Illness as Memory
Many human illnesses are caused by memories. If this sounds crazy I think it will become clearer once we think more carefully about what a memory really is. For a long and beautifully written review of the physical nature of memory, please read Eric Kandel's wonderful memoir In Search of Memory . Dr. Kandel won the Nobel Prize in medicine for discovering the biologic correlates of memory. He discovered the synaptic buds that are generated by experience and go on to become the actually physical memory of that experience. There is not a one-to-one correlation between a neuronal synapse and a memory but a series of these synapses together can produce those glorious or horrendous or routine thoughts that we human are able to dredge up in our brain and relive in our mind as memories. Experiences lead to anatomic changes that lead to memories. The same can be said for a whole variety human illnesses. Let's start with our memories of past lives. Don't stop reading! I am not talk...