21 April 2015

How much of Us is our Brain?

The strange afterlife of Einstein's brain from BBC News

Einstein's Brain from BBC News

We can tend to be very materialistic these days, looking for empirical and physically based answers to why? and how? And there is nothing wrong with checking our actual experience. The Buddha himself suggested we check his teachings against experience before we accept anything as meaningful and true. But then again, the Buddha also clearly talked about experiences we can have which go beyond the physical ... into the devotional, symbolic, and even beyond the discursive language of 'this and that'.

Along these lines, I thought this article about Albert Einstein's Brain from the BBC News website was very interesting.

Einstein gave his body to science after his death, and is seems there was a small scuffle over who got to have his brain. Were there secrets to learn about why and how he became the genius he was? And, if you read the article, it seems that his brain is below average in weight and size. There is no obvious physical connection between his brain and being a genius. And the person who (seemingly) covetously grabbed Einstein's brain has therefore not made the breakthroughs they were hoping would come their way professionally.