Book Review on Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom (Book Review Sample)

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In the past, it was deemed impossible for science to be able to understand the complexities of love. However, with the advancement in science and understanding it has brought forth, it has been noted that science has as much to do with love as the heart. Buddha advocates for human beings to be able to use their mind to influence their brain. Buddha further believes that the power behind love could be scientifically, psychologically and psychiatrically evaluated and determined.
To begin with, love can be scientifically seen as a combination of nerve responses and chemicals in the body influence an individual to experience these feelings. Then nervous system in a person represents information which a person experiences in everyday life. Upon doing this, it stores the information in the brain where it processes it and operates upon it. Finally, the information gotten can be communicated to other parts of the body which are supposed to respond to it. According to Buddha, this is the mind which is mainly aware of what happens outside, it is aware of one’s environment (Hanson, 2012).
Rick Hanson explains that the science behind how neural activities become conscious remains a mystery to man. However, we can confidently say that mental and neural activities co-arise. As one’s mind keeps on becoming modelled both temporarily and in lasting ways, the brain also experiences these changes.
What flows through the mind shapes the brain. Thoughts on a certain object tend to linger on for long and if they recur in the brain continuously, they influence a person’s brain such that the object remains etched in the person’s brain (Hanson, 2012). Thus, you are what you think. Basing our argument on this notion, if we continuously think about one person, we end up having the person in our brain for longer and thus feeling s of love and desire to have that person close may begin to surface.
Scientific research has revealed that love can be scientifically determined. It begins with the secretion of dopamine by the brain and adrenal glands. Dopamine enhances the release of testosterone and affects various organs such as the genitals and sweat glands. They tend to sweat more, and their senses are elevated due to dopamine. Furthermore, mood and emotions are also influenced, this leads to feelings of excitement and also happiness. While this is taking place, testosterone increases sexual desire, making one more aggressive and thus may push one to pursue the person causing this intense response. Neurotransmitters norepinephrine and phenylethylamine also play a role in love as they heighten one’s attention and thus they are able to notice small details in their loved ones and in themselves (Hanson, 2012).
Furthermore, love is also psychiatrically involved. Most people only view in its most narrow sense. As a reflection of passion, desire and lust, as the greeks term it, eros. But psychiatrically speaking, we are only scratching at the surface of what love truly is. Love, as regarded in psychiatry, involves widening the aperture, sharing and participating with others and thus creating relationships between families, communities and countries. In its most comprehensive state, agape, love is something that can dissolve our separate existence. Love is expansive, paradoxical in its ability to calm and also excite at the same time, empowering a person and also selfless in its nature. The mind influences what we think of others, who to love and who to be cautious around, thus, the way a person perceives the world around them could be seen as a reflection of the person’s attitude towards love (Hanson, 2012). Instead of having to seek something externally in order to feel complete, we experience feeling our most authentic when we can get past these obstacles that interfere with our ability to be simply loving beings. At the core of our humanity, we have the right to be loved, the right to feel love itself. Our tendency to love is stro...