Dear People Whom God Loves,
What I write here helps me understand my own human journey and the human journey of other people.
The cortex part of our brain has cortical columns which are made up of six neurons stacked on top of each other.
Present experiences and sensations from the brainstem and limbic system enter the cortical column at the bottom, neuron #6. Memories from the past enter the cortical column at the top, neuron #1. These meet in the middle at neurons #3 and #4. What our mind tells us is a mixture of present and past experiences. When we are on automatic pilot, we don’t separate what is present and what is past. So what our mind tells us is not accurate, but we think that it is. That is why we can be so positive that we are right when we are wrong.
This doesn’t mean that we stop the memories from working. We can’t do that. Even if we could, it would not be good to do it because past experiences can be a helpful guide to us. Life would be impossible if we had to learn everything from scratch. Mindful awareness helps us to know what is past experience and what is present experience so that we can benefit from past experience without having it distort the present experience.
Example of how the present is distorted by the past:
When a woman has been raped by a man, a surprise gentle touch on her shoulder by a man may be interpreted as a sexual invasion.
When a man as a child was raised by a woman who was rejecting and controlling, he may interpret a disagreement with a woman as a rejection or a directive from a female boss as controlling.
When we have been taught that people who are gay or lesbian are bad, we may interpret their standing up for equal treatment as some sort of conspiracy.
This is why our past experiences can be the basis of prejudice and discrimination. And not only because of sexual orientation, but because of race, religion, gender, economic status, and most anything that is different.
If we have had a bad experience with a priest or priests in the past, it may color badly a present experience with a priest which really isn’t that bad or is neutral; or it may cause us to be uneasy with a present experience that is actually good. It takes time and hard work for the separation of the past from the present to happen. The same is true of past experience with religion or church.
In the same way our fear and anger—which are good and a part of our survival mechanism—can mislead us in any present situation which brings up bad past experiences.
This human journey is long and difficult. We integrate the present and the past by seeing clearly what is present and what is past and learning from that instead of mixing them up. This can lead to compassion and growth for ourselves and compassion and help for others on their human journey. It can be difficult to be human. It is good to be human. God (Love) calls us to be human and not something else. God (Love) is for us and is loving us compassionately all along the way.
Smile, God Loves You,
Father Clay
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