Blame it on the Brain

I gave my car for a bit of denting and painting and was coming back by auto rickshaw. And suddenly a realization hit.

 

You might have heard about how the Greek mathematician and physicist Archimedes discovered how to measure the volume of an irregularly shaped object by observing that a body immersed in a fluid displaces a volume of fluid equal to its own volume. While taking a bath, he noticed the water level rise, leading him to exclaim "Eureka!"

 

Neurophysiology now has evidence that revelations and realizations happen when you move from focused thinking to diffuse thinking.

 

There is the story of Thomas Edison. He would be working on a problem and then would go to sleep with a metal ball in his hand. Suddenly the ball would fall from his hand, and he would wake up—but he would wake up with the solution in his mind. Moving from focused to diffuse thinking in sleep, and revelation emerging in sleep!

 

That is what happened to me - in the quietness of the auto, I received it. The revelation has two parts.

 

One - the big picture: in the last 4 months, in this small town, I have had more “denting and painting work” than I had in 5 years at the national capital.

 

Two - two possible reasons (or scapegoats).

One has to do with my brain circuits and context. In the national capital, traffic was chaotic, and one drove carefully, fearful of the big people driving their big vehicles around and the potential for road rage. The context of the current small town seems to have changed my circuits. With a docile and calmer context, my brain circuits seem to have reworked in a way to reduce my “accident fear and perception” and made me more careless.

 

I blame it on neuronal circuits. My accident proneness must be a neuronal issue! We now know that neuroplasticity, functional neuro-reorganisation, or even neurogenesis can happen within a few weeks to months. Though at my age, it might take more time. Maybe a disorder—Context Induced Neuronal Reorganisation.

 

If it is not neuronal plasticity or reorganisation (new neurones very unlikely), it must be age-related mild cognitive impairment (MCI). (Age-related mild loss of memory.) Whereby I can find an excuse for my lapse of concentration while driving. Yet another pathophysiological explanation for my accident proneness.

 

I met a professor of Community Health in a nearby medical college, who is doing a study to reverse MCI. I offered myself as a candidate but was not welcomed. (Maybe there is hope for this - I am waiting for the results. It might be a bit too late though.)

 

The truth I know lies somewhere else, but that would make me responsible, and I cannot blame it on my brain. My family, too, knows the truth, but I prefer to find a disorder and pathophysiological explanation for my behaviour.

 

What is the truth? 

 

A combination of two factors. One—Preoccupied Mind Disorder (PMD)—you can read it here. https://santhoshsramblings.blogspot.com/2025/08/apd-accident-proneness-disorder.html

 

The other is an age-related confidence in my skills, which some will label as experience. A misguided experience. Overconfidence behaviour - I cannot find a disorder for this. I am sure there might be a physiological explanation.

 

I am not really blame-shifting, just trying to find organic reasons for my behaviour, so that I do not have to change my behaviour. Maybe scapegoating?

 

But then, that tendency to scapegoat, I blame on an old story.

 

“Creator gave a man and woman a beautiful garden to live in. They had freedom, peace, and just one boundary. But they broke it. When the Creator asked what happened, neither took responsibility. The man said, ‘It was the woman you gave me.’ The woman said, ‘It was the serpent’s fault.’ Each pushed the blame away—onto each other, onto someone else, even back onto God. That shifting of blame cost them the garden.”

 

If they hadn’t done it then, I would not today “Blaming it on the Brain.” I am just being culturally relevant. 

But blame will not reduce my accident proneness. Only behaviour change will. And for that I must take responsibility. 

And recognise that all behaviours are not disorders nor have organic explanations. I must take responsibility to change myself, with support from the Creator of course…