I recently heard again the pragmatist question “So what’s it good for?” related to systems theory. It’s a natural question whenever matters of theory arise. The best answer, of course, is that it’s a theory and therefore not really good for anything in the pragmatist sense. That is, it’s not very utilitarian. It’s a tool for thinkers not tinkerers.

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I recently received an e-mail from a friend who is doing self work. He asked:

I was just wondering if you thought attaining a higher level of differentiation of self lends itself to becoming better able to manage or not get pushed around by ones feelings. I hope this question is not too vague, it’s just something I need to get better at so I’m not letting my emotions/ reactivity dictate my actions.

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I met a rare kind of person last week. He was what I’ll describe as a genuinely intelligent person. There are plenty of smart or knowledgeable people around, and given that I spend a lot of time around “academic types” I run into a lot of them from all fields. But there’s a difference between being merely smart, and being truly intelligent. And often it takes meeting a genuinely intelligent person to learn the difference.

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Christian psychologist and therapist Wayne E. Oates wrote, “Two tuning forks that are alike will pick up each other’s vibrations. Persons are prone to imitate people they like. Therefore, change can be created in another person by stimulating the desire to be like you.” (The Psychology of Religion. Word Books, 1973, p. 157). In 1973 Oates uttered this “true” statement from the standpoint of the emotional and the evident frameworks (direct observation) of psychology. Today the neurosciences can make this same statement. But more and more, their frame of reference is the biological and the scientific.

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The final entry for ”Brain Week” is a video of a 2007 roundtable discussion on the topic of “Mind, Brain, and Spirituality: Toward a Biology of the Soul” featuring Martin Bergmann, Siri Hustvedt, Jaak Panksepp, David Pincus, and theolgianThandeka.

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Today’s “Brain Week” feature is a link to the website of the PBS series, “The Secret Life of the Brain.” The series originally aired in 2002. The website includes a summary of the five episodes which take a developmental view: The Baby’s Brain, The Child’s Brain, The Teenage Brain, The Adult Brain, and The Aging Brain.

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Today’s “Brain Week” feature is from the New York Review of Books. The June 26, 2008 issue featured a review of seven current works on the brain. Click on the link to see the reviews by Israel Rosenfield and Edward Ziff, “How the Mind Works: Revelations.” Here is an excerpt:

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This is “Brain Week” on the GRACE writes blog. This week we’ll feature items related to the brain, the mind, and learning. Today’s entry features an article by Robert Stickgold and Jeffrey Elenbogen, “Sleep on It: Snoozing Makes Your Smarter” which appeared in Scientific American (August 7, 2008). Here’s an excerpt:

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Adam Kieper wrote a review of Michael Gazzanig’s book, Human titled, “The Synapse and the Soul.” It appears in The Wall Street Journal (July 8, 2008). He begins, interestingly, with philosophical questions:

What is it that makes us human – that sets us apart from other animals? What drives us to act altruistically? Why do we gossip and flirt and empathize? How do we judge beauty, and why are we impelled to create works of art?

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A previous blog entry listed several types of thinking, including the common analytical and intuitive. Reflection on ones’ thinking, and learning about learning are important and useful activities. They can lead to a valuable kind of self-understanding with pragmatic applications (like what jobs you should avoid and what hobbies or pastimes may be more gratifying).

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