Subject: Why do we use only 10 percent of our brains? (Washington Post/TMEX)
Keywords: WINTER92
X-Index: 0082

From TM-EX Newsletter, Winter 1992
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USA

Why do we use only 10 percent of our brains?

If you believe this, then you probably also believe that the Great
Wall of China is the only man-made object visible from the moon. Or
that alligators live in the sewers of New York City.

These are Fun Factoids that, unfortunately, lack the attribute of
being true. People love `em just the same, though, because they seem
to contain a message that's worth embracing. If we use only 10 percent
of our brain, then obviously we're much smarter than we ever realized!
We're not dumb, we're just underachieving!

Richard Restak, a Washington neurologist who has written several popular
books on the brain, says the 10 percent myth dates to the 19th century,
when experiments showed that stimulation of small areas of the brain
could have dramatic results. Touch a tiny part of brain tissue and
you might be able to induce the patient (or laboratory rat) to extend
a limb. There was an easy, if unscientific, extrapolation: If a small
percentage of the brain could do so much, then obviously most of the
brain was unused.

In reality, most of the brain mass is used for thinking. Any small-brained
creature can extend limbs or see what's across the room, but it takes
a big brain to handle the wiring necessary for a profound and abstract
thought, such as, ``I bowl, therefore I am.''

Today it is possible to watch brain activity taking place through
Positron Emission Tomograms, or PET scans, which show electrical
firing among billions of brain cells. Not every cell is involved in
every thought of nerve impulse, obviously, but there is no evidence
that any of your gray matter is superfluous. The brain has no unused
appendixes.

In fact, the moral of the story should be turned upside down: It's
stupid to use too many brain cells to do your thinking. Restak describes
a study in which two people, one with high intelligence according
to a standard written IQ test, and the other with mediocre intelligence,
were examined using PET scans. The result: The smarter person showed
less brain activity than the dumber one.  Why Things Are, Washington
Post, October 31, 1991, Joel Achenbach

BUT TM SAYS...

``Psychology says that man uses a small portion of the mind; only
5-10 per cent. This explains why life is not enjoyed in its full potential.
Use greater potential to minimise suffering; use full potentential
to eliminate suffering. Obviously then everyone has a choice to live
on the level he wants to. 1

``Use greater potential to minimise suffering. Use full potential
to eliminate suffering. Use of full mental potential is necessary
to enjoy full life. Transcendental Meditation develops full potential
in a natural manner.'' 

1-- ``Fiuggi Introductory Lecture'' on TM, Point 5,  Fiuggi,  Italy,
1972