YOUR HEART? MY HEART?

 An article recently appeared about some of the strange and unexpected results from heart transplants. The data on this is still small, so do take that into consideration, but here are some of the findings which I read in an article called; "Personality Changes Following Heart Transplantation; The Role of Cellular Memory," by Mithcell B. Liester in the National Library of Medicine, NIH, Feb. 2020.

They found that there were "changes in preference" to start with. So the previous owner of the heart might have adored anchovies which I detest. Or maybe they loved lying on a beach in St. Bart's while I might prefer hiking in the mountains.

They discovered "alterations in emotions and temperament." I do not know how this played out except perhaps the former heart person had a more fiery temperament and a range of emotions which were more of the roller-coaster variety.

 You see--let me excuse myself--that I am making conclusions from something still not very well researched, although the article claimed these traits appeared over "decades."

Also included in this article was the statement that "memories from the donor's life" also appeared in the person with the transplanted heart. Plus which there were "modifications of identity." Does this mean you no longer identity as female or male? Or what else?

Scientists are researching how this happens and they suggest, according to this article, that these events come from:

--a "transfer of cellular memory"--

--"epigenetic memory"..

--"DNA memory"..

--"RNA memory"..

--"protein memory"..

--"intracardiac neurological memory" and more.

Do I know how this happens? Nooooo--but isn't this damned fascinating? It has so many applications not only for bodily health but for our spiritual health.

These are some things which pull at my brain and soul:

--If we have cellular memory which can be transferred, how does this apply to the next life when we shall be "transformed" into a spiritual being? I am guessing that perhaps we take with us these memories embedded in our cells, proteins, DNA, RNA, proteins, and more?

 

Remember Paul's letter, in response to some wise ass's question about a woman who married a man who then died; then she married his 6 other brothers, who also died. Who then was she married to in the after-life? Jesus is very clear, not snarky though I would have been, that "we are neither married nor given in marriage in the age to come." Whew. What a relief for that poor bedamned widow with 7 dead husbands. She must have been leaping and dancing in the after-life, singing, "Free at last, thank God all mighty, free at last!"

It is all a mystery. We can read Scripture, read Commentaries, listen to theologians, pray, listen for God's words in our hearts and minds, but still it is--una milagro. Is the top or your head blown off by now? Mine is. On the one hand I am irritated that I don't know all. Really, God? It would be so much skin off your nose to clue me in here? And on the other hand, I am so damned relieved to be this small piece of beloved dust on God's earth who does not know all, does not get it all, and simply won't until I pass. And even then?

I remember asking my wise spouse about one of our kid's past troubles, whether I would understand them better in the after-life? He calmly replied, "It won't matter, Annie, it just won't matter."

So whether we have a new heart, an old heart (and those who get a pig's heart in the future, ya gotta wonder about cellular memories? Great mud? Delicious corn cobs? Back scratches?), pat your heart gently, thanking God for all that those fierce cells remember, hold close, and give out to make us into the startling, Imago Dei people we are. Una milagro. Una milagro.