1/4 in Diu

January 4th - Nadov's birthday - he would be 21 today, and legal to drink.

Current research shows that, contrary to popular myth, the brain is like a muscle and can continuously grow, no mater how old. Connections occur in pathways - the more pathways, the more connections. When we speak of the heart versus the brain, I wonder if this is just another illusory dichotomy that doesn't really exist, attempting to simplify, but actually creating separation. When we talk about "opening one's heart," maybe what is actually happening is creating more connections in the brain, for love is a connection, and when everything is connected to everything else, then we truly feel (and not just know) a larger Truth.

Sitting here drinking coffee at an outdoor stand on the water front, I just made a connection of my own. As a math teacher, teaching a subject that is not universally loved, I constantly get the question, "Why do we have to learn this?" (By the way, I think it is essential for all teachers to be able to answer this question.) I have often wondered myself about the very same question. I have told my students that there are many types of intelligences, and abstract, linear thinking, though just one type of intelligence, is an important one. Mathematics helps exercise the brain to make connections, and thus, identify patterns (isolating the variable, determining relevant versus irrelevant information, using the appropriate mental "tool" or strategy to solve a problem). Thus, in my mind, the most important thing that math has given the world is pattern recognition

Maybe this type of intelligence is not so different than our intuitive intelligence that leaps and understands connections instantaneously. The more we see connections, the closer we come to peace (bot internally and externally, at micro and macro levels), love, and that deeper Truth of Oneness.