I learned a very interesting concept this past week in my evolution class. When evolutionary biologists work on creating phylogenetic trees to see the relationships between species and their common ancestor, the natural way that organisms are grouped is that they fall into clades or monophyletic groupings, these are all of the decendants of a common ancestor. Another commonly used grouping method is known as paraphyly, which is considered by many an unnatural way of grouping, because it includes certain decedents of an ancestor, but not necessarily all of them. One that you are probably most familiar with is reptiles! Reptiles all share many common morphological and genetic features and so we as humans have decided with our power to clump them up, but the reptile family excludes a few key players in the common ancestry line, birds and.. us!
Why do I bring this up? Well, this idea of monophyletic and paraphyletic grouping prompted me to think about how best I can explain the importance and essentialness of Neuroscience, Homelessness and Jesus. Many times we create associations between things that I believe are unnatural associations. Often times they are loose associations that I don't believe are encoded within a specific concepts DNA. Take for instance my relationship with some of my friends back home, which consisted of Disney movies, Chocolate Milk and Mean Girls references. Although these 3 things are great, I don't believe they are a "monophyletic" grouping because they don't include all the essentials to friendship, but just a few (a paraphyletic grouping of friendship).
The three I write on and have devoted my life to, I believe are natural associations. NHandJ isn't something we as a culture have clumped up together because they might share some common features, rather my theory is that these three things are intertwined in an objective way, and the only way to solve the problem of homelessness (and all that comes with it: the mental illness, the poverty, the spiritual warfare and the drug addictions) is to integrate and approach it holistically. And here is where I find the corpus callosum of my blog.
The corpus callosum of the human brain is where the neurons of the right and left hemispheres meet. The two sides of the brain, which serve varying functions are able to communicate with each other. This bridging of the brain is essential to many of our vital functions. In the same way, I believe the corpus callosum of our target population meets, but from three directions (NHandJ).
I want to make a small clarification, that will better help me describe this holistic approach and crossing between these three. The idea of homelessness is the central issue, that encompasses the need for the holistic approach of these three sections: Neuroscience (physiological component), homelessness (as it's literal meaning of being without a home), Jesus (the spiritual component). It can be a bit confusing because the main theme is also a sub theme.. but I have confidence in your intelligence to see through my weak forms of communication :)
Now, I believe the rehabilitation of our target population requires practitioners to understand the vitalness of these three subjects and the lack of their independency with relation to each other. I have heard each extremes in contradiction to my belief:
Why do I bring this up? Well, this idea of monophyletic and paraphyletic grouping prompted me to think about how best I can explain the importance and essentialness of Neuroscience, Homelessness and Jesus. Many times we create associations between things that I believe are unnatural associations. Often times they are loose associations that I don't believe are encoded within a specific concepts DNA. Take for instance my relationship with some of my friends back home, which consisted of Disney movies, Chocolate Milk and Mean Girls references. Although these 3 things are great, I don't believe they are a "monophyletic" grouping because they don't include all the essentials to friendship, but just a few (a paraphyletic grouping of friendship).
The three I write on and have devoted my life to, I believe are natural associations. NHandJ isn't something we as a culture have clumped up together because they might share some common features, rather my theory is that these three things are intertwined in an objective way, and the only way to solve the problem of homelessness (and all that comes with it: the mental illness, the poverty, the spiritual warfare and the drug addictions) is to integrate and approach it holistically. And here is where I find the corpus callosum of my blog.
The corpus callosum of the human brain is where the neurons of the right and left hemispheres meet. The two sides of the brain, which serve varying functions are able to communicate with each other. This bridging of the brain is essential to many of our vital functions. In the same way, I believe the corpus callosum of our target population meets, but from three directions (NHandJ).
I want to make a small clarification, that will better help me describe this holistic approach and crossing between these three. The idea of homelessness is the central issue, that encompasses the need for the holistic approach of these three sections: Neuroscience (physiological component), homelessness (as it's literal meaning of being without a home), Jesus (the spiritual component). It can be a bit confusing because the main theme is also a sub theme.. but I have confidence in your intelligence to see through my weak forms of communication :)
Now, I believe the rehabilitation of our target population requires practitioners to understand the vitalness of these three subjects and the lack of their independency with relation to each other. I have heard each extremes in contradiction to my belief:
- All you need is Jesus, none of this unnatural medicine business. Jesus can Heal all. Just pray and you will stop abusing drugs, just pray and god will provide a house.
- Through enough counseling and proper drug dosage, the patient will stabilize and reach a level to function normally.
- Once they are off the street and into housing they can begin to get everything else in order.
I don't think these three independently could be further from the truth. But together, with a few adjustments, I think you would have a pretty solid philosophy.
You see, within our corpus callosum, we find many, not one issue. As signals are sent through our "corpus callosum" we get them from the physiological part, the social/economic part, and then through the spiritual part. If we are only providing stimulus from one or two and not the other, we will find ourselves relapsing into one of the other issues. Here is an example that I have seen.
I one time met a man in Pershing Square. He told me how he had been addicted to cocaine for many years now, he had no job, no family left around him and he was living on the streets. But he was extremely happy, because he had gotten into an inpatient drug rehab center that was going to house him and help him get off the drugs. A month later when my friends and I returned downtown, we saw him on the streets and asked him what happened, we knew the program was longer than a month. He told us that after one week he stopped going, he saw no point in the whole thing. What was he getting better for? He didn't have any friends, and he was rejected by all his family for the abuse he put them through in the past. What was the point, he said.
This to me is a clear example of how addressing only the "neuroscience" and "homelessness" part and not the "Jesus" part will put a huge whole in the rehabilitation. But I wonder, and I really think this to be true, if there was a loving body of Christ, supporting, caring and in relationship with this man as he went through this, would his outlook be very different. Maybe something like a church?
I have opened a huge can of worms. This holistic approach thing is one of the central ideas of this blog so I want to take the time to really develop it. For the next few weeks I want to bring up more examples of this corpus callosum and show you how necessary it is to approach this issue holistically, and also the potential damaging effects when it's not.
