The scientific language of The Triune Brain

Paul Maclean, the former director of the Behaviour and Brain Evolution Laboratory in The National Institute of Mental Health of Bethesda, USA, has created a theory on the triadic brain based on laboratory experiments.

According to Maclean, the human brain is a system of three formations independent but, at the same time, interdependent, radically different in functions and in physicochemical structure, each of which represents a leap in evolution. Each of these three structures has its own special intelligence, its own subjectivity, its own sense of time and space, its own memory and motive functions.

These three brains act simultaneously and synchronised as a system of incredible organic and functional complexity. The nature of this system is defined by the relationships among its components which produce an indivisible and dynamic unit. The quality of all human activity depends on the delicate balance of this system.

The most primitive, the reptilian or basic brain, represents our reptilian heritage. Its functions are related to survival. It is the intelligence of vital impulses, movement and action. It is the archive of ages, the root of compulsion.

With the passage of time another brain develops, the limbic brain, which includes the limbic system that regulates emotions, feeding, escape and avoidance of pain, struggle and search for pleasure. It controls the functions of vital organs and shapes bodily expression. It is the source of desire as well as empathy and compassion.

At a greater stage of evolution a third and, thus far, last layer appears: the neocortex brain or human brain which provides a basis for rational thought, associative and intuitive. It discerns, chooses, decides, orders, invents, creates, and peers into God´s existence.

A vision of multiple intelligence.

Elaine de Beauport, President of the MEAD INSTITUTE for Human Development of New York, in her book Las Tres Caras de la Mente . is totally dedicated to the study of functions of the three brains and to the recent contributions of neurology to the understanding of human behaviour.

She believes in the existence of multiple capacities or intelligences in each of the brains which act simultaneously and in close interaction in the origin of behaviour. She points out the obstacles impeding the development of man and teaches practical methods to attain a better use of the three brains.

Her work is based on her many years of academic and research experience in the field of education, in the theories of MacLean and Sperry, on the new Physics and on the most recent studies on behaviour as the expression of the functions of the three brains.

Elaine de Beauport tries to demonstrate that the solution to behavioural distortion problems and to those related to deficiencies lies in activating and integrating the potential of each and every one of the brain structures and lead it responsibly to its functional balance. She conceives the brain as a system of energies which range of vibration goes from the slowest to the most subtle in an infinite array of possibilities. Each brain and each intelligence are not static elements but rather energies in movement and in constant flow. The integration of all these intelligences in an organic whole and the possibility to access them when necessary would be the key to appropriate action.

The individual, master of such a capability, has the required functional level to achieve the desired transformation. The new man will be capable of contributing the impulse required in every circumstance for the adequate evolution of the self and that of his surroundings. Also to let dormant intuition vibrate and reach contact with the finest of energies, that of the highest vibrations which is the source of Light and Vision.

Using her own words, her objective is “to deepen and increase the quality of our own life such that; living in contact with others, we are able to improve the quality of life of what surrounds us” 

Behaviour is the result of the peculiar way in which each person orchestrates the energies which by nature possesses. It defines around a pattern that is an energetic configuration recorded in the deep memory of the basic brain.

The pattern influences desire but it does not determine it because Man is free to will. The capability for transformation stems from this quality and without it there would be no possibility for evolution. Elaine de Beauport believes that despite a conditioned pattern at such a deep level, Man can will something and attributes such a capability to the neurological structures of the limbic brain.

This means that desire has its origins in a determined physiological structure which functioning can be modified.

Individuality is the result of a peculiar and unique way of directing and integrating the energies of each brain.

Scientific knowledge or intuition ? Both!

The functions of the reptilian brain are:

- Basic intelligence.

- Intelligence of the parameters.

- Intelligence of the patterns.

The functions of the limbic brain are:

- Affective Intelligence.

- Intelligence of motivation.

- Emotional Intelligence  

The functions of the neocortex brain are :

- Rational Intelligence of the left brain.

- Associative Intelligence.

- Spatial, visual and auditive intelligence.

In this last brain, she adds the Intuitive Intelligence of the right cortex , the site of receptivity of the endless energy.

Self-knowledge may only be achieved through an objective self-observation and it is indispensable for an effective and convenient development process.