Jewish Thinking - Ahead of the Curve

Most of us are familiar with the yetzer hatov and the yetzer hara in Jewish thought. Most simply, these are translated as the 'good inclination' and the 'evil inclination'. And yet they are considerably more complex than that. It is said that without the 'yetzer hara' - the 'evil inclination' - no one would have the ambition to do anything productive. You can read more about this idea at My Jewish Learning.

Recently, scientists have been studying dopamine, a molecule in the brain that brings pleasure. The New York Times Science Section wrote about it on October 27.

And as I read the article, all I could think about was how like the 'yetzer hara' this dopamine seems to be!

I don't know about you - but for me it's another example of the modern implications of Jewish wisdom.

Isn't it great when science gives us an opening to mention traditional Jewish thinking?