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Scientific Evidence of The Four Brains

Percival makes mention of this concept throughout the book (and using the search term "four brains" within the PDF of Thinking & Destiny will show you every instance of it). From the top-down, he refers to them as:

• The Cephalic Brain
• The Thoracic Brain
• The Abdominal Brain
• The Pelvic Brain

Let's try to find each one within our bodies...

• The Cephalic Brain is probably the one everyone already knows about. It is synonymous with the brain inside of our head.

• The Thoracic Brain is equivalent to what would now be known scientifically as "the intrinsic cardiac ganglion", or more informally, the "heart brain". An example:

HeartMath - Our Heart Brain

It is literally a little "brain" (i.e.: a "ganglion" or bundle of neurons) that exists inside the tissues of our heart. It functions semi-autonomously from the brain within our head.

• The Abdominal Brain is equivalent to what would now be known scientifically as "the enteric nervous system", or "ENS" for short. More informally, we can call it the "stomach brain". A couple of examples:

Hopkins Medicine - The Brain-Gut Connection
The Meridian Institute - The Abdominal Brain

Like the "heart brain", it too functions semi-autonomously from the brain within our head.

• The Pelvic Brain is probably the most scientifically obscure one on this list. It is equivalent to what would now be known as "the pelvic plexus", and particularly the "ganglion" associated with this bundle of nerves. An example:

Byron Robinson - The Abdominal & Pelvic Brain

[This book is not as readable or as short as the other examples, but it is one of the few descriptions I could find that talks about it with any level of depth and refers to it specifically as a "pelvic brain". It is here merely for reference.]

...So what good is this knowledge?

The existence of these brains explains a lot, not only medically, but also experientially. For example, a lot of our "intuitions" and "instincts" are literally just us "thinking with the body". These brains are continually responding on a level that is not always within our awareness, but can still give us useful information if we take the time to listen to them carefully without becoming overwhelmed by them.

It also gives a scientific basis for many spiritual practices. For example, fasting produces a chemical within the intestinal tract called "ghrelin". Being a "neuropeptide", it affects the nervous system in many different ways (from how our body interprets hunger to how we encode memories). In other words, fasting not only helps us to gain control of our bodily appetites and thus overcome our "animal nature", it also sensitizes the brain(s) to receive revelation.