Danny Korakas
Senior Member
Joined: 11/14/2006 Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 502
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Posted: 10/17/2015 at 7:16am
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It's fairly common knowledge that research has been conducted with
monkeys with the hopes of understanding Parkinson’s disease. For
instance, one such study would squirt apple juice in a monkey’s mouths
and observe a little surge in the dopamine neurons in their brains.
After a few squirts, it was clearly noticeable that the dopamine neurons
began to fire just before the juice arrived. Other experiments would
first sound a tone and then deliver the juice. After just a few rounds
of tests, the monkeys quickly figured out that the tone preceded or came
before the juice. In other words, their neurons began to now fire at
the sound of the tone and not with the delivery of the juice. The
question and the point of this article is why didn’t the neurons simply
respond to the actual reward (the juice)? Why didn’t the monkeys wait
until consumption before getting excited both emotionally and
physically? It seems that God created our mental systems to be
geared more toward predicting rewards than the rewards themselves until its actually experienced. This
is simple to grasp but revolutionary in understanding why the
scriptures encourage us that we all have the ability to spiritually
prophesy in our physical DNA. Our minds are designed to create
predictive models all day long. For example, a sound or tone led to the
physical juice in the minds of the monkeys. When we accurately model in
anticipation or before reality – the mind experiences a measure or surge
of reward along with a reassuring feeling of comfort and peace. When
our models contradict reality – tension, concern and a lack of peace
will soon manifest. This is why prophesying outside of the leading and
timing of the Holy Spirit is so detrimental to our lives. I am
convinced that a primary operation or function of the brain is dedicated
to modeling. I realize that many in the scientific community may
disagree and that’s okay. However, we must agree that as human beings,
we are continually constructing anticipatory patterns in our brain to
help us predict the future. In other words, if I put my hand here, then
this will happen. Or, if I smile, then the person passing by will smile.
If our inner models mesh or connects with what actually happened, we
experience a sweet and subtle drop of affirmation and life purpose. If
it doesn’t, then we experience a disconnect and a problem with the
model, and thus, the brain has to learn what the glitch is and adjust
the model. Simply put, these brain functions are one of the
fundamental elements and structure of “desire.” As we move through our
days and experience life – the mind generates anticipatory patterns
based on the models that we have experienced, constructed, and have
chosen to store inside our consciousness. Oftentimes, there is tension
between the inner models and the outer world model. It is within these
tensions that we attempt to come up with concepts that will help us
understand the world and most importantly – the spiritual world beyond.
We naturally move into behavior patterns that will help or assist us to
live in harmony with the reality of the natural world. The spiritual
world and model is constructed when we realize that the natural models
eventually fall short with its many unanswered questions. It’s difficult
for me at this point to express what’s in my spirit, but I will say
that it is within the tension between the inner models that we've
constructed and the outer world that the battle of the mind rages. We
must be able to differentiate between the two for both demand a
particular anticipation and faith. Nonetheless, the concept is the same
for both except those who have constructed a healthy spiritual model
cannot help but overflow with neurons firing in anticipation of the future
rewards because they hear the sounds of the trumpets...They have already
tasted that the Lord is good! When we grasp a particular
situation, or master some task, there’s a surge of pleasure that arises
in our minds. However, it’s not living in perpetual harmony or pleasure
that produces the surge as many snake oil salesmen under the guise of
ministry would have us believe. If it were so, we’d be happy or content
living on a tropical beach every moment of our lives. The truth is that
the beach would get old and even miserable after a certain amount of
time. It’s the moment when a particular tension is erased or conquered
within our minds and a new model that constructed that reflects the
perfection of God's government that brings fullness to life. The
abundant life has a recurring set of rhythms like a fine musical
instrument and it moves from difficulty to harmony, difficulty to
harmony, difficulty to harmony and difficulty to harmony as life goes
on. As God’s creation, we are propelled, move, and desire spiritual
equilibrium with the world around us. The abundant life and a mind of
wholeness is obtained when moments arise in our lives when the inner and
outer patterns we have 'chosen' to construct and store in our minds
mesh. The Lord has designed us to not only desire Him (represented by
the juice) but to also strongly desire, anticipate him; to be excited
about him, and predict the future reward. These dynamic models of anticipation constructed within our
minds must be in place in our lives to truly understand the mind of
Christ for he is the Spirit of Prophecy.
"For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted" 1 Corinthians 14:31
Edited by Danny Korakas on 10/17/2015 at 7:20am
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