Today’s Sunday Blog is sponsored by no one but me. There is no rhythm, reason, or rhyme to it. It’s just some random thoughts I pondered, fact-checked and scribbled this week. Pick, choose, use, or toss whatever works for you.
Blind Faith
“Blind faith” is the belief in something without skepticism. It’s also the name of a super-group from England in the 60’s. The opposite of blind faith is skepticism. Not just taking “on faith” that someone will perform a certain way or that a certain something someone says it actually true. Skepticism is the act of “not” – of not 100% buying into what someone is trying to sell you.
Does that mean you should be skeptical about everything that comes your way? No it does not. No one has the time, intelligence, or bandwidth to know everything they need to know to navigate life successfully. But should you just simply trust what someone says just because they say it’s so? No you should not.
Faith
So what is “faith”? Faith is belief in something without proof. Certainly there is a religious component to faith, after all, Jesus didn’t have a driver’s license. And then there’s just the wind. You can’t see it, but you know it’s there because you can feel it. And what of love? It’s probably the most powerful emotion you will ever know. But can you touch it? Smell it? Hear it? No you cannot. But you can certainly feel it.
Your Gut
Have you ever had a feeling that something just isn’t right? Sure you have. You knew it in your gut. Turns out there is a connection between your gut and brain. The superhighway between the two is your vagus nerve that sends information both ways. But you know who gets the information first? Your heart. Then it goes to the pre-fontal cortex, and then down the vagus highway to your belly. Know how when you stand on the edge of a cliff, and you get that weird feeling in your stomach? Is your heart pounding? Maybe it’s your mind sending your gut a message to step back. Remember that stupid soul who took a selfie at the Grand Canyon? His vagus nerve must have been blocked that day as he fell to his peril. Sad for sure, but it made for a great Darwin Award.
Trust Issues
Should I trust you? I don’t know. I mean, I want to, but something just doesn’t seem quite right. Something is just a little “off”. Know what I mean?
How do I know if you’re lying? There are a myriad of signals lairs put out, you may just not have the right net to catch them. Increased pulse, dilated pupils, and fidgeting are an obvious trifecta. And then there’s a story that can’t be corroborated. The classic Joe Friday question is, “Where were you on the night of April 10th at 9:30?” If you know someone’s lying, don’t confront them, instead ask general recall questions. “If you were at the Denny on Main Street, where was the bathroom located?” Just a pro tip if you suspect your facing a liar.
Intuition
And what of intuition? Turns out research has taught us that yes, we do have it, but it’s different at different times in life. Science has now proven that infants have an intuition that applies to never-experienced events and that they use it to predict future events. In middle life, the heart, head and gut are the trifecta of your humanity all connected by the vagus nerve (see above), and in later life intuition finds us through the accumulation of knowledge and experiences that are processed and stored in our brain’s neural networks, and at a cellular and tissue level in our bodies, allowing us quick access.
Really?
There’s a story floating around on Instagram. It’s kind of crazy, maybe you saw it. Apparently this 15-year-old girl was being chased by a guy who said he was going to hurt her. He ended up killing her. They harvested her heart for a transplant to another teenage girl. About a month later, the recipient started having all kinds of nightmares and started speaking the words that the guy who killed the first girl was saying to her before he took her out. Then she started dreaming about him. They brought in a sketch artist and eventually the cops got their man. During questioning he broke down and admitted that he had killed the first girl.
Whoa.
I have this buddy from Pasco, Washington. He has two German shepherds. They moved a few years ago to Sandpoint, Idaho. That’s 212 miles. One day the two dogs disappeared. After a few weeks my buddy gave up on finding them. Three months later he gets a call from his old neighbor in Pasco. His two dogs were on the back porch of his old house.
It’s true.
Good luck and have a good week.
Joe Still
2024.06.02
Cite
“Love, like a chicken salad or restaurant hash, must be taken with blind faith or it loses its flavor.”
– Helen Rowland