The last story I’ll share from Bruce Lipton’s book, “The Biology of Belief,”…
“One conservative, health-conscious New Englander, Claire Sylvia, was astonished when she developed a taste for beer, chicken nuggets and motorcycles after her heart-lung transplant. Sylvia talked to the donor’s family and found she had the heart of an eighteen-year-old motorcycle enthusiast who loved chicken nuggets and beer.” (p. 191).
Lipton writes that many transplant patients have had similar experiences. Books have been written on the subject.
He wrote
“One young girl began having nightmares of murder after her heart transplant. Her dreams were so vivid that they led to the capture of the murderer who killed her donor” (p. 191).
These kinds of accounts offer interesting food for thought to those who see the human body from a mental point of view.
Questions arise like, “Is the heart a handful of flesh, or is it a package of beliefs?”
Mary Baker Eddy has the best answer to the what/why/how of the human body when she lifts discussion above matter to Spirit, from studying material belief and its effects in the realm of the temporal mortal mind, to understanding man’s true identity in the image of Spirit.
She wrote
“Man’s individuality is not material….
“What, then, is the material personality which suffers, sins, and dies? It is not man, the image and likeness of God, but man’s counterfeit, the inverted likeness, the unlikeness called sin, sickness, and death. The unreality of the claim that a mortal is the true image of God is illustrated by the opposite natures of Spirit and matter, Mind and body, for one is intelligence while the other is non-intelligence” (p. 285).”
There are numerous studies and accounts that can be shared that illustrate the mental nature of the material body, but the ultimate protection from it all is not to fear or worry about it, but to rise above it into divine Mind where God is in control producing predictable health, harmony and well being for us. In this understanding is protection from the “transplant” beliefs of mortal mind, in whatever form they may try to appear. We can neutralize their seeming effect in belief and experience spiritual truth instead.
In this enigmatic entry, the evidence seems to contradict the statement, “there is no intelligence in matter”, as the ‘intelligence’ seems to follow the ‘matter’ (the implanted heart). Any thoughts on why this is?
I would say that developing a love for chicken nuggets and beer as the consequence of a transplant is not necessarily a sign of intelligence at work. It illustrates the nature of matter and belief. As CS explains, matter is belief of mortal mind. It’s not substance at all. True substance is Spirit. So, if one were to have a transplant, I suppose it would be wise to know the truth about substance–that it is not mortal mind and it’s material beliefs, but Spirit and it’s divine wisdom. Then there would be no transfer of belief from one mortal to another as described above.
A very thought-provoking piece… I will keep on working on it. Thanks, Evan 🙂
Wonderful food for thought Evan. I’ve been thinking that Mrs. Eddy, writing “Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual.” implies, too, that every spiritual “part,” be it brain, bone, blood, or tissue, shares equally in constituting the totality of memory in our “perfect reflection.” In other words, memory is spiritual, and demonstrably recorded everywhere. This is one of those precepts about the seeming intersection in some way of matter and substance, cells and spirit, that helps me understand, as someone once wrote, “We are, after all, thought in solid form.”
I so much appreciate your generosity in teaching and your spirit of discovery. Sharing these revelations blesses us all and inspires each of us onto our own discoveries and revelations.
With much gratitude and love.
Ken, I like you’re point that the only memory our being can ever have is spiritual. And it’s a memory of health, peace, wellness.
Interesting discussion, Evan. Thanks!
Leslie