A Brain that Believes
Neuropsychology of Belief
Why we as humans long for something to believe in
Or believed by?
And why, to believe in thyself is a real struggle
But believing in an unknown entity
thought to be residing elsewhere is effortless?
‘Belief is a support system’, clichéd much; but what is
belief anyway? Simply an agreement of something being true and existing without
questioning how and why.
But to a brain that believes, belief is just looking for
patterns and making sense of them.
The believing brain is absorbed in connecting the
scattered dots.
And when these meaningful patterns become ‘beliefs’, our
brains trails proof and checks for confirmations. The proofs that support those
beliefs are preserved in the memory section of the brain- the hippocampus. As
they are accessed more and more, beliefs provide an emotional boost to our
decisions and actions. And then they are transferred and stored in other rooted
section.
So, if you scan a brain that believes, you’ll see
fireworks in the amygdala!
Beliefs act as emotional filter for sensory information
to guide brains’ response.
Then the brain that believes becomes a mold, a mental
simulation of how we interpret the world.
Putting our beliefs in something or someone is just building
an emergency door. So, if our actions go wrong, we know that someone has our
backs and then it is easy to avoid red sirens of fight-or-flight in our brains.
To our behavior, hence, a brain that believes provides
stability!
Beliefs aren’t something that you can name and define.
Some could be real things or some, like those cosmic stars
that guide
And some just could be your fancy thoughts like finding
yourself on mountain tops
and peace at an ocean-side…
No one’s sure if they are truth or a decorated tale
But if they dissolve your doubts, make you cross your
fears and calm your chaos,
Why discredit them? Because a brain that believes, will believe anyway!
It’s a risk, sure,
To embrace the uncertainty
To hold what cannot be held
But that being said,
I'll still choose to believe in the sparkle, my stardust
In me, in you and in US
And also in the creator of our universe!
Won’t you too? Of course YES
Because we are humans,
With souls that connect, skins to touch, a heart that loves and
A BRAIN THAT BELIEVES!
