OTHER VIEWS
Seat Of The Soul
Los Angeles
he hardest part about writ-
ing about brain radiation is
writing the words "brain
radiation." I assure you that
I'm OK. It's my fingers that are typing
these words on my computer. It's my
thoughts that are deciding which of
the Yip Harburg lyrics from the
Scarecrow's song, "If I Only Had a
Brain," I should use later in this piece.
After 14 sessions in which I
received 250 rads each, I've met some
great people — since so many great
people get cancer. And I've solidified
some terrific friendships, since it takes
terrific friendships to drive a person
to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and
sit with one's own doubts during a
friend's treatment. Other than that,
the only part of my reality that has
changed is that my hair, which had
grown back into soft brown poodle
curls, is once again gone.
At 4:30 a.m. on the morning of
Radiation No. 13, my head was
expelling poison like Love Canal.
Hair was everywhere. I got up, found
my lady's razor and took care of busi-
ness. Nevertheless, it is true. I've just
completed three weeks of brain radia-
tion.
T
Marlene Adler Marks is a columnist for
the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles. Her
e-mail address is mnsVoice@aol.com
Like every Jew alive, I believe that
the brain is the seat of the soul. It
matters not at all if you've never
heard an Orthodox take on spiritual
biology, in which the brain is equated
to the Torah, while the "heart" is
divine service. The beit hamikdash,
God's residence, is described as, "The
brain of the world." The brain is the
big act; it's us at our very essence. It's
where we make up puns and drive
ourselves crazy with guilt, must-haves
and might-have-beers.
You can take out a hunk of my lung,
and I'll still want chocolate chip cookies.
You can burn the daylights out of my
cells with chemotherapy, and I'll still
love eggplant parmigiana. But when an
MRI suggested that tiny lesions in my
brain would eventually create a prob-
lem, I turned myself into Russell Crowe
in A Beautifil Mind, drawing pictures
on stained glass. Except I'll never create
a new market theory.
I pleaded with my doctors, say it
isn't so. But lung cancer has a great
propensity for metastasizing to the
brain. Act early and we have a
chance. Full-brain radiation is no
one's first choice, but it doesn't have
to be awful. My worst problem was
my imagination, having been primed
by movies like The Snake Pit. The
imagination, too, is in the brain,
along with quantum physics. In
moments of trouble, the soul
Fit The Prejudice
Ramat Gan, Israel
he evidence from the crime
scene could not have been
clearer. Over 50 tons of
deadly weapons and explo-
sives, packed in Iranian containers,
were displayed at the port of Eilat.
The crew of the Karine A, from the
Palestinian Authority's navy, were
caught red-handed, and the jovial cap-
tain spoke quite freely about his mis-
sion. Israeli intelligence provided the
names of the members of PA leader
Yasser Arafat's inner circle who organ-
ized the details and signed the checks.
Given this overwhelming evidence,
why did the "international community"
take so long to understand its signifi-
cance? Even the U.S. government, which
has the best understanding of Arafat's
T
Gerald M. Steinberg is a professor and
director, Program on Conflict
Management and Negotiation Political
Studies, Bar-Ilan University. His e-mail
address is gerald@vms.huji.ac.il.
2/8
2002
28
strategy of terrorism and violence, hesi-
tated for many days before blaming the
Palestinians. The BBC (British
Broadcasting Corporation), which often
defines the "conventional wisdom" for
the Arabist lobby, kept insisting that the
weapons ship was bound for Lebanon.
Beyond the orientalist sympathy for
Arab victimization, European post-
colonial guilt (shared vicariously by
North Americans and Australians),
and other factors, the psychological
phenomena known as "cognitive disso-
nance" played an important role in
protecting Arafat. Among academics,
this disease is known to result from the
tendency to cling to explanations and
conceptions long after these structures
have lost coherence. "Cognitive disso-
nance" occurs when information is fil-
tered in a manner designed to fit a
pre-conception, and distorted to avoid
contradictions that would weaken this
framework. In other words, when the
facts do not fit the biases and mental
images, the lazy way out is to ignore
his neck. I felt safe going
becomes dogmatic. Maybe
into my spiel: "This is _my
that's because the soul is
brain we're working on
located in the brain, which is
here," I said, looking him in
also where the "Pharaoh"
the eyes. "Do your best."
resides. According to one
And it went fine. The
theory, "Pharaoh," is located
mask fit snug, and the
in the back of the neck,
cross hairs lined up perfect-
lodged in the brain stem,
ly, so only the right areas
part of the essential dogmat-
got hit. The whole proce-
ic taskmaster that won't let
MARLENE
us go. I brought to brain
ADLER MARKS dure took 90 seconds on
each side. He took good
radiation all the same obses-
Special
care. The next day, I
sions and skills that I've used
Commentary
moved to the morning
all my life. Which means, I
shift. Over 13 more days in a row
was determined never to be merely a
excepting weekends, I would also
number, a cog in the wheel.
meet Christine and Joanie and
"I would not be just a nothin', my
Kimberly. From inside the mask, it
head all full of stuffin', my heart all
went like this: After checking my
full of pain," sang the Scarecrow. I
mask, Tim left. The room was silent.
still had a brain.
I'm alone. Tim calls my name over
My first day of brain radiation at
the intercom. I begin to breathe
Cedars-Sinai went like this: I showed
deeply. How will I get through this?
up at 6 p.m. accompanied by my
Dare I pray for myself? Why the hell
daughter, Samantha, her friend
not!? I'd say the Mi'shebeirach (prayer
Heather and my friend Diane. My
for healing) for you, if roles were
name was called over the loudspeaker.
reversed. Why is "OM," the universal
The four of us stood up, held hands
sound of breath and meditation (and
and said a prayer.
short for shal0M), better than the
Tim, the radiation tech, met me in
direct appeal? So against the purr of
the radiation room, with its giant ver-
the radiation, the glare of the white
sion of the machine that takes your
light and the antiseptic spray of
teeth X-rays. He handed me my per-
ozone, I prayed for a r fuah sh'leimah,
sonalized facemask, which I can now
a full and complete recovery. You can
use for Olympic fencing, and gestured
radiate your brain without losing
for me to hop on the treatment table.
your soul. ❑
"Wait," I said. He wore across around
Minister Arid Sharon, in
the facts, rather than to alter
particular, were demonized.
the conventional wisdom.
Whenever the Palestinians
As a result of this defensive
launched a terrorist attack, it
mental process and the con-
was excused, while Israeli
ception of invincibility, Israel
efforts to defend its citizens
ignored the signs that the
were
distorted and con-
Arabs were planning to attack
demned. Many Israelis and
on Yom Kippur in 1973.
Jews in the Diaspora also
Similarly, the U.S. govern-
adopted this mental construct,
ment misread all of the indi-
GERALD M.
accepting the view that
cations of Iraqi leader Saddam
STEINBERG
blamed Israel without ques-
Hussein's preparations to
Special
tion in order to avoid the ten-
invade Kuwait in 1990, and
Commentary
sion and stress inherent in
more recently, terrorist Osama
holding views that were different from
Bin Laden's plans to hijack airplanes to
the dominant model. As a result, for
attack major buildings.
many years, it was convenient to ignore
In many parts of the world, includ-
the very dear evidence of Arafat's whole-
ing Europe, Canada and Australia, the
sale violations of the Oslo agreements,
complacency and myth that "it can't
including the development of a terrorist
happen to us" remain unchanged,
infrastructure and the large-scale smug-
with all the dangers that result. In the
gling of illegal weapons.
case of the dissonance in understand-
After Arafat walked out of the Camp
ing the Arab-Israeli conflict, since
David talks in July 2000, and rejected
1967, the dominant conception in the
all efforts to negotiate a "permanent sta-
world has been one of a powerful
tus agreement," the power of cognitive
Israel oppressing weak Palestinian
dissonance led to instant revisionism.
"victims." Arafat was embraced by the
The media and "international diplomat-
"politically correct" liberal establish-
ic community" quickly grasped the arti-
ment, while Israel, and Prime