Short- and Long-Term Effects of a Novel on Connectivity in the Brain

ABSTRACT

We sought to determine whether reading a novel causes measurable changes in resting-state connectivity of the brain and how long these changes persist. Incorporating a within-subjects design, participants received resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans on 19 consecutive days. First, baseline resting state data for a “washin” period were taken for each participant for 5 days. For the next 9 days, participants read 1/9th of a novel during the evening and resting-state data were taken the next morning. Finally, resting-state data for a “wash-out” period were taken for 5 days after the conclusion of the novel. On the days after the reading, significant increases in connectivity were centered on hubs in the left angular/supramarginal gyri and right posterior temporal gyri. These hubs corresponded to regions previously associated with perspective taking and story comprehension, and the changes exhibited a timecourse that decayed rapidly after the completion of the novel. Long-term changes in connectivity, which persisted for several days after the reading, were observed in bilateral somatosensory cortex, suggesting a potential mechanism for “embodied semantics.”

-  http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/brain.2013.0166

the sign of the Son of God is powerlessness in the world

And to us who come, in the midst of the wicked world torn by malice, to venerate the Infant lying in the manger, what law and wisdom of life are given by this miraculous sign? To what do the angels now call those who come to venerate Christ? They call them to receive into their hearts His humiliation, His persecution, His crucifixion, as the sole sign of the Christian life, as its power and triumph.

For the best self-attestation of the Good is its defencelessness in the face of the of the power of evil. The best attestation of Truth is silence in the face of much-talkative falsehood. The supreme manifestation of Beauty consists in the unadornment by vain adornment. The power of God triumphs by means of itself, not by means of the power of this world. For the world, there is no power of God. The world does not see and does not know the power of God; it laughs at the power of God. But Christians know that the sign of the Son of God is powerlessness in the world - the Infant in the manger.

- from Sergei Bulgakov, 'The Sign of the Manger of Bethlehem' (1935)

continually

A true synthesis, to my mind, results from a free play of contradictions not from a denial - my paradise is one in which Eve is continually tempting Adam, Adam is continually falling, continually being forgiven, and continually forgiving Eve!

- Philip Sherrard, letter to George Katsimbalis (August7, 1950)

Many nations will seek refuge

The Lord listened to the prophets' plea. Our Father did not ignore our doomed race. He sent his Son from heaven to be our Healer. As one of the prophets says: The Lord you seek is coming; suddenly he will come.' .... Again, the Lord himself has said: 'See, I am coming, and I shall dwell in your midst, says the Lord, and many nations will seek refuge with the Lord.'

- Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis 12

.... пламенея в ночи

Рождество 1963 года

Спаситель родился
в лютую стужу.
В пустыне пылали пастушьи костры.
Буран бушевал и выматывал душу
из бедных царей, доставлявших дары.
Верблюды вздымали лохматые ноги.
Выл ветер.
Звезда, пламенея в ночи,
смотрела, как трех караванов дороги
сходились в пещеру Христа, как лучи.

 - Иосиф Бродский

Arkady wasn't superstitious but he did believe that momentum only existed if used.

- Martin Cruz Smith, Tatiana

We were wearied, we were worsted

....

Adam contracted for us the debt that we owe, by eating what he ought not,
And until to-day it is demanded of us who are descended from him.
The creditor was not satisfied with seizing the debtor,
But he attacks his children too, demanding the ancestral debt,
And empties the debtor’s house entirely, sweeping everyone away.
And so let us all flee to one who is powerful.
Knowing that we are in dire poverty,
Do you yourself pay back what we owe, for you are rich,
Who come to call back Adam.

..... We were wearied, we were worsted, we were utterly cast out;
We thought we had the law as our redeemer, and it enslaved us;
The prophets too, and they left us on our hope.
And so with infants we bow the knee to you.
Have mercy on us who have been humbled,
Be willing, be crucified, and tear up the record of our debt, you
Who come to call back Adam.

.... Knowing that the law had no strength to save you, I have come myself.
It was not for the law to save you, since it did not fashion you.
Nor was it for the prophets, because they too are my fashioning just as you are.
Mine alone was the task of releasing you from this most heavy debt.
I am being sold for your sake and I shall free you.
I am being crucified for you and you are not being made to die.
I die and I teach you to cry, ‘Blessed are you
Who come to call back Adam.

- Romanos the Melodist, Kontakion 16 (On the Feast of Palms) [translated by Fr Ephrem Lash]