Theos-Talk Archives (August 1997 Message tt00040)

Bart (writing to Dallas):

> > If, as Science now tells us, we use only about 10% of our brain
> > capacity in living, what about the other 90% ?. What is it there
> > for? This is under investigation.
>
> You are describing a myth; in fact, it is well known what happens
> with the rest of our brain capacity. We are only using 10% of
> our brain in any given moment, but the other parts are memories
> we aren't using, and redundancy. The last is EXTREMELY
> important, as, after age 30, our brain starts to deteriorate.
> Without the redundancy, we would not live past our early 30's.

I wonder if this is not just another theory, Bart. There was a
study done years ago on a some hydrocephalic children. There
brains had been severely damaged by the pressure and considerable
(like about 90%) material was removed. They went on to live
normal lives; one even became a college professor. That would
seem to indicate that memory was not stored in the brain. A
quote from HPB is pertinent here (“A Note on Memory”, H.P.B.
Articles II, 206), in which she writes:

"Personal memory is a fiction of the physiologist. There are
cells in our brain that receive and convey sensations and
impressions, but this once done, their mission is accomplished.
These cells of the supposed “organ of memory” are the receivers
and conveyors of all the pictures and impressions of the past,
not their retainers. Under various conditions and stimuli, they
can receive instantaneously the reflection of these astral images
back again, and this is called memory, recollection, remembrance;
but they do not preserve them."

Regarding redundancy, it is my understanding that it is developed
AFTER the original path is interrupted, and that this process is
considerably more successful in children than in adults, perhaps
because of what WQJ calls "the master power of imagination." Just
a thought.

Gail