This morning on returning to my room after meditation and morning service I thought to myself, Yes, all my brain and body molecules have now arrived in the UK. And appear to be arranged as they should be. What a relief. Traveling internationally can seriously disrupt ones functioning that’s on subtle and not so subtle levels.
Then later in the morning, with perfect timing, a beautiful hardback book arrived in the post. Not one I’d ordered so it’s something of a mystery as to who sent it to me. (I’ve a good idea though). I opened the book at random, titled The Developing Mind by Daniel J. Siegel, and read this:

Subheading The Embodied Brain, The Organization of the Brain.
The brain is a complex system of interconnected parts. At its most basic level, the skull-based portion of the nervous system consists of over one hundred billion “neurons” and trillions of supportive “glia” cells. Collectively, these neurons are over two million miles long. Each neuron has an average of ten thousand connections that directly link it to other neurons. Thus there are thought to be about one million billion of these connections, making it “the most complex structure, natural or artificial, on earth.

The brain is a wonder to behold. Complex beyond our imaginings yet infinitely ‘plastic’ in that the wiring can be changed, re routed around damaged areas, mentally spoken to in such a way that faulty wiring can be corrected. And that is just for starters.  So nothing much ‘hard wired’ up top, contrary to how the brain has been conceived until relatively recently.