Haven’t we all wondered from time to time about the relationship between the brain and the mind?
It’s an intriguing question on so many levels including the intersection of Eastern thought and Western, classical physics versus quantum physics, Zen Buddhism, and its relationship, if any, to Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
Into these murky waters where unknowns outweigh knowns ventures Robert Lanza, MD, in the third book of his series on biocentrism. I’ve spent most of the last couple of days reading the entire three-volume set, and my head is still spinning. If you want to get a feel for the current status of biocentrism vis a viscontemporary science, I suggest you begin in reverse order with the third volume. The books build on each other, but they can be read as standalones and the most recent contains the “unified theory,” if you’ll pardon the pun.
Since the theory of biocentrism has garnered its share of controversy, Lanza in Appendix 1 lists some of the questions that critics have raised and provides short responses. To the question “Is there a difference between the physical brain and the mind?”, he addresses the issue with these words:
Biocentrism shows that the external world is actually within the mind–not “within” the brain. The brain is an actual physical object that occupies a specific location. It exists as a spatiotemporal construction. Other objects, like tables and chairs, are also constructions and are located outside the brain. However, brains, tables, and chairs alike all exist in the “mind.” The mind is what generates the spatiotemporal construction in the first place. Thus, the mind refers to pre-spatiotemporal, and the brain to post-spatiotemporal. You experience your mind’s image of your body, including your brain, just as you experience trees and galaxies. The mind is everywhere. It is everything you see, hear, and sense. The brain is where the brain is, and the tree is where the tree is. But the mind has no location. It is everywhere you observe, smell, or hear anything.
ROBERT LANZA, MD, FROM THE GRAND BIOCENTRIC DESIGN, P 208
That’s a mouthful. And, if you are like me, I believe as you ponder such thoughts as these, you will find yourself sitting with your chin cradled on your hand, your eyes glazed as you stare at the horizon.
Which is just the response a book about the nature of the universe should elicit.
I’ve taken my share of notes as I worked through the books, but mainly I have found myself wondering if anything I have habitually believed about the external world is valid, and wondering how, if at all, one can access “mind,” the very thing , the only thing, that is “everywhere.”
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