Biology of the Spirit
an interveiw of Dr. Sherwin Nuland

“Men go forth to wonder at the heights of mountains, the huge waves of the sea, that broad flow of the rivers, the vast compass of the ocean, the courses of the stars and they pass by themselves without wondering” –St. Augustine


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          Dr. Nuland is a surgeon of thirty year, the author of multiple books and is also professor at Yale University, teaching bioethics, medical history and surgery. He uses human physiology to try to explain the meaning of life. Dr. Nuland sees the human spirit as an evolutionary accomplishment of the brain. The ultimate wisdom of the body, he says, is evidenced in the fact that we have repair enzymes that fix DNA mutations that often occur when our cells divide (about 4,000,000 cells divide every second).

          According to Dr. Nuland, the three pound human brain is the most complex structure to ever exist. He believes that the brain has developed over time, in search of moral order, integrity, equanimity, and spirit in order to counteract the realization of the decay and finitude of our lives. The brain evaluates decisions to be made and always picks the healthiest option, or the one that offers the greatest pleasure. The brain has unconsciously developed to value beauty and survival based on an emotional natural selection. He believes that this is the human spirit.

          Dr. Nuland sees the human spirit as a way to use the human consciousness. The human spirit has been endowed with the task of maintaining both the psychological and biological equilibrium necessary for survival. He sees disease as an imbalance, and that treatments help the body to restore its own equilibrium. Dr. Nuland offers as evidence the fact that nearly every primitive culture has seen disease as some sort of imbalance in the forces and that the imbalance, not the disease necessarily needed to be cured.

          Dr. Nuland claims that we live on the brink of a tempting chaos, and we are aware of this closeness. Within our own body’s, hundreds of processes are occurring, and so many things could go wrong at any instant, but nothing does go wrong. Dr. Nuland has a great respect and fascination with the precise complexities of the human body. We must constantly choose between good and evil, and though he believes very few are born bad, everyone occasionally gives into chaos because of the excitement and pleasure that can be achieved. Even the ancient Greeks realized that we are immersed in chaos, and found a sense of order in the cosmos. Because we seek harmony and order, most turn to religion.

          Monotheism has become widely accepted due to the fact that it offers people the unity, predictability and moral sense to prevent chaos. Dr. Nuland used to consider himself Jewish, but after falling into a severe depression, he realized that his religion no longer had meaning for him. It had become “obsessional thinking,” and he only feared punishment instead of having faith. Dr. Nuland sees wonder as the connector between everyone. He wonders about the universe created by nature whereas people of deep faith wonder about the universe created by God. Though we all have different experiences, we share a universal view of humanity.

Image from http://science.nationalgeographic.com