A built-in capacity for kindness
written by Stephan Joubert
"To learn is to change the way you think."
— Michael Merzenich
Let's face it: children are much more adventurous than most of us grownups. They learn at least nine impossible things before nine o'clock every day, as the Queen said in Alice in Wonderland. That's why so many adult Christians live boring lives. Their faith is somewhat faithless, their hope a little hopeless, their outlook rather dark, and, worst of all, their impact close to zero. That's why we need open, loving minds. Wait, we already possess the built-in capacity for kindness. Really, we do!
New neurological studies show that we as humans have been physiologically hot-wired to show empathy (Cf. Daniel J. Siegel, 2007. The Mindful Brain, pp. 164-188). We have a basic instinct for compassion. We possess the internal circuitry for genuine empathy. We have the ability to know, experience and to empathetically respond to others' pain and needs. This is how God created us. We were born with the capacity to love deeply embedded in our DNA.
God delivered us to his world with an inner readiness and a capacity to learn; to get in touch with the good feelings of others around us and to be happy. He deposited his DNA in all of us. But sadly, we arrived in a broken world. We were contaminated with UNgrace long before we even had a fair chance to say no to it. We were overrun with bad stuff in and around us. The rest is history! No, wait, the rest is not the full story, or the correct one, for that matter. We can grow back to our true selves, the way God created us.
How? Well, amongst others, we deliberately need to fill our lives with happiness. According to Czerner (What Makes You Tick? The Brain in Plain English, 2002): 'The brain needs to see a happy face and to hear occasional laughter to cement its neural circuitry. The encouraging sounds of 'Yes! Good! That's it' help to mark a synapse for preservation rather for pruning.' Happiness is brain cement and cell food. It is an instant fertilizer for our heads. No, it's not a sentimental remark that the shortest distance between two people is a smile. It's the truth, actually. 'Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face,' Victor Hugo said. It creates a feeling of inner warmth as those neurotransmitters that God put inside our brains, such as serotonin and dopamine, are released to create inner harmony, spiritual health and just plain old good feelings deep inside us. We were born to be caring people. Let's fulfill God's plan for our lives then by becoming our original selves again.
— Michael Merzenich
Let's face it: children are much more adventurous than most of us grownups. They learn at least nine impossible things before nine o'clock every day, as the Queen said in Alice in Wonderland. That's why so many adult Christians live boring lives. Their faith is somewhat faithless, their hope a little hopeless, their outlook rather dark, and, worst of all, their impact close to zero. That's why we need open, loving minds. Wait, we already possess the built-in capacity for kindness. Really, we do!
New neurological studies show that we as humans have been physiologically hot-wired to show empathy (Cf. Daniel J. Siegel, 2007. The Mindful Brain, pp. 164-188). We have a basic instinct for compassion. We possess the internal circuitry for genuine empathy. We have the ability to know, experience and to empathetically respond to others' pain and needs. This is how God created us. We were born with the capacity to love deeply embedded in our DNA.
God delivered us to his world with an inner readiness and a capacity to learn; to get in touch with the good feelings of others around us and to be happy. He deposited his DNA in all of us. But sadly, we arrived in a broken world. We were contaminated with UNgrace long before we even had a fair chance to say no to it. We were overrun with bad stuff in and around us. The rest is history! No, wait, the rest is not the full story, or the correct one, for that matter. We can grow back to our true selves, the way God created us.
How? Well, amongst others, we deliberately need to fill our lives with happiness. According to Czerner (What Makes You Tick? The Brain in Plain English, 2002): 'The brain needs to see a happy face and to hear occasional laughter to cement its neural circuitry. The encouraging sounds of 'Yes! Good! That's it' help to mark a synapse for preservation rather for pruning.' Happiness is brain cement and cell food. It is an instant fertilizer for our heads. No, it's not a sentimental remark that the shortest distance between two people is a smile. It's the truth, actually. 'Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face,' Victor Hugo said. It creates a feeling of inner warmth as those neurotransmitters that God put inside our brains, such as serotonin and dopamine, are released to create inner harmony, spiritual health and just plain old good feelings deep inside us. We were born to be caring people. Let's fulfill God's plan for our lives then by becoming our original selves again.
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