The fascinating collaboration of Daniel Z. Lieberman, MD and Michael E. Long in \u201cThe Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity-and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race,\u201d[1] bring to light the of impact and role of dopamine in human behavior, discussing such area as love, sex, creativity, addiction. Lieberman\u2019s distinguished career as a professor and vice chair of clinical affairs in psychiatry and behavioral sciences combines with Long\u2019s equally distinctive career as an award-winning speech writer and screen writer. I appreciated the authors recognition that within scientific research there is a complexity that opens the door to speculation, contradictions, and the possibility of messy conclusions.
I found the discussion of the contrasting chemicals reactions and their influence on behavior captivated my attention. Dopamine that element that drives and motivates a person to action. This powerful element focuses on the future, specifically the acquisition and securing that which is necessary for the preservation of the being. This element has a primal, unrefined nature to it. The quick, spontaneous, ease at which a person makes decisions and their accompanying behaviors, resemble Daniel Kahneman\u2019s definition of System 1 thinking. [2] Liberman and Long focus is primarily the chemical reaction and the ensuing behavioral response. Yet both a dopamine driven individual and one functioning in a System 1 thought process are prone to quick, or spontaneous decisions that pay no heed to warning signs of unfavorable results.
Lieberman and Long describe the opposite of dopamine as a combination of neurotransmitters. These transmitters are the chemical reactions that allow an individual to be present in any particular moment. People who are mature are able to process life in this mode and are able to experience enjoyment, satisfaction. The rationale that people use while the neurotransmitters are engaged exhibits the similar qualities to the slow thinking Kahneman refers to in System 2. [3]
Although this book focused primarily on the chemical reactions within the brain of the opposing elements, it is necessary for both to exist in harmony with each other. This is similar to Simon Walker\u2019s front and backstage concept, [4] and Akiko Busch\u2019s contrasting images of invisibility and visibility. [5]
The science around the chemical reactions within the brain, though fascinating, left me disturbed and asking questions. For me human behavior is far more complicated. The authors claim that \u201caddiction arises from the chemical cultivation of desire.\u201d [6] While the chemical reaction is real, what is the desire why is the person cultivating it. Individuals will partake in destructive behaviors to find relief from the pain that they suffered as a result of war, abuse, or dysfunctional relationships. Were these people predestined to a cycle of dopamine driven addiction to find relief or did their life circumstances set them up to be victims of their own mind? Is it possible that a person\u2019s damaging life experiences mars their instinctive behavior to secure a sustainable future, which prevents that individual from interpreting the negative consequences of their misguided decisions as punitive?
There is no doubt that an individual needs to learn and grow into the ability to reason and interpret life situations from a position of process and being present. I have to intentionally work at being in the moment, especially when interacting with other people. I see it as being pivotal to me having an authentic walk of faith. It was important enough conflict for Jesus to include it in the beatitudes in Mathew 6:34. [7]
In my cursory read of \u201cThe Molecule of More,\u201d I failed to see any reference to the influence of family of origin and how that may impact a person\u2019s dependency on dopamine and potential immaturity, or inability to function well in the neurotransmitter realm. A person\u2019s experience within the home models interpersonal relationships and develops intrapersonal skills. The home is the place the communicates a sense of sufficiency or scarcity. [8] A healthy home also provides a person with a sense of orientation and direction. I can imagine that these factors could impact whether the skill development of an individual on how to balance the influence of dopamine in their life.
1 Daniel Z Lieberman and Michael E Long, The Molecule of More: How a Single
Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity-and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race, 2019.
2 Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow, 1st pbk. ed (New York: Farrar, Straus
and Giroux, 2013), 416.
3 Ibid., 415.
4 Simon P. Walker, Leading Out of Who You Are: Discovering the Secret of
Undefended Leadership, 1st ed., vol. 1, 3 vols., The Undefended Leader Trilogy (UK: Piquant Editions Ltd., 2007).
5 Akiko Busch, How to Disappear: Notes on Invisibility in a Time of Transparency
(New York: Penguin Press, 2019).
6 Lieberman and Long, The Molecule of More, 47.
7 Richard Sasanow, The NIV Study Bible\/10th Anniversary Edition (Place of
publication not identified: Zondervan, 1995), 1448.
8 Steven Bouma-Prediger and Brian J. Walsh, Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith
in a Culture of Displacement (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Pub, 2008), 56\u201366.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The fascinating collaboration of Daniel Z. Lieberman, MD and Michael E. Long in \u201cThe Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity-and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race,\u201d[1] bring to light the of impact and role of dopamine in human behavior, discussing such area as love, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2164,2165,2159,639,2137,2157],"class_list":["post-28051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-chemical-reaction","tag-nurture","tag-dopamine","tag-home","tag-nature","tag-the-molecule-of-more","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/140"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28051"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28073,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28051\/revisions\/28073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}