{"id":791,"date":"2011-02-11T06:21:49","date_gmt":"2011-02-11T06:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/2011\/02\/11\/dr-gopee-50\/"},"modified":"2020-04-15T16:31:30","modified_gmt":"2020-04-15T12:31:30","slug":"dr-gopee-50","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/dr-gopee-50\/","title":{"rendered":"Who would be wise?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dr R Neerunjun Gopee<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Modern definitions of wisdom are based on ancient Greek philosophy. Many of these defined elements of wisdom are also found in eastern philosophies \u2013 for example, in the Bhagavad Gita, a distillation of ancient Hindu philosophy that predates the earliest Greek philosophers by hundreds of years and in Chinese philosophies such as Taoism.\u2019 <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

— Journal of the American Medical Association, 13 October 2010\u00a0 <\/em>Throughout mankind\u2019s history we come across references to wise men, and it is not uncommon even today to have somebody or the other pointed out as a wise person. Intuitively, we feel we know what is meant by the description \u2018wise,\u2019 about which there seems to be general agreement. In fact, in an article entitled Wisdom \u2013 A Neuroscience Perspective<\/em> by Dilip V Jeste, MD and James C Harris, MD (of the University of California) in the 13 October 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association <\/em>(JAMA), the authors observe that there are \u2018surprising similarities among concepts of wisdom across cultural, geographic, and temporal boundaries.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

This led them to ponder whether, given this widespread presence of the idea from ancient times and across the world, there could be a physical basis for it in the human body. To clarify, everybody assumes that thinking takes place in something called the \u2018mind\u2019 which they locate in the brain \u2013 in other words, the brain is the \u2018physical basis\u2019 for the mind. Never\u2026 mind that most people would never have seen what a brain looks like (they would probably be flabbergasted, if not plainly horrified, if they did!), let alone be able to explain any further what is the \u2018mind.\u2019 Many of us would remember how we used to joke about this exchange between scientists: What is mind? – it does not matter; What is matter? – never mind!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In my article of last week we took a look at how scientists are trying to find out whether a specific type of meditation practice known as \u2018mindfulness meditation\u2019 induces any changes in the brain \u2013 in other words, whether there is a \u2018physical basis\u2019 for meditation. The answer was in the affirmative, namely that mindfulness meditation does bring about observable changes in the brain which, in addition to enhancing brain capacity, may have potentially beneficial effects for the ageing brain.<\/span><\/p>\n

Given that meditation is a mental activity, it would seem logical to seek a correlation between meditation and the brain, the seat of the mind as is not only commonly believed, but also being established as such on firmer ground by scientists through innovative techniques.<\/span><\/p>\n

When it comes to what the authors call \u2018social constructs\u2019 such as wisdom, though, for long scientists themselves did not think that they were topics suitable for scientific enquiry. But based on both reasoning from first principles and following upon discoveries about brain-mind correlations, it appears that there is sufficient justification for seeking the physical basis, in the brain, that may underlie the several common elements that go into a definition of wisdom. These elements include: \u2018rational decision making based on general knowledge of life; prosocial behaviours involving empathy, compassion, and altruism; emotional stability; insight or self-reflection; decisiveness in the face of uncertainty; and tolerance of divergent value systems.\u2019 It is no longer odd to speak about the \u2018neurobiology of wisdom.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

It goes without saying that the authors proceed according to a scientific approach, so that after the \u2018definition and elements\u2019 part, they go on to consider:<\/span><\/p>\n