Mind, Brain, Soul & Reality - Posts From the Past & Thoughts of Today
Mind, Brain, Soul - Who we really are ...
Most of us prefer to think that we possess something which is greater than the sum of our neurons; something which animates us and makes us the human individual we are. But much of what used to be classed as mind turns out to be brain and some part of all that must surely be the soul.
If we question who we are in these terms, we soon discover that we are not only our minds, but something else - and maybe everything else - at the same time. And is the soul one entity or are we all separate souls ?
One of my favourite topics for questioning and discussion is memory, and how we define and recall our memories and many much greater 'minds' than mine have, over millenia, investigated and debated these issues.
A memory, at the cellular level, is a particular pattern of cellular changes on particular spots in our heads. A mood, however is a compound of neuro transmitters and if there's too much acetylcholine and not enough serotonin, then the result can be depression. It seems though, a long way from not having enough of a chemical messenger, to thinking that you are not really taking part in the same world as others; to believe that you are merely watching a play where the people around you are acting out a scenario. It is even further from you as a person being totally driven by this thought. Something must therefore be interpreting the neurological activity - that is, 'mind'.
This interpreter doesn't necessarily have to be non physical or even meta physical; it is more probably a very large number of brain functions working in parallel. It takes an entire network of tiny simultaneous actions to constitute a thought, and if this network was identified and mapped , then the 'mind' might be visible. However, whatever is doing this interpreting, is invisible and can not be mapped out ... yet.
It is full of reasons and claims about what you are feeling and why. Sometimes it appears reasonable - you are feeling low because you have had a lot of stressful things happen lately in your life, it says. It doesn't say - your levels of serotonin have gone down. Other times it says things such as, you can walk in front of that moving bus and you won't be harmed. Clearly it is talking nonsense in this case and when you decide it wrong, something is making that decision. This could be classed 'as consciousness' - another player in the game of 'thinking'.
Then there are 'thoughts' and also 'thinking about thoughts', which means there are two two thought types coming from the same brain, so therefore the brain must have more than one aspect of functioning. When communication between the two aspects becomes confused, messages sent between neurons are wrong and the chemicals triggered are the wrong ones so the impulses are going to the wrong connection and we may become mentally ill. If we can't distinguish between reality and fantasy then we can be classed as having a 'mental disorder'. If we can question this, the two aspects have enough doubt to keep us this side of reality'. What actually is reality is a different discussion for another day !
It seems then that if the brain can have chemical problems, so it can be treated with chemicals and that mind can have problems with perceptions and can be treated with psych analysis. It does not seem likely that there can be brains which recognise reality and brains which don't, so there must be a case for mind within this concept. The mind helps the brain to understand the accepted reality for the occasion.
A further topic related to this which interests me and which I research to the best of my abilities, is that of life after 'death' as we know it. Many people have come to the conclusion that the afterlife - if there is such a thing - is an alternate version of existing life, which aligns with my understanding, beliefs, perceptions and expectations. If this theory turns about to be correct, and I have the opportunity in the 'future' (that is, after my death in what I deem to be this current life) to make different choices, would that be of any benefit to me or anyone else ? If asked I would always say that I have no regrets for anything that I have done in this life, because if I had the chance to live it again, I would do the same things, thinking and believing the same things. If this was not the case, then the 'person' leading the next life would not be 'me'. I also wonder if that next life would be my heaven or hell, depending on who, if anyone, judged me each time. And, depending on circumstances, would anyone choose to go through it all again, to make different choices each time ? Maybe some of us might prefer the possibility of 'no life', similar to that before birth as we know it , or is that ide too selfish to contemplate. Hypothetical questions which our brains, minds or souls may never have answers to, in this life or any other.
Suffice to sat that this is, no doubt, for the best and regardless of who or what decided on this or otherwise, it is a part of being human that we think these things.
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