Brain Development in Times of Torture

  What we need here isn’t balls.  What we need is a big collection of myelinating orbitofrontal cortices. And we need it ASAP. Considering the many Elders I know, the many more of whom I’m aware, and the millions I have every reason to trust are out there, it’s my considered guess that we have all the developed brains we need to be far more wise than we are being. Unfortunately, those… Read More

Neuroplasticity and Gratitude

I was never much of a fan of talk about the biological bases of behavior.  Already in the mid 80’s, there were innovative graduate programs popping up to explore brain-based treatments more nuanced than conventional treatments like ECT, Labotomy and psychotropic medication. Nonetheless, I remained decidedly a proponent of the nurture side of things.  This bias came in large part from working with kids in schools and seeing the folly, and really… Read More

Matters of Spirit before the Election — and a second podcast —

Last night there were fireworks in the rain for the last game of the season for the Portland Timbers — our professional soccer team.  The season ended with a tie between the Timbers and the San Jose Earthquakes.  I wasn’t at the game.  And, true confession, I didn’t know about it.  But the sound was enormous for 20 minutes or more.  My imagination ran the gammut, but I remembered my friend Dia… Read More

Election Year Politics – Hold on to your Limbic System!

If there were a word to sum up the trouble with our elections and the leaders they bring us, what would it be?  Thinking back on the 100 Voices I listened to in 2009, Americans around the country offered words like immature, disappointing, ridiculous, greedy, irrelevant.  Ed Kemp, III in Jackson, MS said “useless.”  Then he elaborated.  “Senators and congressmen ought to all be farmers.  They get up in the morning.  They… Read More