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Dance on the Head of a Pin
by Sheila Key and Peggy Spencer, M.D.
In
the Eastern view, the dualistic energies of heaven and earth meet within the
human body. Many Western traditions say as much: we are soul made flesh.
I picture the
divine in each of us as a ballerina en pointe. Exquisitely balanced, gorgeously
graceful, she (or he) hovers between heaven and earth, barely alighting. She
goes by the name Best Self, and as good as she is, even she slips sometimes.
Too much earth, not enough heaven - or vice versa - and things go off-balance.
We're only human, after all. Forgive yourself, as any angel would. Regain
equilibrium, and strive upward once more, as if on angel's wings.
Pondering the Imponderables
Puzzling over how
many angels can dance on the head of a pin is a job for the so-called higher
brain, seated in the frontal lobes of our cerebral cortex. Seated, you might
say, as if on a throne, for this most highly evolved region of the brain is our
skull's resident scholar, the one who can do what the very best brains of other
animals cannot: crunch numbers, use reason and logic, collect arcane trivia in
hopes of winning on Jeopardy! someday...that sort of thing.
Well, were I to
risk it all to speak truth to power, I would put this question to that
royal-highness of a brain: "So tell us, Your Majesty! With all those super,
human smarts of yours - not to mention your savvy for programming machines to
think like you - how come you haven't designed a robot yet that can even walk
with the grace of a human, let alone dance like one? Eh, Yer Highness? How high
is your ‘higher brain' functioning now?"
Enough, enough.
Lest I forget, I'm making a case for the better angels of our nature, here.
Jack Be Limbic, Jack Be Quick
I got snotty there
for a minute to make this point: the higher brain may be clever enough to do
math and use logic and even win on brainy game shows, but it doesn't know - nor
does it care - one bit about hurt feelings (or sex or food, for that matter).
What's worse, it couldn't run you out of a burning building to save your soul.
Higher brain, my
foot. If dancing with angels is what you want, come on down to the limbic
level, what Peg and I like to call the Limbic Lounge, 'round the bend from the
frontal lobe, in the temporal lobes on the sides of the head. The limbic system
may not rank as high as the higher brain, but it's the more feeling brain, the
brain who cares! It knows where your edges are and senses beyond them. Gut
feelings plug into the limbic brain, and its fight-or-flight sentinels stand
ready to save you. Thanks to the limbic system, rock-a-bye motion soothes the
crying babe, and deepening emotion transforms strangers into friends....
Yeah, life would
be mighty dull without a limbic brain in our heads. Except for the even sadder
possibility that we'd all be extinct by now.
Be an Angel, Will You, Love?
The compassionate
limbic brain evolved to aid survival. Before it emerged, about 100 million
years ago, the most sophisticated animal brains were "reptilian" - and you know
how snakes can be. If they happened by as their own eggs were hatching, they'd
be like, "Hey! Lunch!" But not us mammals. Our limbic systems ooze with
emotion, and we fall in love with our babies, just as we fell for their daddies
or mommies before them (not to mention countless grannies and aunties, cousins,
and buddies). Forget saving ourselves: we'd run into burning buildings for
these guys!
My sister Theresa
gave our brother Sean two-thirds of her liver. The risks were enormous, her
children were still at home, but she never wavered in her decision to try to
save Sean's life. And she did. The way I see it, Theresa now dances among the
angels - in a beautifully scarred body still living right here on earth!
Cool Moves: Balance Challenge!
Practice hatha
yoga's Tree Pose (Vrksasana) every chance you get. Stand tall with your feet
together. Place the right foot against the (inner) left leg at the level of
ankle, knee, or thigh (mid-thigh or higher up), as you're able. Higher
placement = bigger challenge. Fix your gaze on a low spot about ten feet in
front of you. Inhale and raise your arms overhead, with palms facing each other
or touching. Straighten the elbows, arms to ears, chin slightly tucked. Breathe
mindfully. Grow upward! Hold for twenty to thirty seconds. Repeat on the other
side.
Things to Try
at Least Once
- Dance. With a partner, alone in your room,
fast, slow, cha-cha-cha! Take dance lessons - ballroom, ballet, belly -
whatever moves you. Just get up and booooogieeeee!
- Pick an angel, any angel! Consult a deck of
Angel Cards and let them lift you with their single-word encouragements.
- Take on balance challenges. Ride a bike, play
hopscotch, climb rock walls, spin a ball on your fingertips, play tennis or
soccer, balance a yardstick vertically at arm's length, or pretend the curb is
a balance beam and that you're going for Olympic gold!
- Host a Dancing Angels film festival. Invite
your friends (or not) for a marathon of movies about angels and dance. Might I
suggest Wim Wenders's Wings of Desire, the American remake of it, called City
of Angels, and
anything by Busby Berkeley?
 Excerpted with permission from the
book:
50 Ways to Leave Your 40s: Living it Up in Life's Second Half © 2008
by Sheila Key and Peggy Spencer, M.D.
Printed with
permission of the publisher, New World Library, Novato,
CA. www.newworldlibrary.com or 800-972-6657 ext. 52.
For more info or to order this book.
About the Authors
Sheila Key & Peggy Spencer, M.D are the authors of 50
Ways to Leave Your 40s: Living it Up in Life's Second Half. Visit them online at www.50waystoleaveyour40s.com.
SHEILA KEY is an award-winning writer
and graphic designer who has freelanced for publications ranging
from corporate business journals to New Age magazines to anthologies
of poetry and art. Before writing and designing full-time, Sheila
worked in radio for ten years. Sheila
lives with her husband and two children in Albuquerque, New
Mexico.
PEGGY SPENCER has a B.A. degree from the
University of California Santa Cruz and an MD from the University
of Arizona. She completed a residency at the University of New
Mexico, is board certified in Family Medicine, and is currently
employed at UNM as staff physician at the Student Health Center
and adjunct faculty at the School of Medicine. She writes a
column for the New Mexico Daily Lobo newspaper answering reader-submitted
health questions, and contributes articles to UNM Parent Matters
and UNM Today. Peg is married with two children and lives in
Albuquerque.
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