Product: NOVA: Secrets of the Mind (2007)
Rating: 5.0
Even Spock Would be Fascinated
Neurobiologist Vilayanur Ramachandran tells of some of his most fascinating case studies, and what he has learned from them. His focus is on technological methods to study what was previously (even quite recently) interpreted as merely behavioral or "crazy." These are patients with brain damage or, as in the first segment, amputations and the phantom limb syndrome.The last case study was the most intriguing. A young man with severe epilepsy who interprets his experiences as religious. The research into exactly what is going on in his brain during a seizure raises marvelous questions about the nature of religious experience.But the study is as significant for what it avoids saying as what it says. Much of what the young epileptic describes is quite familiar to me as LSD experiences. But no mention of that connection is made, possibly because LSD is illegal, even for research. I have long suspected, however, that there was a connection with epilepsy, especially since having close friends who have seizures. And since epilepsy is a disorder which has been known from ancient times, and often interpreted as "the hand of God" in some form, we have to ask those hard questions.I like Dr. Ramachandran very much, and Like NOVA for having produced this documentary. Makes me want to go back and look for more NOVA documentaries that I have not yet seen.