“Most modern freedom is at root fear. It is not so much that we are too bold to endure rules; it is rather that we are too timid to endure responsibilities.”
― G.K. Chesterton, What's Wrong with the World
As we struggle to keep our Lenten practices and perhaps confront the difficulties of changing our routines and habits, neuroscience can shed light on our ability to make free choices and how those choices can reshape our brains.
Why Is It So Hard to Change?
The brain itself may get in the way! According to Dr. Andrew Newberg, the brain may resist change for this neurological reason:
After spending decades building a somewhat stable personality to handle life’s tribulations, the brain is hesitant to alter its underlying beliefs. After all, even if your behaviour is dysfunctional, it has helped you to survive, which is what your brain is primarily designed to do.”
—Dr. Andrew Newberg in How God Changes Your Brain, p. 175
This problem is overcome, however, by the brain’s amazing plasticity—its ability to alter existing pathways and create new ones.
How Our Brain Changes Itself
One of the most remarkable features of the human brain is its ability to change: to form new connections, strengthen those already established, and discontinue or “prune” those that are no longer needed. This feature is called neuroplasticity, but Dr Eagleman from Stanford University prefers the term “live-wired.” Though neuroplasticity is currently a buzzword, not long ago, the mechanisms involved were not well understood. These mechanisms are fascinating. “Neurons that fire together wire together” is a phrase coined by neuropsychologist Dr. Donald Hebb. Basically, this means that neural connections can develop into stronger neural circuits with increased use, including an increase in the number of receptors for the appropriate neurotransmitter. Dr. David Eagleman described the volume and the magnitude of these changes in an interview:
What you have is this three pounds of remarkable machinery which is constantly reconfiguring itself, every moment of its life. You have 86 billion neurons, each of which has about 10,000 connections. You have 0.2 quadrillion connections in the brain. These are constantly seeking and finding and plugging and then unplugging and replugging and so on. Everything that you know and everything that you do causes physical changes to the structure of your brain.
To accomplish any of this, the brain requires sensory input from our bodies, from our environment, and even from a hierarchy of priorities that we choose. Dr. Eagleman clearly explains that in humans, babies are born with only a few built-in skills but display incredible adaptability in the early years. Adults, however, have mastered multiple skills, forging a stable picture of the environment, but lose flexibility or adaptability as they age. This incredible flexibility in the early life of a human being makes us unique among all the animals. And the more stable view of the world formed in the adult brain makes it harder for adults to adapt and change.
But we can choose to change our thoughts and our behavior.
Are the Choices We Make Free?
In order to survive and grow, humans need to be able to make choices. This might seem obvious, but for various reasons, the idea of “choice” has generated intense debates in scientific and philosophical circles. For more than 50 years, there has been an ongoing argument among some neuroscientists about the reality of free will. In 1964, Hans Kornhuber and Luder Deecke discovered what is known as the “readiness potential”—an electrical impulse visible in the brain before the subject flexes a finger (i.e., “makes a choice”).
Experiments run by Benjamin Libet in the 1980s seemed to confirm the existence of this potential. By observing this slight rise in electrical potential, researchers were able to predict with great accuracy when the subject was going to move his finger. The interpretation was that choices are predetermined and, therefore, not “free.” Such a view ignores the huge difference between “choosing” to push a button compared to choosing a career or a spouse! It also springs from a belief that all events occurring in the universe are determined. In other words, all that happens flows from the laws of physics, chemistry, and biology, even from our genetic makeup. What appear to be “choices” are an illusion.
After considering neuroplasticity, however, it should be clear that our choices actually shape our brains. These changes then affect our future choices. The way Dr. Peter Tse, a neuroscientist from Dartmouth, describes it, our choices actually make us “different choosers.” It is a neurological fact, for example, that different areas of the brain are active when determining and “deciding” to pursue short-term vs long-term goals. This is an example of the brain’s ability to choose to become “a different chooser” by setting a hierarchy among goals. Goal setting, then, is one way we set out to change our habits and routines.
Our journey through Lent is passing quickly, but it is never too late to use all the tools available to us–neurological and spiritual–to become who God intends us to be. Whole. Integrated. A mirror of God’s Love to the world around us.
“We hold the potential for thousands of different versions of life, but we only get to live one. Herein lies one of the central reasons we struggle with simplicity. . . . To grow towards simplicity we need to learn to choose, to say no to the things that don’t truly matter, so we can give a fervent yes to the things that actually do.”
—Steve Lawson, founder Monk’s Manual
The Art of Change: Transform Your Mind and Deepen Your Faith
As you journey through Lent, striving to transform your habits and deepen your faith, remember that both neuroscience and spirituality affirm your ability to change. Your choices shape your brain, just as your faith shapes your soul. But how can we be sure of what we believe? How do reason and science support our faith in Christ?
Dive deeper into these questions with Christ, Science, and Reason: What We Can Know About Jesus, Mary, and Miracles. This compelling book explores the evidence for Christ and the miraculous through the lens of logic and science, helping you strengthen your faith and understanding.
Make this Lent a time of transformation—spiritually, intellectually, and neurologically! Get your copy today.
