When we ponder our thoughts, we believe it all goes on via synapses and neural pathways and that is correct. That’s what goes on in the BRAIN. But the brain and the mind are two very different things. The mind resides in the brain and is more of a concept some would argue. The mind is the manifestations of thought, perception, emotion, determination, memory and imagination that takes place within the brain. The brain we can describe as part of the human body – one of the organs – the mind is where experiences are collected and then expressed.
When people say, “Oh, she’s out of her mind?” what does this really mean? Truly it refers to a malady in the function of the brain which thereby is expressed by the mind as looking “crazy.” I think though that sometimes being out of your mind is a good thing. The mind doesn’t think – the brain does. The mind holds the awareness of consciousness and at times this is too much for the human brain to process. The thought that we are “spiritual beings having a human experience” has always brought me back to consider the mind-brain conflict. Our brains gather information like a spider crawling the internet – I guess you could relate the brain to being bodily hardware. The mind is the software that integrates with the brain – it’s the center of higher consciousness The human brain in some cases simply does not have the capacity to understand or “read” the program of the mind – the software. They are incompatible in some instances. The mind operates at a higher level of consciousness and the brain, a primal tool for pure function, processes on a much lower frequency. Our minds have evolved faster than our brains as we have started to understand the concepts of God, Love, and generally a deeper understanding of abstract things. This creates a short circuit if you will. The brain can’t grasp what the mind has formulated. The mind is where logic lives. The mind is where big problems find solutions. For instance – we want to be able to take a closer look at the moon. We weren’t able to travel to it, so we figured out a way with our minds to make a device to see it closer. GENIOUS! The brain then set to getting it done with the available resources. The blueprint gets created in the mind and then the workshop of the brain puts it all together in 3D. It’s a great marriage…when acknowledged.
I mentioned before that higher consciousness resides in the mind – our ability to both create and understand the abstract and intangible. Where science drives to derive things down in to a nice little clean understandable formula of numbers and definitive data, the mind contributes to the formula with a deeper understanding.
It’s the chicken or the egg problem. Some believe that the mind came first and created the brain out of necessity. Regardless, in the world of substance abuse treatment, various therapies work on the mind and some work on the brain. Really, a lot of substance abuse cases result in how the addict has processed an event and formed a belief about it. This is where the mind and the brain meet. We can use the neuroplasticity of the brain and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to create new beliefs about things thereby changing our thoughts and actions. With the mind, we are able to access the higher consciousness and concepts of faith, willingness, open-mindedness to amplify our healing through change. People often use drugs, especially psychotropics to try and gain access to a higher level of consciousness. The brain is affected by the drug and therefore altered. Because of the brains altered state the mind has a different perception and understanding of what’s happening. The brain – mind activity is something that has been and will continue to be studied and disputed for centuries. Awareness is at the core though. If we consciously heighten our awareness naturally through meditation and focused intention we will, be surprised at the clarity available on that level. Things that were confusing to us seem clear. We develop an innate understanding of things not attainable until we broadened our consciousness. The mind uses the brain for expression and the brain uses the mind – the awareness of being conscious. When used together purposefully, a whole new world opens and we perceive and digest the world in a whole new way.