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Your Brain on Stars

How can a three-pound mass of jelly that you can hold in your palm imagine angels, contemplate the meaning of infinity, and even question its own place in the cosmos? Especially awe-inspiring is the fact that any single brain, including yours, is made up of atoms that were forged in the hearts of countless, far-flung stars billions of years ago. These particles drifted for eons and light-years until gravity and change brought them together here, now. These atoms now form a conglomerate – – your brain – – that can not only ponder the very stars that gave it birth, but can also think about its own ability to think and wonder about its own ability to wonder. With the arrival of humans, it has been said, the universe has suddenly become conscious of itself. This, truly, is the greatest mystery of all. 

— V. S. Ramachandran (b. 1951), Indian-American neuroscientist, director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at University of California, San Diego 
Always keep it clean. As Dae Soen Sa Nim used to say, “You always using your mind, but never cleaning it. Using don’t-know soap is very necessary!”

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