We have all seen the headlines: “This is your brain on drugs”; “This is your brain on porn”; “This is your brain on YouTube cat videos.” All right, perhaps not quite the last headline. Nevertheless, the unscrupulous use of brain imaging by media outlets, companies, university press offices, and many researchers seems to offer us physical proof that everything from obesity to murder originates from a brain that is imbalanced or diseased.1 These visual pictures are misleading when it comes to where the responsibility lies for our health. Our biology is not our destiny.2 The damage in the brain that results from incorrect lifestyle choices—including what and how we eat—does constrain an individual’s ability to think and choose, but it does not destroy it.
Based on my research, experiences, and beliefs, I view the brain and mind as separate and, more importantly, I believe that the mind controls the brain. Over the twenty-five years that I practiced clinically and trained thousands of teachers and students and corporations, I saw countless people overcome biological and societal difficulties, pursue their dreams, and succeed. I have met so many people in the course of my travels teaching this message around the world, and have had the privilege of seeing them overcome impossible circumstances. I have seen, both firsthand and in scientific literature, indeed in history, the power of human choice.3 And I believe in a God who is love, a God who has given us powerful, sound minds (2 Tim. 1:7; 1 John 4:8).
We cannot get excited when we hear sermons about how powerful God has made us and refuse to hear the other side of the coin—that is, that we can use this power incorrectly. If we believe we are fearfully and wonderfully made, there is a heavy responsibility that comes with bearing God’s glorious image (Gen. 1:27). If we believe we are powerful lions of God, then we also have to recognize our ability to kill—an ability that can be used for both good and bad. We have to take personal responsibility for the way we think, speak, act, and eat (Luke 6:46; 12:48; 2 Cor. 5:10; James 4:17). We need to stop being victims of our biology, of what happens to us, and start being victors. Are we not more than conquerors through Christ (Rom. 8:37)? Is anything impossible for our God (Matt. 19:26)? We are not meant to just cope. We are called to conquer. We are called to choose life (Deut. 30:19).
My Brain Made Me Do It
Today, there is a massive split in the world of neuroscience. Many scientists believe that the mind is a result of firing neurons: they see the mind as an emergent property of the brain.4 On the other hand, many scientists (myself included) are mind-body dualists: we argue that the mind changes the brain.5 The neurocentric perspective of the former argument arises out of humankind’s desire to worship the created (brain) instead of the Creator.
Indeed, this neurocentric, brain-focused mindset is, alarmingly, influencing all walks of life. It has become increasingly fashionable to assume that the brain is the most important level of analysis for understanding human behavior, and that the mind is more or less expendable, literally a by-product of the brain.6 We see the firing of neurons and we assume that this is what love or hatred is. Yet what if love causes the neurons to fire? It is a “chicken and egg” question that ultimately requires us to make a judgment based on our own interpretation of the data. In a secular world, I understand, even if I do not agree with, the mechanistic emphasis on the brain and the belief in matter that can be measured in a quantifiable manner held by many scientists and researchers today.7 Their beliefs have shaped their interpretations of neuroscience, just as my beliefs in an almighty God, human free will, and the intangible power of the mind shape my interpretations of neuroscience.
Yet why is this neurocentric vein of thought so dangerous? Essentially, the “oversimplification, interpretive license, and premature application of brain science in the legal, commercial, clinical, and philosophical domains” can lead us into murky waters when it comes to taking responsibility for our actions.8 Are you a murderer, or did the different activity seen in that brain scan make you do it? Are you addicted to food because your brain is wired that way, because you have inherited a genetic disposition from your parents—or because you have made choices?
Someone may say, “My brain scan shows I have an overactive amygdala, so it is hard for me to control my emotions and that is why I cannot control my eating.” Once you start down this path, you will ultimately have to question your belief in free will, since a predominant focus on the brain takes the control away from the individual and places the blame squarely on the brain.
I do not deny that very real changes will happen in the brain (how the mind changes the brain is my area of expertise) when we lead a toxic eating and thinking lifestyle, nor do I deny that some individuals do have damaged brains through no fault of their own. Yet for the most part the mind (that is, our thoughts and choices) comes first, which causes problems in the brain and body, which in turn feed back into the mind, making us feel awful if our mind is toxic.
There Is No Excuse for Excuses
Even if we do feel awful from wrong lifestyle choices, we need to stop looking for excuses and recognize that the mind is more powerful than the brain and body. Where the mind goes, the brain and body follow. In most instances we got there first with our mind, so we can get back to a good place in the same way: with our mind.
The colorfully illuminated brain on an fMRI scan, SPECT, or other imaging technology cannot be trusted to offer an in-depth view of the mind. This phenomenal but developing and limited technology provides a mere glimpse into activity happening in the brain in terms of energy, glucose metabolism, and blood flow.9 It does not show our thoughts. Neuroscientists are very far from determining the exact link between what they see on the scans and the content of our thoughts.10 Brain-imaging technology cannot read your thoughts, desires, loves, lies, feelings, morals, or the uniqueness of who you are—nor what is going on in your mind when it comes to eating.
To some neuroscientists and philosophers, you may be nothing more than your brain, but to God, you are a spirit, soul, and body—uniquely, fearfully, and wonderfully made—the crowning glory of his creation (Ps. 139:14). This gives us great hope for getting eating right so we can have healthy bodies, brains, and minds. Our brains and bodies have to do what we tell them to do through our minds (our choices, which are real electromagnetic and quantum signals with real chemical effects in the brain and body).
It is not logical to see behavior, including food choices, as beyond a person’s control simply because some associated neural activity can be seen in the brain. As psychiatrist Sally Satel and psychologist Scott O. Lilienfeld explain in Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience:
Scans alone cannot tell us whether a person is a shameless liar, loyal to a product brand, compelled to use cocaine, or incapable of resisting an urge to kill. In fact, brain-derived data currently add little or nothing to the more ordinary sources of information we rely on to make those determinations; mostly, they are neuroredundant. At worst, neuroscientific information sometimes distorts our ability to distinguish good explanations of psychological phenomena from bad ones.11
We know someone is a shameless liar when they lie shamelessly. The same can be said for loyal customers, addicts, and murderers. Viewing their brain activity on a slide is essentially “neuroredundant” in terms of knowing that they have chosen to do these things. If we look for answers on a brain scan, we can fall into the trap of seeking all the solutions to all our problems in an image of glucose metabolism, energy, and blood flow. This is scientific reductionism at its worst, focusing myopically on a sense of “we are what our neurons do.”
Brain scans are essentially as accurate as trying to hear the exact conversation in the street below when you are standing on the roof of a skyscraper.12 You may see the mouths moving, but you will not hear the conversation. By the same token, brain scans see activity but they don’t know the actual conversation happening within the depths of the brain as the result of the mind in action. Such an overreliance on information from brain imaging does a great injustice to the beautiful complexity of the scientific method as a means of understanding the beautiful complexity of God’s creation.
It’s clear, then, that we have both the precious freedom and the awesome responsibility to choose our mindsets. They aren’t determined by our brains or our genes. Let’s take a closer look at how that responsibility plays itself out with respect to the destructive eating habits in which we or our children can find ourselves ensnared.