Just watched a BBC documentary titled, “Heart vs Mind – What Makes Us Human”. Found it quite interesting and informative. Though the documentary does not talk much about mind, it addresses the topic of heart in some detail. Heart has often been used in literature, poetry and scripture to refer to the centre of emotion, love, compassion, feelings and understanding but scientists would rather be skeptical about such interpretation.
Science has reduced the human heart to a mere mechanical pump that keeps blood oxygenated. The documentary explains that the view was reinforced by the French philosopher, Rene Descartes who interpreted the discovery of blood circulation by William Harvey as a scientific explanation for his mechanical, cog and wheel philosophy of life (Ibn al Nafes had discovered circulation of blood some 300 years before William Harvey [1] ). The truly amazing part of the documentary is the revelation that heart also contains a network of neurons of its own! Yes the kind of cells that make up human brain! The brain and these neurons work together to ensure proper functioning of the heart. Not only this, the signals in the brain influence the signals of these neurons and vice versa.
Examples like these reiterate why “scientific proofs” can’t be used to judge absolute truths. May be this discovery opens up new vistas for the scientific community to restore the glory of the human heart! Worth a watch! From the depth of my heart ❤
[1] Akmal M, Zulkifle M, Ansari A. IBN NAFIS – A FORGOTTEN GENIUS IN THE DISCOVERY OF PULMONARY BLOOD CIRCULATION. Heart Views : The Official Journal of the Gulf Heart Association. 2010;11(1):26-30. Available: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2964710/ [Accessed: 23-Oct-2016]
Sahil Sholla
23/10/2016
بين بحروساحل 