Unconditional Love
Personally, I have to admit that I am not very good with pain. How would I cope if disaster struck and pain set in? Perhaps it would be an illness, a bereavement, an attack on my good name or an earthquake. So many things in life can go wrong. When suffering strikes, I might be angry and think that there is no point in making the effort to do good.
I admire Jesus because he went through suffering without abandoning good and I guess that demonstrates his wonderous mental discipline and his unconditional love.
The media bombard us with bad news and I say to myself what Jesus said ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. You trust in God, trust also in me’ John 14; 1. But how can I achieve this?
Perhaps what Jesus means is that we use discipline to control our thoughts when we sit and reflect on suffering. Perhaps Jesus means that each person should control their brain’s default mode network.
The default mode network was discovered using functional brain scanning by Raichle et al in 2001. The brain is continually active throughout life and uses about 20% of all the energy produced by a human body. The default mode network is a network of connections between nuclei in the brain and this network is active during rest from specific brain activity. The functions of this network include motivation and emotional processing, self-referential mental activity, beliefs, desires and intentions to others, memory and imagination of the future. This part of the brain can function as positively creative or negatively ruminant. Research is ongoing but shows the positive effect of the performance of specific tasks, or meditation / prayer in controlling the negative aspects of the default mode network activity. Researching this brain network potentially has huge implications for our understanding of mental health and the building of a functionally creative future for mankind.
Because I receive Jesus in the eucharist each week I believe that he is helping me to guide my default mode network, improving my relationships with other people. Every day I praise Jesus and when I talk to other people, I praise them for the work they do. Every day I thank Jesus and I thank other people for all they give me. Every day I ask Jesus for mercy and when I meet challenging people, I treat them as equals. Every day I say ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled’.
11/07/23.
Peter Coates, secretary of Churches Together in King’s Lynn.
Linden, Bircham Rd, Stanhoe, Norfolk, PE318PT. Tel: 01485 518191.
Published in the Lynn News Tuesday 15th August 2023.
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