The Question That Changes Everything
While driving through rural Indiana to lead a group of veterans in my Ladder UPP program, I listened to Doctor Daniel Amen on a podcast. He posed a simple question that has stayed with me ever since: Is this good for my brain or is this bad for my brain?
It is a question that cuts through excuses. It forces clarity. And as I listened to him explain his work, I realized it reaches far deeper than brain health. It touches the soul. It touched my soul.
Why Brain Imaging Changes Behavior
Doctor Amen is a psychiatrist and neuroscientist known for using SPECT imaging to map blood flow and activity in the brain. He pointed out something surprising in the interview. Psychiatry is the only medical field where the doctor treats the organ without ever looking at it.
Break an arm and you get an X ray. Hurt your back and you get an MRI. But for mental health, people are often diagnosed or medicated without anyone ever looking at the actual brain. SPECT scans change that. They show what is happening inside. Low activity. Reduced blood flow. Slowed processing. Shrinking tissue.
Once people see their own scan, their choices shift. The data becomes personal. The image is a wake up call.
A Teenager, a Brain Scan, and a Wake Up Call
Doctor Amen shared a story of a teenager who struggled with behavior issues. His parents suspected ADHD. The scan told a different story. Low blood flow. Poor activity. A foggy image compared to a healthy brain. The teen resisted opening up until he saw the picture. Then he admitted he was smoking marijuana heavily.
The scan became the turning point. He quit. He came back. The next scan showed improvement. The visible truth changed him.
The Soul Has No Visible Scan
This is what struck me. We cannot take a picture of the soul. There is no image that shows where it is healthy or where it is shrinking. There is no visible comparison between a vibrant soul and one that is worn down by selfishness, addiction, pride, or apathy.
But just like the brain, the soul is constantly shaped by our choices.
So why do we ignore soul damage? Because it is invisible. Because we do not feel the shrinkage in the moment. Because the consequences come quietly. Because the habits that slowly darken the soul often feel good right now.
Yet the soul leaves traces. It leaves evidence. And if we look honestly, we can see the picture clearly.
Seeing the Soul Through the Least of These
Doctor Amen mentioned something that mirrors my own experience. You can judge the soul of a society by how it treats people in prison. Prisoners are easy to ignore. Easy to dismiss. Easy to write off. Yet they are human beings with histories and pain and value. When you serve them, you see sparks of hope and dignity that were buried but not lost.
The same is true for anyone who is suffering or forgotten. If you want to know the condition of your soul, look at how you treat:
The homeless
The poor
The addicted
The mentally ill
The forgotten
The widow
The orphan
The single parent
The prisoners
The families of prisoners
The kids who get picked on
The people everyone avoids
This is the picture of your soul. You cannot hide from it. You can try to hide, but the truth will be revealed.
The Picture You Cannot Fake
You can have friends and money and comfort and still have a small soul. You can sit in church every Sunday and still ignore the person who needs you most. You can be admired in public and empty inside.
But you cannot fake love for the least of these. That picture does not lie.
If there are no hurting people in your life whom you serve and love, then your soul is shrinking, no matter how good you feel about yourself. If your life includes compassion, presence, generosity, and humility, your soul grows, even if no one ever sees it.
You Do Not Need Anything to Love the Least of These
One of the beautiful truths about the soul is that you do not need wealth, status, or health to live with love. You can be walking with nothing but the clothes you are wearing and still bring hope to someone who is hurting.
Or you can be walking toward your luxury car with a wallet full of credit cards and walk right past the person who is breaking inside. That is who you are. Not what you drive. Not what you earn. Not what you post online.
Your soul is revealed in the moment when someone needs you and you choose to stop or you choose to keep walking.
Ask the Question That Changes the Soul
Doctor Amen helps people change their lives by asking a simple question. Is this good for my brain or is this bad for my brain? It works because the truth becomes visible.
The soul needs a similar question. Is this good for my soul or is this bad for my soul?
Is what I watch good for my soul, or bad for my soul?
Is how I speak to my spouse good for my soul, or bad for my soul?
Is how I treat strangers good for my soul, or bad for my soul?
Is the way I use my phone good for my soul, or bad for my soul?
Is the way I treat the least of these good for my soul, or bad for my soul?
The soul grows or shrinks one choice at a time.
A Final Word on Eternity
Doctor Amen mentioned the ongoing debate in neuroscience about consciousness and memory. Many now believe the soul might exist outside the body. If that is true, then the soul most likely continues when we die. Which means the picture we paint here is the picture we carry into eternity.
Whether you believe in heaven, judgment, or simply the continuation of consciousness, the truth remains. The soul you build now is the soul you take with you when you die.
So paint the picture you want to carry forever. Make it one of compassion. Make it one of humility. Make it one of hope. Start now.
Ask this question every day. Is this good for my soul or is this bad for my soul?
And move, even a little, toward the light.
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