feeling the burn. literally.

The pot holder was damp.
Like a wet hand had previously touched it. 

This was a problem
that didn't register in my mind until it was too late.

When it then registered with resounding alarms and explosive fireworks
inside my head as my finger sent emergency signals rapidly to my brain.

My finger was being burned through the pot holder.
My finger felt it, and my brain knew it almost as soon as my finger did.
(Maybe sooner since it was my brain charged with interpreting the situation. #mindblown)

But the cast-iron pan, which had been roasting in the oven, was already fighting gravity, held by the handle in my hand, in limbo over the stone floor in the space between the oven and the nearby stove, where i had intended to set it down.

Synapses fired like lightening.

It was a chemical and electrical execution of information almost transcending time,
but not.

The initial reaction, in many a painful instance, is to disconnect from (or drop, in my case) the source of injury.

In the heat of the moment the nerve messengers of finger yelled, "ABORT! ABORT!".. like a frantic army commander seeing those in his care seemingly doomed by the mission being undertaken.

i didn't, however, abort and drop the pan, i just quickly continued moving it to the stove (which wasn't far).

i didn't need to work out what happened, i had already realized the reason for the dilemma - but this realization led me to something else.. As i reflected on it, i had a revelation of how profound and amazing our brains actually are, even in their weakened state this side of Eden.

Somehow i recognized consciously (too late) the pad's patches of dampness without having to think about it or examine the pad later to determine it.. leading me to believe i must have on a subconscious level recognized this fact when i initially grabbed it, where it was registered as information in the brain, that the brain was able to slam with utter clarity into my consciousness the second i realized i was being burned.

During the brief chaos the question in my indignant mind was, "WHY AM I BEING BURNED LIKE THIS, I'M USING THE NECESSARY PROTECTION OF A POT HOLDER!?", and
without any delay the answer was already there, "THE POT HOLDER IS WET!"

The screaming synapses didn't actually use words, and they didn't really scream either.. The communication went forth in wordless electrical signals, that i put into words here, for the sake of communicating the experience. The realm of the mind uses words certainly, but words are limiting and often clumsy in attempting to box in or nail down something larger than themselves.

While i examine what happened, i see my brain had understood what was happening to the finger, and while concerned took into consideration other variables and calculated the best course of action was not to drop the pan from it's height of more than three feet above the floor, but to hang on, move a bit farther and place it down on the stove.  Dropping it would have created a number of new potential issues, even further possible injury due to the pan holding hot oil; and not to mention cast-iron pans are quite heavy. Yes, it was better for the brain to conclude that despite the finger's current torment, it wouldn't really be changed much or lengthened by even a second to go forward and release the pan on the stove instead of the floor. The finger was already burned and that couldn't be undone, but containment of the situation meant not dropping the pan. My grip remained steady and i managed to place the pan safely down (though there might have been a slight slamming as it encountered the stove- not the most delicate operation, admittedly).

In a fraction of a second my brain had analyzed the situation and determined the appropriate response, though it all happened so quickly i really didn't think about it in the conscious sense, call it instinct, but in hindsight i'm grateful for the way it worked out. That i didn't drop it.

The mind-brain connection is funny.  Funny strange..  

Even when i began making notes to write about this i was searching in my mental vocabulary for the word "abort". i knew the word i was looking for to express the thought, but couldn't locate it right away.  i remember the word "overt" coming to mind, and thinking, "no, that's not the word i'm looking for."  As i continued combing my brain to find the desired word in it's files.. i actually wrote on a notepad, "military sounding word for turning back..."  It wasn't until i gave up for the moment and left the mental search alone, trusting it would come either to mind or from an internet search, that a few minutes later it was suddenly there, "abort".. YES! That was it; my brain/mind had finally located the word i was seeking.

Yah has created this amazing biological machine of wonder we call flesh, that works without the mind/consciousness (thankfully) in certain capacities, though it may not always work as we would like it too in others.  

The brain can subconsciously calculate in fractions of a second, nearer it seems to instantaneous speed, things the conscious mind would need much longer to work out.

Halleluyah. 

The body with it's brain is really an impossibly indescribable gift we've been given by the Creator.  And we have the conscious-mind to be aware of it, and of Him.

i'm in awe.

O the possibilities with full regeneration in Yah, in the resurrection to complete shalom wholeness. What will be possible when minds and bodies function fully at ultimate capacity? 
It is mind-blowing.

We are the ghosts in the machines.  This beautiful amazing flesh machine built by Abba-Yah that the spirit-man dwells in.  Far superior than any computer man could build because data being processed in our brains can take into consideration things of the spirit.  Praises be to Yah for this amazing thing we call LIFE.


Shalom.