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 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, t...

  Mind, Brain, Soul - Who we really are ...      Most of us prefer to think that we possess something that is greater than the sum of our neurons; something that animates us and makes us the human individual that we are. But a lot of what we perhaps used to classed as mind seems to be turning out to be brain and some part of that must surely also be the soul. So what is the difference between the Mind, Brain and Soul? If we question who we are in these terms, we will soon discover that we are not only our minds, but  something else and maybe everything else at the same time. And what about the soul? Is the soul individual or are we all separate souls?  One of my favourite topics  is memory and how we define and recall our memories. Many greater 'minds' than mine have  over centuries have  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 tr...

Due to age, health or just too much information in my head, my memory gets poorer by the day.  Reading back through this blog written over the last 12/13 years, I am quite surprised myself that I barely remember writing some of posts. So I thought I might as well re-post some of them for my own benefit, and for anyone who hasn't come across them in the past and may find them of interest.  This seemed like a good one to start with - from February 10th 2014. Is your memory bad ?  Well, it's actually worse than you think, it seems.  A study by researchers at  Northwestern University, Chicago shows that o ur memory is a poor way of recording events. Maybe  a better way is to film and photograph every detail of every experience that we have over a lifetime so that we can check back that what we think happened, really did.  Some of us are well on the way to that scenario already. There's hardly a holiday, birthday, day out with friends or visit to the superm...

  Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954) Matisse he was an artist of the nineteenth century He painted thoughts and feelings for all the world to see Some said his work was ludicrous, not inspiring or smart Some said he was a madman, this could never be called art. He started off in pencils drawing pictures of still life And then went on to portraits of his mistresses and wife The artists there around him called their work Impressionist But Matisse’s attempts at this were more inclined to Realist. Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954) Matisse he was an artist of the nineteenth century He painted thoughts and feelings for all the world to see Some said his work was ludicrous, not inspiring or smart Some said he was a madman, this could never be called art. He started off in pencils drawing pictures of still life And then went on to portraits of his mistresses and wife The artists there around him called their work Impressionist But Matisse’s attempts at this were more inclined to Realist. Then col...