The Human Brain, A Computer of Limitless Proportions

Let’s consider the potential that exists within the human life. There is a limit, for instance as to how much weight a human being can lift. The world record for a certain weight lifting event is more than 600 pounds. However, we would be mistaken to say that is the most a human being can lift. There have been documented cases of average people – even frail old women – who, in a fire or other emergency, have lifted extraordinarily heavy objects in order to free themselves or others and escape to safety. Under drastic conditions, people have been known to display incredible power.

A most impressive example of such behavior took place a number of years ago on a farm in Florida. A young man was working underneath a large truck which was raised up on a jack. The jack slipped, and the truck fell on top of the man, pinning him to the ground. His mother, in a life-or-death panic at seeing her son being crushed, lifted the truck high enough for him to crawl out from underneath, saving his life. The truck weighed about one ton. The mother’s determination to save her son was powerful enough to allow her to lift even a one ton truck.

The story demonstrates that the potential strength of human body is far greater than we would imagine, and that under the proper circumstances people can summon enough determination to bring forth this incredible strength. We could also say, then, that we normally use only a small fraction of our physical potential. The fact that athletic records are always being broken is evidence that when people challenge themselves, they are able to tap even a little more of this abundant potential. In the Gosho, Nichiren Daishonin states, “Only by defeating a powerful enemy can one prove his real strength.” (MW-1, 35). When human beings face great difficulty, they are able to display power they never dreamed of possessing.

The same principle applies to the function of the brain. It is said that the human brain possesses on the order of 14 billion neurons, or brain cells. At the time of birth, these cells lie side by side without a great deal of interconnection. As a person matures, many intricate interconnections develop among these neurons. One mature neuron is capable of as many as 8000 connections with other cells. These points of connection are known as synapses and are thought to function as memory units of memory devices within the brain. Therefore, the memory capacity of a single human brain is greater than that of 100 million large computers.

The average person, however, uses at most only 10 percent of this vast capacity in the course of his lifetime. Therefore, the potential untapped creativity of the human mind is virtually infinite.
The question, then, is not one of intelligence, but of how much of our intelligence we are able to use. Actually, the more we “use our head”, repeatedly challenging ourselves to learn something new, the “smarter” we become. If we limit ourselves, however, failing to challenge ourselves because we feel we are not smart enough, our potential ability will decline just as muscles atrophy from lack of use.