THE MIND/BODY CONNECTION

FOUR OBSERVATIONS

1. The pictures our minds form are objective -- we all form a picture of a tree approximately the same way so that two people that have never conversed, both of whom have seen a tree, can discuss a tree without having a tree present and both will be using terms the other can understand.

2. The mind receives pictures from two sources, either from the eyes, pictures of physical reality, or from recall, pictures of reality that the mind has formed at one time and stored in memory. The tree need not be present for us to talk about it.

3. Mental images can produce physical pain, pain so excruciating that forming the pictures causes us to wince or worse.

4. While pain is subjective, what causes one person pain might not cause the next person pain, there is an objective quality about the pain the mind produces that allows us to recognize the situations that produce it, for instance, situations that cause embarrassment, anger, disgust or fear.

ONE MEASURABLE ASPECT OF THE BRAIN'S OPERATION

1. The brain constantly generates electrical flows and those flows have varying frequencies depending on what the body is doing.

TENTATIVE CONCLUSIONS ABOUT THE PAIN AND ITS SOURCE

1. As there is no external source for the pain that thoughts produce, the source of the pain must be internal.

2. As it is well known that electricity can cause pain in the body, an obvious source of the pain that thoughts produce is the electricity that operates the mind.

A QUESTION PHRASED BY THESE TENTATIVE CONCLUSIONS

What is it about the mind's operation, what is it about the pictures it forms that can cause the electricity in the mind to enter the body and cause the pain we feel when we are faced with certain pictures of reality or recalled reality?

THE MIND/BODY CONNECTION ARISES BY EXCEPTION

As long as the electricity in the brain is generating the mind there is no electricity available for shocking the body. It is only when the mind is not working that the electricity in the brain becomes available to shock the body. The mind only affects the body by exception, when it is not working. So the question becomes, what is the mind doing when it is working?

A MODEL OF THE MIND'S GROSS OPERATION

The mind operates by comparison. If we see something in reality, the only way we can know what that something in reality is is if we have seen it before. If we have seen it before, then we have it in recall. We recall what we have seen in reality so that we can compare it with what we see.

Comprehension occurs when recall matches what we see in reality. If what we recall agrees with what we see, then we understand what we see.

"Okay!" we say. "I know what that is. I've seen it before." Empirical science concerns itself with mindlessly producing classifications into which "what that is" can be placed and therefore understood by the process of comparison.

How can we recall a picture of what we see from memory for comparison with what we see? Why don't we recall a picture of something else?

THE CURRENT LEVEL OF THE MIND, ITS FREQUENCY, DETERMINES WHAT PICTURES WILL BE RECALLED

The picture of what we see establishes the frequency level of the current that is operating throughout the mind. What we have seen, the pictures of reality that we have stored in our recall, are stored at the frequency level that existed when the picture was formed. Because the current level, the frequency, generated by what we see is the same current level that accesses the pictures we have stored, we will recall what we are seeing if we have a similar picture stored in memory at the same current level being generated by the picture we are forming of what we see.

It is the current level that recalls the pictures of what we have seen so that when we see a tree, a current level is generated that recalls all pictures of trees we have stored in recall. When we see a tree, we recall a tree and therefore we understand what we are seeing. (A physical description of how trees produce objective current levels in the mind so that we all see a tree the same is found in Chapter Sixteen of Atom, Stars and Minds, The Mechanical Mind, and elaborated further in other volumes of the Copernican Series.)

THE PURPOSE OF THE MIND

The mind evolved to move the body to which it is attached safely through physical reality. As we move through physical reality, we form pictures in our minds of the things we see in reality, the current level generated by what we see moves throughout the neuronic storage bins looking for other pictures stored at the same level, and when similar pictures are found, those pictures are recalled and formed in the mind so that the mind can comprehend what it sees. As long as we can recall what we see, we are capable of moving through physical reality without getting into trouble.

What happens if we run into something that we haven't seen before? What happens if we have no recall for what we see?

WHILE THE MIND RECEIVES PICTURES FROM TWO SOURCES, IT CAN ONLY FORM A SINGLE PICTURE AT A TIME

Because it is impossible for the body to move through two realities at the same time, and because the mind evolved to move the body to which it is attached through physical reality, the mind evolved to form only a single picture at a time. However, the mind has two sources for the pictures that it forms, reality and recall, and these two source are available simultaneously. Because we can only form a single picture in our mind at any one time, the mind can only operate when the two agree, when recall agrees with reality. Therefore, as long as recall matches reality, we can continue to move through reality.

However, when reality doesn't match recall, the mind stops working.

When the mind stops working, the electricity that operates the mind has no place to go but into the body, and the body receives a shock.

THE MIND EVOLVED TO CALL ATTENTION TO CHANGED REALITY

The mind/body connection evolved so that we would not walk off cliffs. If we are walking along and all of a sudden a picture is formed in the mind of nothing, the mind has no recall for nothing, the mind stops operating, the electricity that was operating the mind shocks the body, and the shock stops the body long enough for the mind to find something in recall that will make it understand what has changed in reality.

This is how changed reality comes to our attention. When we are walking along the familiar path and a ten foot spider drops down in front of us, we don't just keep walking into the spider's gaping jaws, we stop in our tracks, our eyes bug out, the shock releases our bowels. If we are lucky, before the spider decides to eat us, our mind attempts to form a picture of the new reality, the current level frantically changes until it can put together bits and pieces of recall to produce an actual picture that matches reality, and, finding a comparison with a small spider on a large scale, the mind starts functioning once again, forming a picture of the body as far away from the ten foot spider as it can get and we run like heck to get away.

THE EVOLUTIONARY PURPOSE OF THE MIND/BODY CONNECTION

The mind operates on the basis of comparison, the electrical flows recalling pictures that match the pictures of reality that come in through the eyes, until comparison fails, at which point the electrical flows enter the body, shocking it into attention so that we will look around to see what it is about reality that is causing us the pain.

Thus, in the evolutionary situation, the mind operates smoothly, comparing reality with recall, allowing us to move unhindered through reality. If reality changes, we receive a shock so that we can adjust our position in reality to accommodate the changed reality.

BECAUSE WE CAN RECALL AND RETAIN PICTURES OF REALITY THAT DO NOT EXIST IN REALITY, THE MIND/BODY CONNECTION HAS AN OUTCOME NOT CONTEMPLATED BY ITS EVOLUTIONARY PURPOSE: THE MIND/BODY CONNECTION PRODUCES CREATIVITY, DRIVING US TO ALTER REALITY TO OUR BENEFIT

Because we can store the pictures we form from reality, we can form pictures from recall when there is no reality present. The ability to form pictures of reality from memory, and then alter those pictures by changing the current level of one or more elements of the picture is creativity, which leads to sentience, the ability to recognize elements of pictures that are not apparent. This is how we come to recall ourselves as a part of the pictures of reality we form.

When we alter the picture of realty we recall, we have a picture of reality that doesn't in fact exist in reality. Reality, then, does not agree with the recall we have created and we receive a shock to our body every time we see reality because that reality doesn't conform with our made-up picture of reality.

In order to avoid the shock, eliminate the pain, we work to change reality to match our made-up picture of reality, leading to the creation of technology.

THE ABILITY TO CREATE PICTURES OF REALITY THAT DO NOT EXIST IN REALITY PRODUCES A MANICHEAN UNIVERSE IN WHICH SOME THINGS BENEFIT ALL AND OTHER THINGS BENEFIT SOME TO THE DETRIMENT OF OTHERS

The drive to conform reality to our made-up picture of reality leads to the creation of shelter from the elements, cultivation of food, trains, buses and airplanes. We test the pictures we create in our mind against reality to see if we can alter reality to match the pictures.

We also can see other people with things we don't have and form a picture of ourselves with those things. The resulting picture of ourselves with the things does not match the reality in which we don't have the things. We receive a shock to our body which, if we aren't civilized in some way, drives us to obtain those things, leading to robbery, rape, murder, wars.

SENTIENCE PRODUCES ELEMENTS OF PICTURES THAT AREN'T APPARENT AND THEREFORE AREN'T READILY PLACED INTO RECALL

Because the body receives a shock when the mind observes reality for which it has no recall-- incomprehension is painful-- it is driven to comprehend. When comprehension is not apparent, we have to create recall to avoid the pain. Religion provides recall for incomprehensible realities such as existence, as well as attempts to socialize behavior. Science attempts to provide objective categories for non-apparent realities in recall but produces made-up stuff nonetheless.

Thus, when we see an object fall, or the sun move across the sky with no apparent force, we receive a shock to our body. We will continue to receive a shock until we find out what is causing the movement.

However, with respect to falling objects or the moving sun, the cause of the movement is not apparent, does not lend itself to the empirical process of classification.

Because we can't go through life getting a shock every time we see an object fall, or the sun come up, we make up stuff to put in our recall in order to provide us with comprehension. It doesn't matter what we make up so long as it stops the pain of incomprehension and isn't itself contradicted in reality, leading to another shock.

Thus we make up things that can't be disproven, objects fall because gravity is proportional to and therefore a property of mass, planets rotate because of angular momentum, giving the appearance of the sun moving.

It doesn't matter that the answers explain nothing, it only matters that they stop the shock, eliminate the pain of incomprehension. It is only important that we don't have to raise the question when we see something happening in reality, that we have something in recall that we can use to compare with the reality that we see in order to avoid the pain of incomprehension.

WHEN WE MAKE UP ANSWERS TO OVERCOME THE PAIN OF INCOMPREHENSION, WHEN WE PRODUCE IDIOT EXPLANATIONS FOR REALITY THAT PROVIDE NO DESCRIPTION OF WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING IN REALITY, WE FRUSTRATE THE USE OF THE MIND TO ALTER REALITY TO OUR BENEFIT

If the answers we make up to stop the pain of the shocks do not provide actual explanations for what is going on in physical reality, have no relation to actual physical reality, then the technology we produce to alter reality to our benefit will also have no relationship to physical reality. Thinking we know what makes objects drop will prevent us from using our creativity to create technology that would actually deal with the force that causes objects to drop. If we think we know what makes objects drop, and that force is embodied in gravity as a property of a concept called mass, we will never attempt to alter our recall in a manner other than to produce technology that would overcome the gravity, wings and massive jet engines. We would never attempt to create technology to deal with the actual force itself because, knowing what gravity is, we would know the technology would be impossible.

In fact, the possibility of the technology would not even occur to us.

CONTRADICTING A WORLD OF MADE-UP RECALL DEVISED TO PROTECT US FROM THE PAIN OF INCOMPREHENSION PRODUCES A DOUBLE WHAMMY, TWICE AS MUCH PAIN

When we know what gravity is, anyone that comes along and contradicts that explanation is attempting to create a picture that opposes the picture we have in recall. When someone creates a picture that opposes the picture we have made up and placed in recall to protect us from incomprehension, especially if it is as basic as what makes objects fall, or with respect to religion, who the author of our existence is, then the mind stops working with a vengeance, and the pain is insufferable. We first feel the pain produced by the opposing picture, and then, in danger of being stripped of our protection against incomprehension, we feel the full pain of the incomprehension we have made up the recall to protect ourselves from.

If the opposing picture deals with questions of the author of our existence, religion, we are stripped of our civilizing influence as well and embark on a crusade. If it deals with falling objects or sunrises, we retain our civilizing influences. We simply prevent ourselves from lashing out at the source of the pain by ignoring its cause, by refusing to form the picture that opposes our reality, that gravity might actually be something that exists and be amenable to technology.

We die ignorant of what we are, what the physical world we occupy consists of and what our relationship to that physical world actually is.

But we die without pain.

We die happy.

TESTING THE MIND/BODY CONNECTION

It is easy to see how detectors of bodily changes can produce a so-called lie detector. When we talk, we are acting, putting words to mental pictures. We can only have a single picture in the mind at one time. The question, did you take the money, recalls a picture of us taking the money. If we try to answer no, we did not take the money, we have to form a picture of ourselves not taking the money to act, to speak the words, and this conflicts with the picture of ourselves taking the money. The conflict causes the mind to stop operating and the electrical flows enter the body where their effects are measurable with the various detectors dealing with heart rate, perspiration and breathing rhythm.

Losing a loved one causes grief because everything in reality generates current levels that recall pictures of the loved one with no possibility of a matching reality.

Catching our spouse being unfaithful produces a double whammy, a picture of a faithful spouse in recall conflicting with the unfaithful spouse in reality and a picture of ourselves worthy of faithfulness conflicting with the demonstrable reality of ourselves unworthy of faithfulness.

Reasonably self-aware people can easily track what causes them to be upset, upset being the disruption of the body's systems by electrical flows resulting from being forced to attempt to form conflicting pictures in the mind. It's like a buzzer going off where you get the wrong answer. When recall doesn't agree with reality, the heart starts beating, the bowels twist, the hands perspire, the breath catches.

Every time we feel a jolt of physical pain, in a form such as embarrassment, regret, shame, anger or fear, all we have to do is examine the picture we already have in our mind with the picture that is being forced to form in our mind. The pain we feel when something in reality produces a current level that recalls the time we were stood up by our first date, the embarrassment we feel when we stand up to speak in front of an audience with a picture of ourselves perfectly groomed and find a piece of cottage cheese on our cheek, the anger that engulfs us when the slug cuts us off on the freeway, causing the picture of ourselves in recall sailing along without a care to abruptly come to an end, all of these conflicts are clearly identifiable.

It doesn't take long before a clear pattern emerges showing how reality conflicting with the mind's picture from recall disrupts the body to produce the physical reactions that are the response of the electrical flows. The only way the body can get rid of the unwanted electrical flows is to act, move the muscles to disperse the excess electricity. We wince at the thought of rejection, turn red at the sight of the blob of food and flip the bird at the slug, vigorously.

Or, just be more observant at the literal shock you get when you walk into a room and something you expect is missing, the couch is gone, and reality doesn't match recall, or worse, something you don't expect is there, reality again doesn't match recall, the burglar hasn't left.

Or, the slow burn, literally, that occurs to your body every time you form a picture of your teenager past curfew, your husband that didn't show up for dinner, your client that didn't return the call. The more time that passes, the more real the absence in reality becomes, the greater the pain of the thought. We have to pace, mumble, punch the air to get rid of the unwanted electrical flows in our body, we even feel as if we need to crawl out of our skin to escape the pain.

Taking the time to analyze how our minds operate will make the mind's operation clear. We can purposely attempt to form conflicting pictures in our mind that stops it, causing the electrical flows to enter our body, force ourselves to recall unpleasant memories, or we can go out and interact with people, receiving the constant shocks which, by the end of the day, exhaust our bodies and turn our recall function into mush, rendering our minds unable to recall even the day.