THINKER'S ALMANAC - May 17

Which type of nut is the best symbol for the human brain?

Subject: The Brain - Walnuts

Event:  National Walnut Day

When I was losing, they called me nuts. When I was winning they called me eccentric. -Al McGuire

For a long time nuts have been symbolic of human insanity.  There is one nut, however, that is symbolic of the human brain working at full capacity.  This nut is the walnut, and May 17 is National Walnut Day.

                                                                Image by Leopictures from Pixabay 

First, the appearance of the walnut, with its kernels that resemble the left and right hemispheres of the brain, makes it an apt symbol.  

Second, the nutritional value of the walnut makes it the best of all nuts for brain health.  According to Harvard Medical School, the walnut’s protein and healthy fats improve memory (1).

Walnuts originate from the Mediterranean region and Central Asia. Today, however, most are grown in California. The U.S. is the world’s largest exporter of walnuts (2).

British philosopher Alaine de Botton sees the walnut as an effective reminder of the importance of intellectual humility.  As we gaze at a humble walnut in the palm of our hand, he asks us to see it as a symbol of the nut in each of us, the minds we have that are a product of nature but that are also by no means perfect:

We may think of ourselves as extraordinary creatures capable of mighty feats, but we are in the end reliant on a highly flawed, walnut-like contraption that gets an awful lot wrong. Acknowledging this, far from a defeatist move, is the beginning of wisdom. Socrates remarked:  I am wise not because I know, but because I know I don’t know. The more closely we introspect, the more we start to appreciate the range of tricks our minds play on us – and therefore the more we appreciate the extent to which we will continually misjudge situations and the feelings they provoke. This critical attitude towards our own thought-processes is technically called scepticism …. (3)

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  Why is the walnut an appropriate symbol for the human brain? Why, according to Socrates, was he wise?

Challenge - Your Favorite Nut:  There is a long tradition of examining the fine line between genius and madness.  Aristotle said, “No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.  And the British philosopher John Stuart Mill argued for freedom of speech in order to preserve diversity of opinion, especially those opinions that were out of the mainstream:   “That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the time.”  Another British philosopher, Bertrand Russell, cautioned against entertaining crazy ideas: “Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.” Do some research to find an example of a genius of history, a person who in his or her time was seen as odd or eccentric.  What made this person different from everyone else, and what specific contribution did they make to society as a whole to illustrate why we should honor those who don’t quite seem to fit in.?

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

May 17, 1957:  Today is the anniversary of the landmark United States Supreme Court decision that changed American education.  The Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, announced its decision in the case of Brown v. Board of Education.  The decision was to end the segregation of public schools and reverse the 1896 ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson that established the “separate but equal” doctrine.  The court’s decision in Brown started the slow march toward desegregation of American schools by stating, “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”

Sources:

1-Harvard Medical School. “Foods linked to better brain power.” Harvard Health Publishing 6 March 2021.

 2-Merlo Farming Group.  “National Walnut Day.” 2021.

 3-The School of Life. “The Wisdom of Nature.” 2021.