By Lynette Fleming

Stomach -- the organ where food is digested.  Heart -- the hollow, muscular organ that circulates the blood.  Intestine  -- the lower part of the alimentary canal.  Brain –- nervous tissue contained in the skull of vertebrates that controls the nervous system.  We know a lot about the organs which make us digest food, breathe, and think.  But what do we know about the origin and creation of our feelings and emotions?  What do we know about the birth of emotional demons, like obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, and depression?  If we understood what causes feelings and mental illness, we could probably ensure the happiness and mental stability of everyone.  Perhaps there would be fewer suicides, addictions, and psychiatric institutions. 

Modern scientists believe all our feelings and perceptions begin in the brain.  In this book, the authors present a compelling case that it is the opposite … that it is our feelings which determine what we think and how we live, and that they “are the product of interaction between raw sensation on the one hand and mental activity on the other.”

Recently, prior to helping my company defend an unemployment claim, a business acquaintance shared her “crazy” morning with me.  She was in the basement when suddenly all the buttons on her washer and dryer began turning on and off.  Not knowing what to do, she yelled, “Cut it out!”  Suddenly everything stopped.  Then she smelled her recently deceased mother’s perfume (which she didn’t particularly like while her mother was living).   Is this down-to-earth arbitrator crazy?  Nope … she is one of the “sensitive” people discussed at length in this book … people who have perceptions and visions which cannot be explained.

Know anybody with fibromyalgia?  Chronic fatigue?  Migraines?  Ever experience premonitions or see apparitions?  Do you or one of your friends have chronic skin problems?  Mr. Jawer and Dr. Micozzi share their theory of the connection between feelings, the brain, the body, and the sixth sense, a connection which can cause each of these afflictions and mysterious visions. 

Beyond these topics, the book also discusses other unexplainable phenomena, such as the apparent past-life memories of gifted children, near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, and even the extreme abilities of some animals.  Take Oscar, the cat who lives in the advanced dementia unit of a nursing home in Rhode Island.  Oscar, not a particularly cuddly cat, correctly curled up beside 25 people in their final hours, lying next to them for hours at a time before they finally died.  Lest you think this is a fabricated story made up by some nut, his case has been written about in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine.

Recommended by Dr. Andrew Weil, this book should be on every scholar’s library shelf.  If you’re interested in holistic medicine and the mind-body connection, this is a book you simply must read, fascinating page to fascinating page, story to story, and cover to cover.  Events and experiences you have heard about or experienced may actually begin to make sense.    

Michael A. Jawer is an emotion researcher and expert on “sick building syndrome.”

Marc S. Micozzi, M.D., Ph.D., is adjunct professor of physiology and biophysics at Georgetown University School of Medicine. He edited the first U.S. alternative medicine textbook, Fundamentals of Complementary & Alternative Medicine.

The Spiritual Anatomy of Emotion (Park Street Press/ 2009) by Michael A. Jawer with Marc S. Micozzi, M.D., Ph.D.

It's Natural to be Skeptical of the Supernatural

Lynette Fleming Is Coauthor of Lunch Buddies: Buddy Up for a Better Diet

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