That thought came to me after reading a recent New York Times piece that questioned whether kidswho are being diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder may simply suffer from loss of sleep. Wrote Dr. Vatsal Thakkar, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at New York University’s School of Medicine:

“I don’t doubt that many people do, in fact, have A.D.H.D.; I regularly diagnose and treat it in adults. But what if a substantial proportion of cases are really sleep orders in disguise?”

Don’t get me wrong. I am fascinated by how much more we know about the brain’s influence over our behaviors. Recently, I did an interview with Dr. Sandra Bond Chapman of the Center of Brain Health at University of Texas at Dallas. She talked about how the brain’s development affects early learning. You can read more about her thoughts at this link.

Still, I have wondered whether the science of brain chemistry has risen to such a place that we may overlook other reasons for behavior. That includes whether the old-fashioned notion of sin could perhaps also explain the actions people take. Could it be that man’s rebellion against God is driving people to act the way they do as much as any influence their brain has on their actions?

We can never quantify the reasons for actions, but I would like to hear your thoughts about this issue:

Are we relying too much on the science of the brain to explain human behaviors?

NITYANANDA CHANDRA DAS, minister of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), Dallas 

The human brain is like a prism. Light does not come from a prism but light can be transmitted and put through a prism. The body itself, including the brain, is simply a machine for the soul. Once the soul leaves the body, the body is of little worth. It is through the body that soul expresses itself in this material world.

There is much phenomena unexplainable by the modern mechanistic idea of consciousness, one is inspiration. For example the zeta function discovery by German mathematician Bernard Riehmann. Right before dying he wrote a note describing several properties of this function. He did not indicate the proof of these properties and it took many years later for mathematicians to prove all but one of them. The last one has been studied with great difficulty over the past 100 years.

One mathematician, Jacques Hadamard, in this regards said, “All these complements could be brought to Riemann’s publication only by the help of facts which were completely unknown in his time; and, for one of the properties enunciated by him, it is hardly conceivable how he can have found it without using some of these general principles, no mention of which is made in his paper.”

Mechanistic science fails to present theoretical models which cannot account for this phenomena of inspiration. For this reason others it is easy to understand that the self transcends the brain. Based on the desires and resultant actions (karma), the soul is granted a particular body. Due to the influence of ignorance, the soul misidentifies the body as the self. Thus in such ignorance, the self becomes conditioned by the body that it inhabits.

To see all responses of the TEXAS Faith panel click here.

Let’s return to Frank Newport’s book, God is Alive and Well: The Future of Religion in America. I did an interview with Newport, Gallup’s editor-in-chief, for our Points section on Easter Sunday. As part of the interview, he talked about the impact baby boomers could have on religion as they retire.

We’ve certainly heard a lot about how those of us who are boomers will affect entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security. But I really had not thought much about how this generation of Americans could affect religion.

Newport’s point is this: If boomers become like elderly Americans of the past, they will become more religious as they enter their senior years. Of course, boomers being boomers, they may defy that trend. But if they don’t, they could become a major source of growth for religion in general and various faiths in particular.

That would be interesting since we are reading about the decline of membership in some traditions, like mainline Protestant churches. Could boomers actually reverse those trends?

I don’t know, but I would like to hear your thoughts about this question:

As baby boomers begin to retire, what is it that your faith tradition could offer to those in that generation who do not have a particular religious belief? Or, to put it another way, could boomers be your next source of growth?

NITYANANDA CHANDRA DAS, minister of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), Dallas 

Our stay in the world is like staying at a hotel. Don’t spend your time trying remodel it, it is only a temporary visit.

Therefore there are four successive stages of life in Vedic culture to train one to embrace the eternal rather than investing in the temporary. Celibate student life, married life, retired life, and renounced life.

During married life, one’s life becomes entangled with so many obligations to work, society, family, and so on. Therefore it is expected in Vedic culture that, after the age of 50, one retires from active business and other pursuits and dedicates their time and efforts to bring their hearts closer to God.

For if at the time of death one is consumed with worldly thoughts: Thoughts of how their business, family, and personal projects will go on without them, they will then have to return to this mortal world. For the Kingdom of God is inhabited by only those whose hearts is fully absorbed in love for the Lord.

To see all responses of the TEXAS Faith panel click here.