Emerging Spirit @ The United Church of Canada Emerging Spirit @ The United Church of Canada

[This is a true story. The names of the individuals, and the details of their lives and circumstances have been changed to protect their privacy. --Ed.]

He looked melancholy in the hallway after the community meal. Manuel looked to be about 20 years old, Latino, tall and very skinny. Not that it mattered - he could have been any number of people from any age group, size, shape, nationality or walk of life. Every Thursday at 3 pm Manuel came to our church and volunteered to set up tables for the meal. He was always smiling. But not tonight.

The emotion of shame, and its close counterpart, guilt, is not as well researched as other emotions such as anger and fear. It is impossible to do animal research on shame. Animals do not feel guilt and shame the way we do. Now you're going to tell me that your dog feels terribly guilty when he pees on the rug, and I can go along with that to some degree because I have two dogs, and they sure look "guilty" if they pee on a rug or chew up a thousand-dollar digital camera. (I'm not bitter, really I'm not.) Their body language certainly mimics that of guilt or shame in a human: hanging their heads, looking up with their eyes, walking slowly or lying down. So while it could be true that dogs feel guilty and have some sort of brain system for shame and/or guilt, it is definitely not the same as the human brain system. And how would we know?

One of the emotion systems in the human brain is called "seeking." This system has also been labelled curiosity or motivation. [1] Neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp writes, "I would suggest that ‘intense interest,' ‘engaged curiosity,' and ‘eager anticipation' are the types of feelings that reflect arousal of this system in humans." [2]

Brain systems for motivation probably developed throughout evolution to help us get excited about the prospect of seeking for food and other things we needed for our survival. It would explain why my uncle is far more thrilled about his annual hunting trip than is his buddy is. Buddy is independently wealthy and goes for fun. My uncle's family survives the winter on that moose.