Our frontal lobes, located on the front end of the skull, or at the forehead, is the most evolved area of the brain. Humans have large frontal lobes in comparison to mammals, because of the complexity of culture and the immense amount of knowledge and skills, necessary to engage this culture. Although there are many capabilities that this important lobe has, the major one involves execution and administration. It has been called the “executive” of the brain, because it organizes the other areas and lobes from the central and back areas of the brain(including motor, sensory and instinctual processes).
Since it is the executive, it has the responsibility to carry out needed actions in the world. It’s design, according to Isaac Luria, a premier neurophysiologist, is to plan, execute and verify human, cultural actions. It is, simply, the organ of Volition. If there are injuries to this area, there is either an inablility to coordinate simple functions, or there is so much material sent up or projected from other areas, that the distraction will prevent smooth, social functioning.
We will show that the more one does an inner kind of work, or the work of Self-knowledge, the more the frontal lobe provides a unity or integration, in comparison to our normal functioning. We can look at the other article, entitled, “The Analogy of Governments, etc” and look at the ways the frontal lobes become more or less unified.
In the “anarchy”, the frontal lobes are at their least effective condition. When there is lethargy, there is very little direction or volition, outside of simple survival and crude entertainment. Most of the “work” is done through simpler circuitry and nuclei of the brain stem and limbic-emotional areas. In the “tyranny”, there is a definite surge of volition, but it is still crude and highly influenced by earlier centers. In the “monarchy”, the strong ambition is more socially integrated, and the three stages of programming, execution (completion) and verification are more sophisticated. However, in this stage, it is still influenced by earlier centers of pleasure, greed and power. Even though it is brilliant and more organized, it is still ruled by earlier, evolutionary forces. Even so, an important area of the frontal lobes, the orbitalfrontal area, located in the center of the forehead, becomes useful here, because the Monarch can now watch distraction. This begins the first process of Self-knowledge, because for the ambitious person to actualize, she must eliminate distraction. This area in the center of the forehead does this; it watches distraction and let’s it go - or utilizes it functionally - in order to complete action programs. An ambitious person (the monarch), can eliminate distractions to her main idea that is brought held in the mind.
The “democracy” or the person who attempts to have a main area of purpose, while at the same time, organizes all the other parts of her life, through various subpersonalities is much more unified. The agenda to “make her life work” in many areas, not just a major obsessive ambition, will not only unify the ability to organize areas of the brain, but also, strengthen the orbitalfrontal “muscle”, because it needs to look at distractions more carefully. If too much desire, need and emotional material is projected into the frontal lobes, there will more chaos. The “Socialist” is even more integrated, because the “checks and balances” of the sub-personalities of the democracy, are substituted with a strong constitution, a powerful ideology that is held in place in the frontal lobes. The planning aspect of volition, can hold a single thought in the frontal lobe and utlilize it to carry out programs. If there is one strong or group of thoughts held in place, then it can “work” on more chaotic sub-personalities, and then provide the strengthening of not only the ability to carry out actions in a direction, but also strengthen the orbitalfrontal area which “watches distraction”. The “aristocracy” is even more unified, because the wisdom employed has the effect of modulated much of the childhood material, this providing a high integration of action and execution. Here one can be in the moment and plan effectively.
However, the most unified utilization of the frontal lobes, occurs in the “Sovereignty” or the True Union. It is even more unified because it does not rely upon words (cognitive wisdom from the aristocracy) and contacts the Real Self, directly. Therefore, the motor, sensory, feeling-responsive and instinctual areas are more efficiently integrated from this important area. One of the main reasons is from the strengthening of the orbitalfrontal area, which at this point is very watchful and observant. In fact, one can call this the “sentinel”. It is the like a very loyal and passionate watcher that protects the person. It is always “on call”. In other words, the sentinel takes the place of much of the “planning”, which often involves an excess amount of reflecting and identification, using more material from earlier centers. If there is a strong emotion or passion, emerging from these earlier centers (brain stem- limbic nuclei, such as the amygdala, etc), it “falls asleep”. The sentinel watches the material so closely that it can understand whether it can be”allowed in” for further processing or not. This sentinel can discriminate between clear thinking and responsiveness and narcissisitic and crude instinctual material emerging from synapses in the earlier brain. It has formed powerful peptide bonds which inhibit certain neurotransmitters from activating programs which will cause unnecessary unwise actions in the world.
The other reason that this particular form of “government” is so unified is because it forms a “partnership” with deeper areas of the brain that can access Nothingness. According to Stephen Austin, who wrote, “Zen and the Brain”, these deeper areas are in the temporal lobe of the brain. Our normal programs, often run through the sympathetic system (fight or flight, pleasure, etc) through the limbic emotional (amygdala, septal nucleus, etc) and onto the frontal lobes for reflections and actions. As the governments become more united (democracy, to socialism to aristocracy), there is less distraction, but there is not the type of unity that would occur if there was this partnership with the deeper or silent areas in the Temporal lobe. In the Sovereignty, there is a true inner “Unity”, for the execution of actions are coordinated through this area of Space or Nothingness, instead of the “ego axis” of the sympathetic-limbic-frontal systems. In this case, there is true “being in the world, but not being of the world”, the form of living wisdom that is the true organizer and intelligence of the brain as it interrelates to the world or culture. The Planning process of the frontal lobes are still used, but are much more modulated, from the “strength of the sentinel” and the presence of the silence areas of the mind, the new partner in the center of the brain.
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