The Feeling of What Happens
Saturday 30th January 2010
4:30 pm
Talk by David Lister and music by Debussy
In honour of Emanuel Swedenborg's birthday (29th January 1688)
Free Admission
David's talk will explore Swedenborg's scientific discoveries in an attempt to understand what processes lie behind a human perception of reality.
Visual
images, sounds, smells and sensations are all occurrences, or
‘happenings' accompanied by feelings or emotions. This dynamic reflects
Swedenborg's division of the faculties of the brain into the ‘will' and
the ‘understanding'; just as the heart and lungs are at once
independent and necessarily conjoined, the will and understanding ‘are
distinct from one another, but so created to be as one, and when they
are one they are called the mind'. ‘One cannot think without
affection'. Without emotions there can be no understanding of
experience.
This talk explores the anatomical structures of the brain, which support these compulsive and rational functions. David will focus upon one of Swedenborg's remarkable visions of 250 years ago, which foresaw, with amazing accuracy, the parts of the brain responsible for the emotions.
David Lister is the current chairman of the Swedenborg Society and a member for the past 19 years. His diverse interests - scientific, spiritual and charitable- reflect those found in Swedenborg's writings. David was a medical missionary in India and then a surgeon in Denmark, before returning to England to practice as a GP for the latter part of his career.
Refreshments will also be provided.