Thursday, September 29, 2005

"Gut" Instincts?

I was watching one of those “weird stuff” shows last night and caught a story on cellular memory. Have you ever heard of this? Very interesting concept.

A woman received an organ transplant due to an autoimmune deficiency in her liver. She knew very little about the donor except for his name. After she received her transplant, she developed a hankering for cheese doodles and peanut M&M’s, two things she never really cared for before. She discovered an interest and a draw towards music she never liked nor could even understand the words to before. She also began having dreams of a young Latino woman with light hair.

One day she attended a donor club meeting and just by chance met her donor’s family (recognizing the name). They began talking about the young man from whom she’d received her liver. This man was 18 years old and had put a gun to his head. His two favorite junk food snacks were cheese doodles and peanut M&M’s, and he was very into rap music. And the Latino woman with the light hair? She was his girlfriend. She was the last person he saw before he killed himself.

Is this possible? To transfer a person’s memories simply by transferring cells? Can living tissue retain thoughts, emotions, and characteristics?

Fascinating. I couldn’t stop thinking about this. If this were indeed possible, it throws a whole new spin on metaphysics. It would mean that traces of the “soul” may stay in the tissues residually, and/or that the “mind” clearly is not housed in the brain.

I realize this might be an urban legend. I don't really care if it is as I’m not endorsing nor debunking this concept. Just turning it over and over in my thoughts. I love this stuff. There’s so much to know.

8 comments:

Twisted Cinderella said...

What an interesting post. Very thought provoking.

Michelle said...

When I was a kid, I wrote a story about a girl that received someone else's eyes. In my story she started seeing glimpses of the donor's previous life. Then the movie "The Eyes of Laura Mars" came out. This movie was much more interesting (than my story) involving a murder plot in which the subject saw glimpses of the last moments of the donor's life. She eventually helped solve the crime.

Martie said...

This is a very interesting concept. Certainly something to think about! I find it fascinating!

Bougie Black Boy said...

i'm gonna have to think about this one!

Cheryl said...

That is fascinating, and something I've wondered about myself. Has the makings of a Stephen King type novel. Maybe you should write it?

Rebecca said...

Hmmm. Gut instinct: Urban Legend.

However, had it been a heart transplant, I may have believed it as being vaguely possible. As the heart is your secondary core organ aside from your brain, I think there could potentially be some possibility - if you want to believe in that. But a liver? Hmmmm. I tend to doubt it but I bet it was great television.

I do tend to think that there is the possibility that people who have near death experiences or think that they are near death, do have a psychological "change", and maybe this was the case for this person...

Bainwen Gilrana said...

Very, very interesting. Not sure if I believe it or not, but definitely fascinating. The link between body, mind, and soul is one of the great mysteries we have left to us.

Tirithien said...

Hmmm...

What makes us, us? Is it a heart, a brain, a liver or kidney? What makes the brain special, and is it possible for another organ to serve the same function?

Sounds impossible, but that's the quickest way to make something happen.