Brain and the Three Brain

Brain and the Three Brain

A Scientific Explanation:

The Brain by Paul MacLean and "The Three Brain" by Robert Bly

The brain is one of the most complex and one of the least understood organs of the body. Throughout history, it has served as basis for wonderment, and with the beginning of the study of psychology as a science in the 1870's, it became the focus of a decades-long pondering that continues today, in the same field. The brain has been explain, dissected, and re-explained many times, yet nobody knows how it works to a certainty. The paragraphs below will explain scientifically two views of the brain, one by Paul MacLean and one by Robert Bly.

Paul MacLean's model of the brain, called the Triune Brain, includes the corpus callosum, the cerebrum, the limbic system, the reptilian complex, the cerebellum and the brain stem as central components of the organ. MacLean further suggests that the brain is actually three brains in one and each "layer" has been established as a result of an evolutionary need. The three layers are the reptilian (R) complex, the limbic system and the neocortex. Furthermore, MacLean contends that they all have different functions but that they also interact.

In MacLean's model, the R-complex is responsible for actual physical survival and is composed of the brain stem and cerebellum. The limbic system is the "second" brain, and it houses emotions. This part includes the amygdala and the hippocampus, the latter of which is responsible for long-term memories. The limbic system is further described as having evolved in primal activities mainly related to food and sex. Lastly, the neocortex constitutes almost the entire human brain and is the "outer" portion. This part makes language, speech and writing possible and is also responsible for most of our thinking.

In "The Three Brain" by Robert Bly, the reader is presented with another view of the brain. Robert Bly also speaks about the "three brains" of man, but unlike in the more scientific description above, he calls them the reptilian, the mammalian, and the new brain, in order to have them correspond better to our evolution stages thus, in a way, building upon MacLean's ideas. According to Bly, the first brain is "cold and ruthless" and deals with survival issues. The mammalian part deals with comforts such as family, friends, relationships, belonging, society, religion, home, etc.

The "new" brain is "very thin, incredibly dense" and is basically a "cellular layer surrounding the rest of the brain," according to Bly. This, according to scientists, has "no purpose." Bly states that "it deals with transcendence and grows on miserly." Just as in the description above, in Bly's description all brain exist simultaneous but shrink or grow, depending upon where energy is focused. For example, each can control energy, and the first two especially will do so when survival is threatened.