The Brain and Ego

Ubuntu (Zulu pronunciation: [ùɓúntʼù]) is a Nguni Bantu term meaning “humanity.” It is often translated as “I am because we are,” or “humanity towards others,” but is often used in a more philosophical sense to mean “the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity.”
- Wikipedia

The brain is a major part of our nervous system. As part of our nervous system, it is built in such a way that safety is prioritized before our higher learning functions and social engagement systems.

The brain is an amazingly complex organ and neuroscientists are making new discoveries about how it works on a daily basis. Nonetheless, this simplified, three-part way of looking at it can be very useful.

three part brain

1. The Brain Stem (Red)

In an evolutionary way of thinking, this is the first part of the brain to develop. We share most of the functions in this part of our brain with reptiles and mammals. There is not much here that is uniquely human. The brain stem is also referred to as the red brain - because when we “see red” this is the part of the brain that’s taken over.

The big question for the red brain is “Am I physically safe?” More than any other part of the brain, it helps us survive on a purely physical level.
It’s satisfied when we’re safe from danger. It resources many actions and thoughts that work toward “safety” and “physiological” needs.
When the red brain is satisfied that we’re safe from danger, it allows more blood supply/resources for our mid brain and neocortex.
It regulates a lot of automatic functioning like our hormone production, body temperature, respiration, and heart rate control.
It regulates basic functioning like hunger and thirst.
It regulates our fight, flight, and freeze responses, as well as our procreation instincts.

2. The Mid Brain (Yellow)

This is the second part of the brain to develop in our evolution. We share many functions in this part of the brain with other mammals, but less so with reptiles. We also refer to the mid brain as the yellow brain because, like a yellow traffic light, it can represent a place of uncertainty.

The fundamental question for the yellow brain is about social belonging. Your mid brain actively monitors your social safety, constantly monitoring whether you are safe in your current group. It also asks whether others belong in your current group.

One of the amazing things about humans is our social defense system. We have the ability to create a self-definition that we consider to be socially safe and to defend this self-definition with the same vigor that we might use to defend our lives. This makes sense, as we are incredibly social animals, dependent on our social groups for survival. Once upon a time in our hunter-gatherer days, being ostracized by our social group would have meant an actual death sentence. Even now, especially as children, we are vulnerable to directly needing the care of others for our physical survival.

This is probably why emotions such as shame and humiliation hurt so much. People will go to great lengths, including drug and alcohol addictions, not to feel these emotions. Shame and humiliation are biologically hardwired within us to help us conform to our group and survive.

Our social defenses are extraordinarily sticky. By their very nature, they will persevere until our safety is assured, and will start up again if we think our safety is in question. They can unconsciously direct our thinking toward what is socially safe, rather than expressing our actual point of view.

Successfully navigating social defenses is important for developing a healthy ego. Here’s more on the mammalian brain:

It’s satisfied by trust, positive social bonds, and secure status.
It resources many actions and thoughts that work toward “esteem” and “love and belonging” needs.
When satisfied it allows more blood supply/resources for the neocortex.
It is responsible for many raw emotions centered around territoriality such as, jealousy, fear, anger, hate, and anxiety.
It is also the source of positive emotions such as maternal love.
It also holds functions that contribute to hindsight.
It houses the amygdala, which is known as the brain’s watchdog. The amygdala assesses threat and recruits the body’s threat response systems.

3. The Neocortex (Green)

The following information on the neocortex and prefrontal cortex is from Judith Glaser, author of Conversational Intelligence and from Dan Siegel’s Pocket Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology.

This is the most recently developed part of our brain, evolution-wise, and the part that is most uniquely human. We refer to the neocortex as the green brain because green is the color of growth. In this amazing part of our brain, we can reshape our perceptions and decision-making processes for the betterment of ourselves and others

Once our red and yellow brains allow us to resource our neocortex, we have decided that we are safe, and that we belong, so we are ready to ask, “What can I learn? It is satisfied through learning, connection to higher purpose, flow states, and goal achievement.

The rear part of the neocortex is hardwired for language, basic thinking, reasoning, and cognitive skills that enable us to navigate every day. It holds a lot of our ‘scripts,’ for our working memory and our stored memory. Our personality differences have been observed in the neocortex and prefrontal cortex.

The front part of the neocortex is called the prefrontal cortex. This is the youngest part of our brain. It gives us the following abilities:

Whole brain coordination & integration, which is why it is sometimes called the executive brain
Envisioning the future. Creating scenarios, plans, aspirations, foresight, dreams, goals
Empathy. The ability to step into others’ shoes via our use of mirror neurons
Create trust with others
Fear modulation. The ability to override our fear response
Mindfulness. The ability to pause between impulse and action, and the ability to observe our own thoughts. The perception and differentiation of thoughts and emotions
Intuition and Insight. Non-logical knowings that emerge from body sensations
Morality. The ability to reason and act for the sake of the larger good
Maintaining balance for the autonomic nervous system and emotional states
Behave appropriately. It is able to decide on behaviors that help us fit in to our social group

“When our resonance circuits are engaged, we can feel another’s feeling and create a cortical imprint that lets us understand what may be going on in the other’s mind - because it is like ours- and our mind and our brain turn on our mindsight mechanism….But if we cannot identify with someone else, those resonance circuits shut off. We see others as objects, as “them” rather than “us.” We literally do not activate the very circuits we need in order to see another person as having an internal mental life.”
- Daniel Seigel

The Heart Brain

It turns out there’s a brain in the heart! Here are some interesting facts about what the heart brain is and how it works:

It sends way more information to the brain than the brain sends to the heart
There’s something called heart-brain coherence which helps enable prefrontal cortex function, whereas heart-brain incoherence can limit our access to higher reasoning and emotional processes
The heart’s magnetic field can be measured several feet away from the body. This magnetic field is thought be a means through which we synchonize (establish trust) with others or do not. When we do not synchronize with others we tend to look at others as foes, or determine that they are not like us.
The heart starts beating in early embryonic development before the brain starts developing, so it is some of our most basic hardwiring
In many ways, it is the “heart” of all our other systems. It enables us to synchronize our internal systems and also enables us to synchronize and connect with others
One organization doing research on the heart brain is heartmath.org
Practicing positive emotional states helps heart-brain coherence, giving us access to prefrontal cortex benefits and increasing mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing.

The Gut Brain

The Gut Brain is thought to be responsible for “gut instincts.” It is sensitive to our emotional states and can also help produce emotional states for better or worse.

The vagus nerve is one of the biggest nerves connecting your gut and brain. It sends signals in both directions.
There are approximately 100 billion neurons in the human brain and 500 million neurons in your gut, which are connected to your brain through your nervous system.
The gut and its microbes make many different compounds that can affect brain health.
A large proportion of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that contributes to feelings of happiness is produced in the gut.
Your gut microbes also produce a neurotransmitter called gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which helps control feelings of fear and anxiety.