THE HERO’S BRAIN

Are Hero’s Wired Differently Than Other People? Answer: Yes. Here Is How To Understand What That Difference Is — And How It Can Help You Achieve Greatness In Your Life

 

DANE SPOTTS

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In this report I will share with you the story of the Hero’s Brain. What is it that make’s some people altruistic, willing to face death in order to save others? Is this an innate quality of being a human being that we all possess? Let’s find out.

Watch The Hero’s Brain Video

The history of humans is filled with stories of amazing selfless courage amongst horrible tragedy, violence and cruelty.

Two little known cases I will share with now.

Irene Sendler is one. An example of courage buried in the ruins of the Holocaust. Irene was a social worker and a nurse and when the Nazis invaded Poland and rounded up all the Jews and placed them into a walled off area of the ghetto, Irene who was allowed access, would sneak in food and medicine. She knew what was going to happen. To all of them. Especially the children. Irene and her group took action. They helped smuggle two thousand five hundred children out of that ghetto. A phenomenal act of courage — what she did was to sedate the children and hide them in the false bottom of toolboxes, or lying in burlap sacks at the bottom of her truck. The children were then sent through a network of Christian orphanages, and were given new identities. She kept their real names in a jar, buried in her backyard.

Irene was eventually caught by the Nazis. They imprisoned and tortured her, breaking both of her legs. She survived however, and when the war ended she devoted herself to reuniting children with their families, though it proved nearly impossible to do so.

Irene Sendler was an extraordinary human being who acted and made a difference.

Another case in point.

It was 1986. Unit 4 of Chernobyl’s nuclear power plant was destroyed by a sudden surge of power during a reactor systems test. Everyone knows what happened next. A meltdown. The nuclear power plant at Chernobyl was spewing massive amounts of deadly radioactive material into the air. The immediate death toll was unknown but rumored to be in the thousands. While many died initially many more would follow.

What is not well know was the story of 3 men who selflessly acted to prevent an even more substantial disaster that could have wiped out the entire region with a secondary explosion.

A pool of water beneath the plant used for emergencies in case there was break in the cooling pumps, became flooded with highly radioactive liquid. This contaminated water needed to be drained or it will blow up and vent radioactive steam into the atmosphere. The only way to do that was to send someone in to open the gate that would let the water out.

Three men volunteered. Alexi Ananenko, Valeri Bezpoalov and Boris Baronov –They knew that going into that contaminated water — to open that gate would certainly kill them, but they volunteered anyway. These 3 men suited up in scuba gear and swam in these radioactive waters of the flooded chamber. Knowing their fate, they went in, and opened the gate and allowed the contaminated water to drain out preventing another more serious explosive event.

A few days after their heroic act all three men died — of radiation poisoning. Their bodies were so radioactive they were buried in lead coffins. If not for the bravery of the “Chernobyl Suicide Squad” a thermal explosion would have taken place resulting in unfathomable disaster.

Here is my question.

What is it about the human condition that makes individuals be willing to pay the ultimate price, to save the lives of others. We hear of such courageous hero stories like the 2 examples I just spoke of. Firefighers who rush into burning buildings to save people trapped by fire. The soldier who rushes through enemy fire to save a fallen brother-in-arms. Police officers who risk their lives to save another, without even thinking about themselves first.

Why do they do it? Is their mind wired differently? Are we all capable of selfless acts of extraordinary courage in the face of death?

I want to know the answer. Why? Are some people just wired to be altruistic?

When Abigail Marsh was 19, a complete stranger risked his life to save her from a car accident. Today, she studies what motivates us to help others — and why some of us are “extraordinary” altruists.

She is a professor of psychology at Georgetown University. Her work focuses on social and affective neuroscience — researching the motivations of people who do extremely altruistic things. Through brain imaging, she studies whether some of us are literally wired to be more altruistic than others. And it turns out to be true — that people who are extraordinary altruistic do have different wiring.

She studied the psychopathic brain and then the opposite — by testing a population of people who categorize as extraordinary altruists. Her study group consisted of people who donate kidneys to perfect strangers. She did extensive studies psychological and neurological studies on this group and discovered, they are more empathetic and compassionate, and have an ability to recognize other people’s fear, and their amygdala’s are bigger. About 8% bigger on average.

The amygdala is that small, almond-shaped region located in each hemisphere of the brain. It plays a role in regulating emotions and emotional memory, especially related to stress and fear.

She asked the altruistic kidney donors in her study how they were able to be so compassionate and willing to give a complete stranger their kidney. She asked them what makes them so special? They all answered the same. Nothing. There is nothing about me that makes me special. This was significant — the reason why they were willing to selflessly donate to a complete stranger, was because at their center — they don’t see themselves as being different, or more important than anyone else, so donating a kidney isn’t that big of a deal, because they see themselves as the same as others.

Think about that for a second. Its not just being more empathetic or being less ego-centric. They are wired to see themselves as the same as the others they donated to.

This is the key to not just the Hero’s brain, but also I might argue the evolution of our species. I see myself as you. In a conscious universe context, you can argue — I am you. Literally. We are made of the same stuff, our consciousness is connected. In fact I don’t see you as someone taking from me at all — because I am you.

In the world we live in today — this may be a difficult idea to wrap your mind around.

In our world today it appears on the surface there is less compassion, more selfishness and fewer extraordinary altruists or Hero brains as I call them. But is that really true? Are we as a species really becoming more cruel and more selfish. The media portrays it as such, but I would argue the opposite is the case.

The human condition is actually wired to be altruistic and though there are examples everywhere in your community — only the sensational ones are ever reported on. It’s not really news, unless a firefighter is captured on video saving the baby from the burning building. Has anyone ever even done a story on the thousands of people who donate blood every-day, or donate their time and money to the homeless or other causes in their community?

There are extraordinary people doing extraordinary acts of courage every day — who actually make the world work. Humanity is not dead…just not celebrated enough.

Be the hero of your life.

Successfully yours,

Dane Spotts
ZYGON MIND COACH