Conventional wisdom holds that the human mind is nothing more than the human brain. This belief derives from materialism. By "materialism" I don't mean the mania to shop unceasingly at the mall. Rather, I mean the philosophy that material reality is all that there is. Immaterial or spiritual realities are, in this view, simply epiphenomena of the material world.
We find the materialist view ably expressed in Francis Crick's The Astonishing Hypothesis. What Crick finds astonishing is that our thoughts, emotions and feelings consist entirely in the physiological activity in the circuitry of the brain. Daniel Dennett argues that "mind" is simply a term for what the brain does. And how do we know that the brain and the mind are essentially the same? The best evidence is that when the brain is damaged, the injury affects the mind. Patients whose brains atrophy due to stroke, for instance, lose their ability to distinguish colors or to empathize with others.
But in his book The Spiritual Brain, neuroscientist Mario Beauregard shows why the Crick-Dennett position is based on a fallacy. Yes, the brain is the necessary locus or venue for the mind to operate. It does not follow that the two are the same. Beauregard gives a telling analogy. "Olympic swimming events require an Olympic class swimming pool. But the pool does not create the Olympic events; it makes them feasible at a given location." Far from being identical to the mind, Beauregard argues that the brain "is an organ suitable for connecting the mind to the rest of the universe."
A provocative idea. Beauregard produces several lines of evidence, but there I focus on just one: the placebo effect. The placebo or sugar-pill effect is one of the most widely-attested phenomena in medicine. One medicine journal notes that "the history of medicine is the history of the placebo effect." So powerful is the impact of the sugar pill that today the effectiveness of drugs is measured by the FDA in comparison to the placebo effect.
Yet as Beauregard points out, the placebo effect is an embarassment to the simple-minded conception of the mind as an ephiphenomenon of the brain. The reason is that this effect shows the mind shaping the brain. The mental expectation of being cured leads to an actual alteration in the physical workings of the brain, and the patient experiences a measurable physiological improvement. One doctor who cured a patient through the placebo effect was asked what he gave the patient that produced such an incredible result. His answer? "Hope."
Beauregard also writes about something I didn't know much about: the nocebo effect. "The nocebo effect is the harmful health effect created by a sick person's belief and expectation that a powerful source of harm has been contacted or administered." So if patients are strongly convinced that a particular pill will give them nausea, they frequently become nauseous, even when the pill they have taken is not the one they expected but only a sugar pill.
Materialism is based on the assumption that the only way to alter the mind is to alter the physical operations of the brain. But Beauregard uses the placebo and nocebo effect to show the reverse. The mind can also regulate the operations of the brain. Beauregard writes that he placebo and nocebo effects are not triggered by the sugar pill but rather are "triggered by the patient's mental state. In other words, they depend entirely on the patient's state of belief."
But if minds can control brains, them minds are not the same as brains. This leads to the unavoidable conclusion that there is an aspect of thought and feeling that lies outside the realm of the material. This is what Beauregard calls "the spiritual brain." Atheists too have one, even if they refuse to admit it.
Reader Comments ( Page 2 of 22)
16.
Geri, how are you?
or
Jeri, how are you?
I'm still reading.
You know at 1:16PM on May 26th 2008
17. D'Souza says, "Conventional wisdom holds that the human mind is nothing more than the human brain."
Well that is as far as I read, and of course that is very simplistic.
No doubt that is something that you might tell a seven year old.
The human brain is very complicated and I believe it extends to the tips of our toes. It even has a 'short-circuit' mechanism whereby if the leg 'finds itself' in pain, the muscles are moving before the pain signal has reached the consciousness part.
I don't believe that some parts of our nervous system are not 'ultimately' part of our consciousness.
I think that theists are being disingenuous to try to claim that the entire nervous system can be 'sectioned off' as if it WERE mechanistic then turn around and say that the brain 'itself' holds a special part that is NOT mechanistic.
D'Souza seems to be going out of his way to be devious and childish here.
In his first sentence he oversimplifies to make a point that things are more complicated! Well... duh!
not-pboyfloyd at 1:40PM on May 26th 2008
18. Interesting to note that this concept is so far 'out there' that a stupefying silence ensues from both the Atheists AND the Fundies...
Fascinating!
Robert at 2:05PM on May 26th 2008
19. I already knew about the existence of the spiritual... As a mystic, I live it every day. But then, what's the connection with a genuine spiritual reality and the fictitious god of the israelites? A spiritual reality is not god, nor is it proof of a god, and even if it were, which god would it be a proof of? Not the christian one, that's for sure. That one was CLEARLY invented by men.
This reality is the spiritual reality. We only think it's made of matter. That's my stance on it.
No all-powerful god necessary for that, though. Just us spirits.
Godless Heathen Brian at 2:06PM on May 26th 2008
20. FL Chick @ 15; love your question about DD's martinis over the wknd. It probably took several to dull the pain of GHB's and Purple Hays' posts on the last blog. But this one is interesting, contrary to not-pboy. For instance, is it the brain, or the mind, that motivates a total stranger to jump between the rails of a subway to save someone bent on suicide? I say the mind, because the brain would have defaulted to the self preservation instinct, logically shouting "Let that sucker die". But the mind, compelled by compassionate impulses, from a nobler source, says "save him; you can do this"
fanmanaf1 at 2:10PM on May 26th 2008
21. I think this particular blog is practically crying out for me to post my "Big Brain" speculations on it...
So here goes.
-------------------------------------------------
We're the designer. All of us, together, designed this place, by our very attempts to observe and understand it, from time immemorial. We created the dream-reality within which we now find ourselves. It's not solid, dead matter and energy like we think it is; it's all just consciousness. All that exists is consciousness, a vast sea of consciousness in which we are patterns of consciousness within the larger whole.
The world's far from perfect because the designers are far from perfect.
There's no plan, other than seeking for it to make sense. That's why it makes sense. Because we need it to. That's why it looks designed. And the closer we look at reality, the finer detail we provide for us to see. The more powerful our telescopes become, the larger the universe gets. It's all in our expectations and we fix it in place with our logic and science.
That's where creation happens. In our observations and expectations. In our minds. It's all in our minds, but our minds are all one at the deepest level anyhow, so it all agrees. It has to. We're all one.
I know, I need to take my meds, etc... except that, it is not as crazy as it sounds.
Science and evolution guys, I know where you stand as well, but I like to think that your side is at least capable of keeping a truly open mind about it. It's not as if evolution isn't real. It's just that, as it turns out, matter isn't. :-)
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What is this universe, if indeed God does not exist? I mean, weird things sometimes happen that nothing can really explain. Psychic events. Healing through prayer. ESP. Ghosts. Out-of-body experiences. Sightings of the Blessed Mother. Or the devil. Stigmata. Personal "miracles" and occasional contacts with divinity or consciousness or spirit or SOMETHING that leaves us confused or exultant or suicidal.
What is this place? What is the most logical conclusion, when even science seems suspect, at least in explaining some phenomena?
I say it's all consciousness. Like a dream, if you will. Not a normal dream, but similar. More realistic, of course, for one thing. But a "dream" in whose head? Who is dreaming it?
WE are, silly! In fact, it's a dream without a specific dreamer required, since to think one is required is missing the point. We ALL dream it together. Since we're one. We are the dreamer and the dream.
And since we're the most advanced life form around in this particular dream, we're the best of the dreamers, the most able to construct a complicated dream like this. No god required at all. We did it; as we looked at it, looked FOR it, it all became real. We looked for something, and we dreamt it up as we looked, just in time to see it and think that we had nothing to do with it. The closer we looked, the finer the detail that we created. The farther away in space that our telescopes can see, the more of the dream becomes real, the larger the universe becomes. We find new stars, but were they there before we had the telescope to look? What I’m saying is, incredibly enough, perhaps not.
And it's easy to see why some people think that God is real, since if they believe it hard enough, reality will give them false evidence of it being true due to their preoccupation with it warping their vision of reality.
+++++++++++
What would be the simplest explanation for this universe? That would account for the maximum number of observations that we've made of it? I used to ask myself this all the time. I knew it couldn't be something that we'd thought of before, since all of those theories have huge holes in them, even science in a way, though science is the best single one of all so far. But still science sees infinities in time and distance, and quantum paradoxes galore, along with things like the wave-particle duality and entanglement, which are hard to explain. SO I thought and thought, and studied a lot of different sources, and this is what I came up with...
Simplest Explanation for this Universe:
It's all a vast mind, or very similar to one. Now I KNOW that's a hard one for a christian, or most anybody, to ever believe. But give me a chance to explain. Oh, and if you can't follow this, it doesn't mean that it's not true, so perhaps some study would be in order, at least before you dismiss it. Not that you won't.
Imagine it as if we're all complex thought patterns in a vast mind of some sort. We think of ourselves as matter, and the universe as matter and energy and space and time, but if it were all more like a mind, it negates the problems of the infinite. The universe would be as large as we think it is, and as old as we think it is... The more we looked, the more we'd find, but in a mind this is all interplay of consciousness and not the real traversing of space, so infinity is not a problem... We feel as solid matter and a rock feels hard and heavy, but they're consciousness or thoughts too, but since WE are as well, the rock feels heavy and we feel solid to ourselves. As we've developed over the years we've formed this vast mind by our subconscious expectations of it, since it IS us, and all other things as well. Thus it conforms to our expectations of it, follows logical rules, etc. We are individuals, yes, but only at the conscious and near-conscious levels. At the deep subconscious level we all share the same identity, as does everything else, since we're all made of the one thing, mind, in a world of the same. So, the person looking out of your eyes and calling yourself "Me" is, at the deepest level, IDENTICAL with the person that looks out of MY eyes and says the same. God, or the Universe, is ONE, and we're all a part of it, connected at every point. There's only ONE "sense-of-identity" in the universe. That's what that means. We just all have it and think it unique to us as individuals, and it's not. Now if in this vast mind you manage to convince yourself that it's all due to an anthropomorphic God, this reality/mind will accomodate you and give you "signs" that you're on the right track, EVEN THOUGH YOU AREN'T!!! It will give you exactly what you expect it to in your deep subconscious. If I meditate strongly enough, I get the same types of signs, and I'm not a believer in any God, really. Strange coincidences, synchronicities, and actual events taking place that related to my meditation... Even at times, wish-fulfillment... You can produce this with prayers, if you REALLY believe deeply. It won't matter that what you REALLY believe in isn't TRUE, either. You can pray to a big Shoe in the sky, and if you have enough belief, real-world phenomena can and will occurr that seem to be an answer to your "prayers" with no god needed other than this universe, which in it's entirety, can be called God but more accurately is just the mind that we all call home. It's not a human mind, but it's composed of all minds and all things.
Seems simple enough, if you have an imagination. Now tell me why it can't be true. You can't. In fact, it explains EVERYTHING. Not one thing left out. It's the only theory that can even come close to doing that. All scientific problems, the mind-body problem, the placebo effect, miracles, faith-healings, synchronicities, deja-vu, "signs," ESP, clairvoyance, all psychic phenomena including hauntings, and even your belief in your god.
It can’t be proven yet, but it looks like it might be provable in the near future, if it’s true, of course. The beginnings of proof are already there. Look at the quantum realm, with all its strangeness and problems, which vanish if we assume that the universe is all consciousness. But as of right now, it can’t be proven. Neither can your God, or anyone else’s, but since it explains not only your god but all others, and science, and scientific fallacies and paradoxes, and indeed ALL mysteries, and has hopes of being proven in time by science, it’s far superior to any other faith or religion. By Occam’s Razor, it is the most likely to be the correct theory, if you detach yourself from your habitual view of reality and just think of the probabilities from an un-reality-biased perspective.
For me, I was the agnostic almost-atheist that loved science and the scientific method, was completely skeptical of anything that even smacked of the paranormal, then at about age 36 started to get 'signs' or more accurately perhaps jungian type synchronicities in my day-to-day life, synchronicities that I soon realized always related to thoughts expressed when I was in an emotionally excited state, such as when I was joking around with friends. Oh, and since the friends involved saw them too and thought that they were creepy, I know that it wasn't just a delusion. All of this worldview of mine that I have expressed above came about in my mind as a RESULT of my having these experiences and then investigating them with various thought experiments as my tools, all subjective of course, but compelling nonetheless. Very compelling.
Godless Heathen Brian at 2:12PM on May 26th 2008
22. GHB; I've read it (actually, segments of it over the last several months as you try to gain traction) and rather than outright reject it, I'll reflect on it. I have but 1 request. That the next time MIW, or Observant, or some other Christian who's ideas you don't immediately warm up to, posts something here, you afford them the same courtesy.
Deal?
fanmanaf1 at 2:22PM on May 26th 2008
23. How dare you contradict me fanmanaf1! LOL
not-pboyfloyd at 2:28PM on May 26th 2008
24. atta boy, pboy. Glad to see that sense of humor intact!
fanmanaf1 at 2:31PM on May 26th 2008
25. 22. GHB; I've read it (actually, segments of it over the last several months as you try to gain traction) and rather than outright reject it, I'll reflect on it. I have but 1 request. That the next time MIW, or Observant, or some other Christian who's ideas you don't immediately warm up to, posts something here, you afford them the same courtesy.
Deal?
fanmanaf1 at 2:22PM on May 26th 2008
------------------------------
Nope. I don't care if you read it. The price is too high. Besides, you'd probably get nothing out of it. You're not in the right place to see it, really. I'm not posting it for people like you.
When some new dodo (or old dodo) posts the same tired old scriptural backassward defense, I reserve the right to tell them exactly what I think of it. And you can do the same to me about my stuff, I couldn't care less, really. :-) If you think my stuff is comparable to the repetitive scripture-laden posts that those other people post but didn't write or even think about themselves but simply cut-and-pasted in from some bible site, than you can boycott me and my posts. Feel free to not read me. Have at it. It's a free country, contrary to the desires and goals of many hypochrists, so go for it.
Godless Heathen Brian at 2:38PM on May 26th 2008
26. And I am not in the least trying to 'gain traction' with it.
Every now and then, someone visiting this board gets something out of it. They're not ever christians. They're usually people that are confused about the fact that they sense a spiritual component to the universe, but they know in their bones that religion is not the right path to see it. They are the ones that get something out of my speculations. The few, the confused, the mystically-inclined, the nonreligious. I post it for them. Never for the hypochrists. That would be futile and a waste of my time. Not that I hate them or anything. It's just that they're blind to such speculations due to conditioning.
Godless Heathen Brian at 2:46PM on May 26th 2008
27.
I suppose in a way the placebo effect is a good example to illustrate what you want your point to be, DD.
Let's look at another example.
I'm bipolar and when I was first diagnosed, it took a year or so of trying various medications before settling in with the right combination of drugs that worked for me.
If just the idea that those earlier meds would work could have made them work (like the placebo effect), them I wouldn't have had to try more than one. Because when I took them, I BELIEVED they would work. So if my mind believed they would work, according to you, they should have worked.
At the time, I didn't know much about my problem and the huge number of possible drugs, nor the number of combinations of drugs that would potentially work. The doc prescribed me a med and I thought that was it.
It wasn't it. The early meds I tried didn't work, despite my expectations that they would.
Some may think this isn't a comparable example to the placebo effect, but I thought it was similar enough to post.
FL Chick at 2:52PM on May 26th 2008
28. Dear GHB,
At last, finally, you actually SAID something! Bravo!!! I knew you had it in you. Now, about the whole hater thing... Your mention of the synchronistic (i.e. Jungian) universe is that of the pragmatist, whereas mine is of a more 'serendipitious' reality- i.e. that of a Romanticist. So, can you let go of the anger, knowing (as apparently you do) that you will NEVER get the religionists to let go of their ideals? They are grasping at 'straws', and deep down know that their limited world view is dying (See my post #112 from 'Secular Happiness'). It really IS a waste of time, energy and your apparent intellect- so why bother? I think that when you are finally honest with your own introspection, you will finally be free. And TRULY happy. Amen.
NAMASTE
Robert
Robert at 3:03PM on May 26th 2008
29. Imagine a machine that reflects on itself. Compounded looping self-checking systems. When the self-checking systems include who, what, when, where and why. There is a 'ghost in the machine', we call this a 'mind'.
I think that religion comes from the idea that there is a spiritual realm and that idea comes from reflection on the questions..
'Who am I?', the eternal question, the final question after learning who 'everyone else'is.(mom,dad,sis,bro etc.)
The eternal answer, "I don't know."
The unanswerable question, "Why am I?" (after building reasonable(and not so reasonable) hypotheses about, "Why is everyone and everything else?"
Scientists try to answer, "How am I?"
Theists shuffle these, for fun and profit.
not-pboyfloyd at 3:07PM on May 26th 2008
30. Any women reading this, I posted an informal sex survey on the last blog here...
http://news.aol.com/newsbloggers/2008/05/23/why-secular-liberals-are-so-unhappy/36#c12321241
I'd love to hear you all chime in on it.
It's basically the question, "Are most men good lovers?"
And it relates to another post that was claiming that christians have better sex.
Please feel free to go there and offer your comments. Thank you.
:-)
Godless Heathen Brian at 3:13PM on May 26th 2008