed as: consume, seek a
mate, get married, breed, reproduce, fight, riot, obey, eat, kill,
fear, worship, buy, drink, drugs, hate, compete, get more, guilt,
sin, don’t cooperate, seek differences, sleep.
http://www.trufax.org)
As you will see, "territoriality" extends far beyond a patch of
earth in humans--- and "will-to-power" has many masks. "Us" attack
"Them" because of their skin color. It is the color display that
"Us" attack. "Us" are cock lizards
(& countless other reptiles).
All racism is reptilian.
(The
Illuminati are obsessed with race and
bloodline. This is one reason why they have interbred so obsessively
over thousands of years. They are incredibly racist, which is why
they are using "population control", famine, war, and disease to
attack the populations of non-white countries, and indeed, to
undermine the white peoples who are not part of their reptilian
genetic network.)
"B. All" is attracted to "N. Doll" because "N. Doll" wears red
lipstick. When "N. Doll" wears blue lipstick, "B. All" is
uninterested. "B. All" is attracted to coloration - but color is
not the only physical display involved in this compulsion. It could
be any physical characteristic.
"B. All" could be addicted to warts.
"N. Doll" could be mesmerized by a certain walk.
And what about Mr. "B. All" who digs big breasts and tight buns? Or
Miss "N. Doll" who likes big dicks and biceps? They are green anolis
lizards who can only respond to some physical display - like a
flared collar or a slim chassis. B.
All and N. Doll are impotent
without a hot mirage in front of their eyes. They can’t get off
without Hollywood or Madison Avenue controlling their hormonal
traffic; they don’t go cruising, they go vogue-ing. They are into
drive-by orgasms. They are turned on and off by traffic lights.
So who’s doing the driving here?
All compulsive reactions of either attraction or aggression based on
any physical display or representation is originated in the
reptilian brain.
"Goo Rue" lives in a shallow cave on the top of an isolated
mountain. "Goo Rue" follows a very simple daily routine from which
he never strays. Most of his day is spent in prayer, basking in the
radiation of his god (which, being "beyond words," is imaged at his
altar as a serpent spiraling up a rod).
The rest of "Goo Rue’s" day
is spent patiently foraging for food and "living on the moment."
Frequently, "Goo" is visited by followers from near-by villages who
prostrate themselves before him. "Goo Rue" speaks of "timelessness &
body-lessness & regeneration."
After eating, or after giving a
particularly inspiring speech, "Goo Rue" has uncontrollable sexual
urges, of which only young girls of the villages are aware. "Goo
Rue" is a Komodo Dragon.
"Double-O-Dahlmer" is cool and emotionless. "Double-O-Dahlmer" is "Goo
Rue’s" brother and lives on the flipside of his mountain. "Double-O-Dahlmer"
lives in isolation also, and follows a rigid daily routine, which
includes stalking and lying in wait for boys who stray from the
village.
Once his prey is lured to his cave, "Double-O-Dahlmer"
feeds his needs by sexually dominating the boys and then
mechanically dismembering them. He keeps their body parts in his
refrigerator. "Double-O-Dahlmer" is a "cold-blooded, emotionless
killer." "Double-O-Dahlmer" is also a Komodo Dragon.
Komodo Dragons are suspected to be the closest of living reptiles
that may resemble one of the carnivorous mammal-like reptiles that
gave us our proto-reptilian brain. Komodo Dragon hatchlings take to
the trees as soon as possible to avoid being cannibalized by adult
Dragons. Remember this, for it will take on symbolic meaning later.
All of these behaviors originate in impulses at the reptilian brain
or lower in the body, and are modified by the "higher" brains. The
reptilian brain is a powerful source of human behavior - primarily
because it is hidden. It is deceptive. It is a secret from our
conscious. But we do "know" it emotionally, intuitively. It is the
slithering serpent in darkness! It is The Unconscious. Zairian
saying: "If you kill a snake, you’re still afraid of it."
(And this subconscious "secrecy" manifests
physically as the Illuminati secrecy which has been unfolding an
agenda for thousands of years while the people have remained
oblivious of its existence.
But because we are in the closing years
of the current energy cycle, our sub-conscious is becoming
conscious.
As it does so, its physical expression (the Illuminati
agenda) also becomes conscious and that is one key reason why the
agenda is now being exposed for the first time on this scale. It is
a process that cannot be stopped.
Sorry, Henry, mate, the game is up
because the veil is up.)
Isopraxic refers to behavior in which two or more individuals engage
in the same kind of activity. It cannot be overemphasized that
isopraxis is basic to maintaining the identity of a species or a
social group. The human fetus is in a perpetual dream-state (reptilian mentality). Newborn babies spend more than half their
sleep time in REM dreamstate.
In earliest childhood, our mental
state is controlled almost completely by the reptilian brain
(along
with the later evolved paleomammalian brain and the right hemisphere
of the neocortex - the left hemisphere is underdeveloped in
earliest childhood).
There is a striking correlation between
penile and clitoral erection during dreamstate, even without sexual
dream content. Why? In the reptilian brain, sex and aggression and
territoriality are the same.
(This is one outstanding reason why
the Illuminati are so obsessed
with sex and, in particular, violent sex, as exposed in my books and
those of victims of this like Cathy O’Brien (Trance Formation
Of America),
Arizona Wilder (Revelations of a Mother Goddess) and gathering
numbers of others.)
The following is an explanation of the reptilian brain by Manfred Davidman.
A much longer description of brain function by Mr Davidman
can be found
HERE.
Reptilian Brain
Innermost in our brain is what is called the reptilian brain, its
oldest and most primitive part. The reptilian brain appears to be
largely unchanged by evolution and we share it with all other
animals which have a backbone.
This reptilian brain controls body functions required for sustaining
life such as breathing and body temperature. Reptiles are
cold-blooded animals which are warmed by the daylight sun and
conserve energy by restricting activities when it is dark. The
biological clock (controller) for their activity-rest cycle is
located in the eye itself {10}.
At this level of evolution,
behavior relating to survival of the
species, such as sexual behavior, is instinctive and responses are
automatic. Territory is acquired by force and defended. Might is
right.
(Might is right: The very basic foundation of the attitudes which
motivate the actions of the Illuminati).
Mammalian Brain
Next to evolve from the reptilian brain was the
mammalian brain. An
enormous change took place as mammals evolved from reptiles, the
mammalian brain containing organs {11, 12}:
-
For the automatic control of body functions such as digestion, the
fluid balance, body temperature and blood pressure
(autonomic
nervous system, hypothalamus)
-
For filing new experiences as they happen and so creating a store of
experience-based memories (hippocampus)
-
For experience-based recognition of danger and for responding to
this according to past experience. And for some conscious feelings
about events (amygdala)
To this extent the mammal is more consciously aware of itself in
relation to the environment.
Millions of neural pathways connect the hippocampal and amygdala structures to the reptilian brain and
behavior is less rigidly controlled by instincts. It seems that
feelings such as attachment, anger and fear have emerged with
associated behavioral response patterns of care, fight or
flight.
{4}
Human Brain
And the mammalian brain became the human brain by adding the massive
grey matter (neocortex) which envelopes most of the earlier brain
and amounts to about 85 per cent of the human brain mass.
This massive addition consists mostly of two hemispheres which are
covered by an outer layer and interconnected by a string of nerve
fibers. {13}
The brain is actually divided into its ’hemispheres’ by a prominent
groove. At the base of this groove lies the thick bundle of nerve
fibers which enable these two halves of the brain to communicate
with each other.
(The aim of the Illuminati-reptilians has been to disconnect as much
as possible the functions of these two distinct parts of the brain
so we can be manipulated through the right brain while only being
conscious of the left.
They plant thoughts, responses, and images
through the right brain (the dream-state, the non-conscious, through
symbolism and subliminal imagery) while imprisoning the human
conscious level in the left brain - the world of can I touch it,
smell it, taste it, see it, hear it, OK it must exist.
This is why
the "education" system, and "science" is designed to talk to the
left brain. This way, the Illuminati can enter the human brain
through the right side, undetected, and these images and subliminals
then enter the left brain as conscious, this world, thoughts and
reactions, which people take to be their own.
This is why if you look you will find so many words like
imagination, imagine, dream, and so on used in advertising of all
kinds.
They know if they can get you in that right brain
non-conscious, day-dream state, they can enter your mind with
imagery and then tell your left brain how to decode it into
conscious language. i.e. "I want to buy that car", "I think we need
to give the police more power to stop crime" , "I need to take
Viagra so I can be a proper man", "a world government is what we
need."
This is why most television programs are about a fantasy
world of make-believe in endless forms. It is to open up the
unconscious right brain and allow the reptilian brain access through
that to the conscious mind.
Music is used in the same way. Nothing wrong with music in itself,
of course. As with everything, it is the way it is manipulated that
I am talking about. And who controls the music industry? The same
people who control Hollywood and the global media in general - the
Illuminati. The biggest music operation in the world, for instance,
is Universal Music, owned by the
Bronfman family of Canada, a major
Illuminati family, who are mentioned widely on this site and in my
books.)
But the left hemisphere usually controls movement and sensation in
the right side of the body, while the right hemisphere similarly
controls the left side of the body.
We saw that with the mammalian
brain emerged feelings such as attachment, fear and anger and
associated behavioral response patterns.
And human emotional responses depend on neuronal pathways which link
the right hemisphere to the mammalian brain {4} which in turn is
linked to the even older reptilian brain.
Fascinating is the way in which work is divided between the two
halves of the brain, their different functions and the way in which
they supplement and co-operate with each other.
Most people
(about 80 per cent) are right-handed and in the vast
majority of right-handed people, the ability to organize speech and
the ability to speak are predominantly localized in the left side of
the brain.
But the right side can understand written and spoken
language to some extent at least. {14}
"Appreciating spatial perceptions depends more on the right
hemisphere, although there is a left hemisphere contribution. This
is especially true when handling objects" {14} and concerning
abstract geometric shapes and music.
Roger Sperry, Michael Gazzaniga and their colleagues found that,
when presented with a stimulus, both hemispheres were active and
could recognize the nature of visual stimuli as well as spoken
words.
But while the left hemisphere can express itself by verbally
describing a stimulus, the right hemisphere can express itself
non-verbally by selecting the matching stimulus. The left hemisphere
deals with word choice, rules of grammar, and the meaning of words.
The right hemisphere apparently determines the emotional content of
speech. {14}
So a general overview of the functional division of activities
between the two hemispheres would be:
-
Left Hemisphere
Communicates by using words, has highly developed verbal abilities,
is logical and systematic, concerned with matters as they are.
-
Right Hemisphere
Communicates using images
(pictures), has highly developed spatial
abilities, is intuitive and imaginative, concerned with emotions and
feelings.
But the two hemispheres are interconnected and communicate, the
human mind brings together these abilities and skills into a
comprehensive whole whose operation depends on the way in which its
parts contribute and co-operate with each other.
(Precisely. The Illuminati seek to control the way the two sides
communicate with each other, so they secretly talk to the right
brain through symbolism and subliminals, while the person is only
conscious of his or her left brain activity - the physical view of
the world.)
The right hemisphere links to the primitive older part of the brain,
and I consider that it communicates using images with its primitive
’unconscious’ functions. Thinking in pictures is fast. Think of how
long it takes to describe a picture, a scene, in words and compare
this with the speed of taking it in by looking at it. But images may
be described, or transformed into a narrative, by the left
hemisphere.
(Here we have my point again. You enter the mind though the right
brain with imagery and symbolism - for instance horrific pictures
from war zones or terrorist bombings.
You then use your media to
tell the peoples’ left brains how to interpret those images - the
pictures are "transformed into a narrative" by the media.
In fact,
the media is acting as a collective left brain, interpreting right
brain images for the masses, so they do not do it for themselves.
This is why the media is awash with left-brain-dominated
"journalists".
That’s their function, though 95% have no idea they
are being used in this way because they are left-brain prisoners
themselves. This manipulation of left brain interpretation of right
brain images is happening every time you read a paper, magazine, or
book, watch television or listen to the radio.
It is SO important,
therefore, to filter such information and allow our left brain to
make up its OWN mind on how to interpret right brain images.)
Language is both spoken as well as written, verbal and visual.
And
speech and language and associated pictures, images and memories
appear to be located all over the brain. Cognition of meaning
(knowing and understanding sentences, for example) is high level
processing which includes both semantic and visual processing. And
behavior involves the integration of activities in many different
parts of the brain.
So now the human brain includes the processing and
memorizing of
images and of their components. And the development of language and
corresponding mental processing connected with memory and memorizing.
As well as the development of a wide range of emotions, of feelings,
of care and affection, and the capability for objective and logical
thinking and evaluation. And the later development of written
languages and artificial images.
(The
reptilian bloodlines are obviously far more dominated by the
traits of the reptilian brain and so the extreme expressions of this
are not balanced by feelings of care, affection, etc., as they are
in the mammal characteristics of most humans. Hence this mentality
can create a war with 55 million casualties or sacrifice a little
child without the emotional surge of horror which the mammalian
characteristics would stimulate.)
Finally, here is an interview with
Dr.
Elaine De Beauport on these same subjects:
An Interview with Dr. Elaine De Beauport
by
Steve Williamson
"It’s a very powerful time... The kinks are coming from the human
mind - which happens to emanate from three brain systems, not just
one.
These three brains can be educated, although only one half of
one, the left hemisphere of the neocortex, is now being educated. We
see the left brain’s specialty of technology going haywire. My work
is toward a much fuller education of all our intelligences."
Elaine De Beauport is one of the foremost educators in the world.
She studied at Smith and Georgetown, and received her Ed.D. from
Farleigh Dickinson. She has taught every age from preschool through
graduate school; this great range is represented in her thinking and
writing. She founded the innovative Mead School for Human
Development in Greenwich, CT, K through 9. Of more than 260
alternative schools founded in the 60’s and 70’s, Mead is one of
four to have survived.
While she was director of the Mead School, she became interested in
the emerging scientific work on how the right and left hemispheres
of the brain give rise to different modes of learning.
With further
study, she became aware that there was more to the brain than the
left and right hemispheres, that it was full of structures - an
extraordinary complex of systems--and she reasoned these systems
must have profound effects on the way humans learn and the way they
behave.
She encountered the work of Dr. Paul MacLean, Chief of the
Laboratory of Brain Evolution and Behavior at the National
Institutes of Health. He had been researching and writing in
technical journals on what he called the "triune" structure of the
brain.
But MacLean believed his work provided insight into social
and psychological problems in humans, and should not be left in the
laboratory or limited to specialists. He reached out to the public
in a famous lecture, "A Meeting of Minds," given at an educators’
convention in the late 1970’s.
MacLean said there are essentially three brains, each of which
developed during a particular stage of evolutionary history. The
earlier part of the brain, found in reptiles, could be called the
reptilian brain, or R-complex. In mammals another structure
appeared: the paleomammalian brain, with a new range of particularly
mammalian behavior - care of the young, affection, mutual grooming,
etc.
This is the home of the limbic system and the capacity for
feeling and emotion, for the sense of smell and sexuality. With the
development of human beings came the most recent evolutionary
structure, the neomammalian brain - with a hugely expanded neocortex
in the prefrontal lobes.
The neomammalian or "thinking" brain
brought with it the capacity for language, visualization, and
symbolic skills unique to human beings.
But evolution is economical, it didn’t cast off the reptilian brain
structure. It added the two more recent brains in layers one on top
of the other. They are all intact in their evolutionary forms and
functions.
Although many problems arise because of a lack of coordination
between what were originally three different brain systems, MacLean
stressed that these structures are not separate, but rather are
three systems integrated into one--hence, "triune."
MacLean argued that all the old structures are active in determining
behavior, and that from these different-but-connected brains come
not only different behaviors, but also many of the problems human
beings face every day.
Human behavior is similar to behavior observed in animals because it
arises from those parts of the brain system, like the reptilian
brain, that humans and animals share.
Human beings share primal
patterns of behavior with other animals, just as they share those
brain structures. MacLean provided a list of behaviors. Among his
examples, #1 is selection and preparation of home site, #2 is
establishment of territory, #6 is patrolling the territory.
Understanding that these tendencies exist helps to explain seemingly
irrational behavior, such as teenage territorial violence, that
otherwise seems to make no sense. If one understands that the brain
contains these older structures, Dr. De Beauport would say, you have
a better chance of recognizing and dealing with them.
So, what
Elaine and many others see is that while the older parts of
the brain are necessary (they provide the drive for life and
survival), they are not often integrated properly with the other
brain structures. In Elaine’s view, MacLean’s physiological model of
the brain has provided at least part of a psychological model or
metaphor by which we can better understand our behavior.
The practicality of
Dr. De Beauport’s work was demonstrated when it
was incorporated as "Self Care" into the standard orientation
program for nurses under enormous stress at busy Mt. Sinai Hospital
in New York City.
Elaine has lived in Caracas for the last several years. Her first
book appeared in 1995 in Spanish, and an English-language version of
The Three Faces of the Mind will be published by Quest Books in
December 1996.
She teaches frequent workshops throughout the US and
in Venezuela. Contact info is found below.
INTERVIEW:
SW: When you founded the Mead School you began with a focus on
working with children, but then you shifted to adults, why?
ED: Well, there is a really profound philosophy behind that. We did
some extraordinary things at Mead School in terms of expanding
learning capacities and extending consciousness, but we noticed that
our struggle was always with the parents.... The child wanted to be
loved by the parents and please the parents.
It became very evident
that the limiting horizon was in the adult’s mind, because anything
we did with the child’s mind was limited by what the parents would
be able to grasp or appreciate and encourage -- all of the above.
So I like to say the future of the world is not in changing the
children, the future of the world is in changing the adult mind.
SW: So at the same time you began presenting workshops, you were
also going into MacLean’s work more deeply. What happened?
ED: If we have these other two brain structures inside us as
MacLean
suggests, the educational game is about how you get in there. And
even in terms of psychology, it would be much more dynamic to
understand and communicate with the limbic (emotional, feeling) part
of the brain as a learning structure.
It offers a perspective that
is much larger; it isn’t just about your relationship with your
mother and father you have to get a grip on. It is really about
developing your emotional quality of life. That is what interests
me--that people can be educated to know they have an emotional brain
and know they have a behavioral (reptilian) brain that reacts and
interacts and forms patterns.
SW: So whatever your upbringing, your family life, the background in
which you are set, being human entails particular physiological
structures as well as particular psychological problems?
ED: Let me put it this way: You know that you have a hand, you learn
how you use your hand. Parents know you have a mind, so they send
you to school. So you say, "Oh boy, I have a mind!" but they don’t
tell you about the two other important parts of the mind, the older
brain structures. You have a limbic brain structure and a basic
reptilian brain structure. These have to go to school too.
I think the most original thing I did was to see the brain as
energy. I think this is still the most important thing I am doing.
All matter is energy. You and I are energy. Then I suppose you could
say energy formed itself into a hand, an eye and nose and the three
different brain systems.
Once you see the brain is really energy,
then you can propose processes and those processes can go from the
thick and very evident, to the thin which can be invisible. Then I
proposed ten different intelligences, each of which behaves in its
own way and each of which can be educated.
That’s what is set forth
in the new book.
SW: Your work struck me as very original. What
convinced you to work in this way?
ED: I worked with individuals two or three years old for many years,
then with individuals all the way through graduate school. When you
do this, the dominating question becomes: how do people learn? I was
also interested in violence and peace and this also drew me toward
my current work.
SW: How does the physiology of the brain help you do your work?
ED: Just about everything in life becomes different when you view it
through the three different structures. On the first basic level, if
you take MacLean’s model of the brain stem and add the spinal column
you get what could better be called the nervous system brain.
"Reptile" just doesn’t convey its significance.
It permits me to
look at the patterns of my own life in a more neutral way, with a
kind of curiosity, to see this particular pattern of energy in the
way this intelligence works in the oldest brain.
The three-brain model gives me a freedom... Knowing that there are
three brain systems can eventually be the healing of guilt itself.
Another value is that it enables us to look at emotions without
analyzing them. It’s so tremendous: you see emotions as energy, then
you can enter the emotional energy without thinking you have to act
on them or thinking you have to think about them; you just feel your
feelings. Then you can get in touch with the symphony or jazz inside
you. To free yourself from analyzing your emotions or... yourself.
I don’t know if I can get across how tremendous that is. To have the
freedom to live your inner being without having to act it out, or
analyze it, or intervene in it. I think this is the
excitement...that emotions are really an energy scale from the
subtlest and quietest to the most exuberant.
I believe that’s the
only answer to violence. Because there is violence in all of us.
It’s impacted energy that’s in there. This triune view allows us to
access that impacted energy so that it doesn’t have to express
itself violently.
These three brains are multiple systems of complex chemistry and all
of us have the chemistry that makes us hot. All of us get our power
checked. For example, I want more cider, but there isn’t any. Well,
that frustrates me. The basic reptilian brain is our "power brain"
really and when it gets checked, it gets frustrated.
And it happens
as soon as we get up in the morning. It gets frustrated. If you
don’t know you have a history of frustration, then you just level
off at somebody, and then physically try to solve it. Well, I’ll
just get rid of you, I’ll get you out of my way.
Knowing that we’ve
got three separate brain structures is going to let us look and say
that intensity is part and parcel of the chemistry of the brain and
we have ways to channel and educate it.
SW: What do most people want to get from your book?
ED: That they don’t ever have to use the word "unconscious" again,
that there are six ways into what they are now calling the
unconscious, if they can learn them. That’s the most important thing
I want to communicate.
They can also learn from the other
intelligences that they can develop their own intuitional ability.
To never live their life again based on one intelligence. You can
never be happy based on only one intelligence.
SW: There seems to be such chaos, political and cultural, in the US,
if not over the world.
ED: It’s all over the world. My perception is that the world is
falling in on itself. The world is being drawn together in all
senses: visually, economically, culturally drawn in, and in that
falling in on itself there is hurt, violence, refusal and
resistance. "Yes, a little of this, no, none of that." It’s a very
powerful time, everyone trying to protect themselves, and yet not
being able to really get away from being in the process.
SW: But yet, you’re optimistic.
ED: Oh yes, yes. There are ten pathways out
of this - ten different
intelligences we can develop. The kinks are coming from the human
mind - which happens to emanate from three brain systems, not just
one.
These three brains can be educated, although only one half of
one, the left hemisphere of the neocortex, is now being educated.
Hence we see something like the left brain’s specialty of
technology going haywire. My work is toward a much fuller
education of all our intelligences.
In the last chapter of my book I do two things: I focus on social
philosophy and individual action. The section on social philosophy
talks about what religion, government and education have to do. I
think the most important thing religion has to do is to allow its
values to be updated. Because of its tremendous impact, democracy
has got to change.
It’s a talking brain, and now the talk can be
seen on TV, and so the lack of action is very obvious. In terms of
the three-brain system, there is a tremendous amount we have to say
to government, particularly to democracy.
Living in Venezuela, one sees the impact the passionate limbic brain
can have on democracy, with its long time pattern of dictatorship.
In education, until every school system has a multiple intelligence
center, a how-do-people-learn center, I don’t think education will
change.
SW: What are you going to do next? Your book
Three Faces of the Mind
will come out in December 1996, what then?
ED: The book is an introduction to the adult curriculum I’ve been
working towards since I left the Mead School.
What I’m playing with
in my mind is that I’ve seen a way of creating an adult school on a
"new school" model, to take the curriculum and set it out in a Club
Mind format, instead of a Club Med. A place people would come for an
extended experiential learning vacation.
A place where there is
mastery, rather than just a little of this, a little of that. You’d
know there was something more involved. That’s what has me going
now.
Elaine de Beauport can be contacted through the New York office of
the Mead Institute for Human Development, 2109 Broadway, New York
City, NY 10023 (212) 866-4229, or through Diane Waller (212)
366-0065. Look for her book
The Three Faces of the Mind published in
March 1997.
A
version of this interview originally appeared in the Fall 1995
issue of Dromenon Journal. Jane W. Prettyman, editor of "The Real
News Page," was the founding publisher of Dromenon in 1978 and
edited the magazine until 1983.
Video
Beyond the Reptilian Brain
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