I do not understand my stimulus control. The wants generated by my orbitofrontal cortex I do not do, but what the limbic system wants. And if I do what my limbic system controls, I agree that previous legalistic attempts to solve this were good though ineffectual. As it is I have been hijacked by my limbic system. My orbitofrontal cortex thinks nothing good lives in me, that is, in my limbic system. For the former advises me to do what it thinks is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good suggested; no, my limbic system wins every time for a dose of dopamine. Now if I do what my neocortex advises I do not want to do, it is as if there were a separate ancient mammalian brain living inside me. But that can’t be right, surely?
So I find this law at work: When my orbitofrontal cortex wants to do good, the dopamine need is right there with me. For in my inner being (which doesn’t show up on the MRI scan) I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in my behaviour, waging war against the reason of my orbitofrontal cortex and making me a prisoner to any old limbic highjacking. How wretched this unresolved cerebral conflict leaves me feeling! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
The above was taken from Bruce Stanley's website Embody
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