Friday’s Big Idea
Today’s Big Idea: Discipline and Practice
Many scientists believe that everything is ultimately knowable – the workings of the brain, the nature of consciousness, the physical nature of the universe. It is the goal of science to understand the world as fully as possible, and we’ve come a long way, baby.
But gaps in our knowledge remain, and in the absence of scientific explanations and the control they give us over our lives we seek alternative solutions to our problems. This is the realm of spirituality, herbalism, even the arts – those practices whose efficacy is only anecdotally reported, but in which thousands find solace and solutions to their greatest challenges.
In some cases, science and these practices aren’t mutually exclusive. Increasingly, for example, psychologists and neuroscientists are identifying positive effects of meditation in the brain. Today we examine a less common or well-studied healing practice: that of Bibliotherapy.
