Atomism vs. Holism (3) 'Anatomy of Brain and Intuition'

One of the biggest misunderstandings of intuition is that intuition is a function of human brain. That is, as we understand anatomy and physiology of brain, we will figure out the mechanism of intuition scientifically. In fact, many cognitive scientists, especially neuroscientists, regard brains as computers. Minds are functions of computer-like brains.

While many cognitive psychologists also agree to the idea that brains are crucial organs for minds, we NDM researchers think intuition is a phenomenon of minds rather than a function of brains. There is an analogy between NDM studies and traditional Chinese medicine like acupuncture.

Human lives (bodies) looks like 'eggs'. In Western medicine and neuroscience, physicians and scientists often preserve the brain and other organs in formalin to create the specimen. Then, they dissect the brain and other organs to study anatomy and physiology. It looks like they are boiling eggs and cutting them. The basic concept of X-ray and MRI exams originally came from anatomy of human lives. To study the mechanism and function of the body analytically, this method would be ideal.

However, in traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture practitioners treat human lives as 'raw eggs'. In other words, they see the patient's body as it is: No formalization and no dissection. Therefore, anatomical studies have not been advanced in history of traditional Chinese medicine compared with Western medicine. Rather, practitioners have studied phenomena of human bodies and minds, and relationship between human bodies and nature such as celestial body, weather, atmosphere, etc.

As practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine deal with patient's body and mind holistically, we NDM researchers study the expert's intuition and expertise holistically. We do hope that research on brain and neurons will help us understand the mechanism of brain and minds, but I wonder if such research will share more practical and ready-to-use information to build our intuition. Very interestingly, many NDM researchers believe 'First comes the practice, then the theory'.