What Is Mind?

What is Mind?  It's not quite the brain, but not quite thought, either.  The Mind is that which creates and destroys, thinks and understands, comprehends and knows.  We are our Minds, but also our spirit.  If our brains cease to exist, does the Mind go on?  Beyond religion…beyond science…maybe some of it all combined…what is Mind?  Is it a part of us?  Are our Minds connected to one another?

Have you ever had a thought, voiced it, and had someone say they were just thinking the exact same thing?  Have you ever had a sudden, unexpected thought pop into your head out of nowhere, for no reason, and then realized seconds later that the person you were with was thinking that thought because then they began to voice what you were just thinking?

In Dr. Emoto's water crystal experiment (made famous by What The Bleep) the idea that thought can effect water was tested.  So, I ask you…if thought can effect water, can't it effect thought?  If thought can effect thought, then can't we all be connected?  Is it possible that we're more telecommunicable than previously supposed?  Could we all be interconnected through our Minds?

What is Mind?  What is my Mind?  What is yours?  How do they speak to us, and each other?  Is it possible, then, that we are all One Mind?

Re: What Is Mind?

although on one hand we are all individual and our minds are individual as well we are also essentially one mind. our minds ARE all connected and sometimes we find eachother on the same plane of thought and here we speak to eachother sometimes without even being conscious of it.

i have had very cool experiences where i have had thoughts that were for one thing what i would call random and for some reason or another someone will think the same thing, see the same image as i.

the brain is, i think, a part of the mind. the mind could be instead of a thing, a concept, as reality itself is. the mind is a part of the consciousness and so i believe without the brain, yes the mind may still possibly exsist. this is only theory and i can see many different possiblilities.

Re: What Is Mind?

That's what I love so much about theory…it is the beginning, not the end, of all possibilities.  I don't necessarily want to know what is…but I definitely am curious to know what's possible.  I would like to know what is, yes, but what is is always changing, and what can be is never known until we achieve it.  What can our Minds achieve?  Not just our brains, but perhaps our brains, too…what are we capable of?  I know we are capable of more.  SO much more!  I know that most of our brains control simple daily functions, yes, but I have a hard time thinking that our brains need 90% of themselves to control our bodies, and can only spare 10% or less on complicated thought.  Do the numbers match up right?  What are we missing?  Where is that spark…that ability…when do we set our Minds off and become the genius that we are capable of?  I honestly think that our brains are not more expansive because we lock ourselves into boxes and stick ourselves in ruts.  We limit our thoughts, our ideas, and we refuse to believe that we are capable of more.  We refuse to believe that we can wrap our minds around things that don't easily come to us.  Laziness!  How bogus is that?  Bogus.  Yes, BOGUS!  Just because a thought isn't easy to think doesn't mean it shouldn't be or couldn't be or shouldn't exist.  Where is the power that our brains, our MINDS possess?  What if our thoughts really do affect one another?  I *know* they do!  Have you ever hung out with someone clearly dumber than you were for a day and then felt yourself to be stupified by their presense?  What about being around someone of great brilliance?  Don't you find yourself then intellectualized?  I do.  I know I do.  What if we ALL thought harder, better, more complicated things?  What if each of us, individually, got smarter, then shared our intelligence with one another…feeding intelligence, collectively, to the great Mind that we're all (possibly) connected to?  THEN could we achieve more than a 10% brain usage rate?  Can we make each other more intelligent?  Can we enlighten one another?  Of course we can.  I believe!  Do you?

What then, if we all enlighten one another, what then can we achieve?  I think the results would be glorious…don't you?

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This is slightly off a bit, but not sure how to start a new topic.

Jax, this pod is so what I want to explore.  And I know a few people who may join if they can find it.  May I put a link to it on my profile as a pod for this type of discussion?  Or do you wish to stay more low key?

Keep me in your thoughts you and Twilight?  I am needing to slow down, get my priorities firmly in order, and start digging back in. 

Balance I keep telling myself….  balance…..

Re: What Is Mind?

yes we can enlighten eachother, and actually i think we have to for things to happen. i believe as humanity we must collectively shift our consciousness. i believe that we are all reaching to merge all our selves and connect. when i say our selves i mean both individually we have many different selves that must merge and also i mean all beings merging together. when i speak of god, i personally am speaking of myself, you, everyone, everything….all energy makes up god.

Re: What Is Mind?

Ah!  So now we breach the topic of religion!  Wonderful!  I am inclined to agree with you that God is made up of us, just as we come from God.  I believe in the Christian God, personally, but does God not say that we are all a part of Him?  Therefore, wouldn't we, collectively, make up God?  If God is all around us, in us, part of us, and in heaven above, then wouldn't that mean that we are all connected somehow?  If nothing else, then through God?

Now, if we are all connected through God, through the Mind, or through Spirit…then shouldn't it be possible that we can communicate through this connection?  I think that humans have so taken for granted the idea of speech as a tool of communication that we fail to try to achieve more.  Shouldn't it be possible, though?  Shouldn't there be a next level?  Can't we advance our speech into a communication of ideas?  I know that my words are a good tool of communication, but I also know that the people whom I'm closest to often only understand my words because of my lack of words…they only understand what I'm saying because they can also feel what I'm thinking.  There are more than words being communicated in this instance.  If we can communicate this way with those whom we're closest to, then shouldn't we be able to communicate better with them?  Shouldn't we be able to expand this and reach into one anothers' Minds?  If I can communicate an idea to someone through thought alone, then aren't they connected to me somehow?  Wouldn't that mean that at that moment of communication that we were One Mind…even if only for an instant?

Energy, yes.  Energy conveys thoughts…our thoughts are energy.  Energy is all around us, within us, our Spirits, Minds, and Souls.  So, if energy is within us, passes through us, and communicates for us, then why could we not pass ideas through this same energy?

Isn't the Mind just Energy, anyway?

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So much deep thought here. You guys are amazing. I got here through the link on my friend Di's site.(Thankyou Di!). I like the way you tied in “God” Jax. I remember Carl Sagan saying once that (paraphrase), we are the way God experiences the universe. I like that. Creation needs eyes, and minds, and thoughts, and I believe we're part of that. Einstein said energy/matter is neither created or destroyed. String theory says everything is just another spectrum of vibrational energy. I try to take all this and get a “big picture” of life. I know we are all connected, because we all exist. My consciousness of it is ultimately all that matters. I create you, me, the universe, in my mind, a combination of body, mind, and soul- the energy that makes it all up. It is exciting to dive into the dimension of spirit, because it includes all, the whole, limitless, infinate. All possibilities exist there. Expanded consciousness is the goal, a journey, not a destination. It all comes together in my “mind”. Sharing with others, who have experienced the Big Picture, is my movement on the journey. Our thoughts, from our minds, transmute, change, the energy/matter of the universe, whether spoken, acted upon, or not. Thank all here for bringing me along!            

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Thanks for sharing, Jerry!  I agree with you that mind expansion is a continuous journey!

“I know we are all connected, because we all exist.”

Thanks for well summing up the point that I was driving at.  It's a good way of putting things.

Thank YOU for coming along!  It's wonderful to have another inspired thinker among us!  Please share often!  Your voice means much here.

Re: "What Is Mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind."

Jax,
Fascinating discussion and topic.
As a newcomer thanks to Di and the wonderful string of synchronicities, I wanted to say hello and share two quotes that really brought some ‘aha moments’ recently when I encountered them for the first time. See for yourself.

The first one is directly on the spot (thanks to Riet’s great blog):

“What is mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind.”
~ George Berkeley ~
http://riet.zaadz.com/blog/2006/7/mind_matter

And the second one:
“You are the teacher you’ve been waiting for.” ~ Byron Katie ~

I would love to share more about the mind, mine, ours, etc. as this theme unfolds.

MINDfully joyous and thankful for finding you as you are,
Darina

Re: "What Is Mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind."

Thank you for sharing!  There is much truth in these quotes, and yes, you have gracefully pinpointed the point of this pod.  Please share more as you see fit!  I'm looking forward to hearing more from you!

Salaam.
Jax

Re: What Is Mind?

Hi, new member here.

I wonder perhaps if Mind isn't realted to the collective consciosness that is so hard to define. Some one else mantioned random thoughts and that they are occasionally shared - I experience this as well. Is there some root collective that plays the same association games; some natural instinctual firings in the brain that are all patterend in similar ways?

I just saw this show about sharks and that they prey on what's on the surface of the water. It was mentioned that predators have similar thout processes across species lines. One of the consistances is that predators give chase and associated something moving away from them as food. I wonder if we humans don't have similar thought processes; not necessarily as predators, although we certainly can be, but more as humans doing our everyday stuff…..?????

If all predators perceive something running away from them as food, do all prey perceive something coming at them as a danger? Do all humans perceive certain actions in the same way?

I could just go on and on….more and more thoughts are crossing my mind. Like human 'mating' rituals, human 'pack' or 'family' behaviors…..similarities across the cutlures coud be realted to the Mind.

Re: What Is Mind?

Mind is life's effort to recontact the universe. 

An auto-catalytic self-replicating molecule like DNA has to be isolated from the randomizing elements of the environment in order to successfully start the next cycle.  Neutrinos, radiation, vibration, magnetic fields, gravity wells, solar flares.  It's a dangerous place for a burgeoning life form.  This isolation is vital to ensure fidelity of the DNA signal through time.

Life must also consume to continue, otherwise entropy takes its inevitable toll.  Consumption (or prevention of consumption) requires perception once mobility is an aspect.  Perception is a translation of changes in environmental energy into changes in bioenergy.  These changes in bioenergy can get complicated and difficult to integrate.

Mind arose in order to integrate changes in bioenergy, to perceive the perceptions.  The more complicated a life form's perceptional range, the more complicated the perception of perceptions needs to be.  And the more complicated one's predators and prey get, the more complicated one needs to be.  Eventually, we ratchet up to someone who notices.

Our physical bodies are isolated from the universe, fed by a beautifully intricate system of perceptors designed to detect resources and threats.  All that information gets integrated into a working model of the environment that I call Diagram and some call the worldview and some call maya and some call mind.

Diagram is an isolated instance of universal energy examining itself through time.  We can identify other isolated instances and include our interpretations of them in Diagram.  They do the same, and this allows a common ground needed for communication, cooperation and other good side effects of language. 

Mind is isolated, and it doesn't like that, so the concentration of our perceptions gets turned into symbology, and we make art.

Re: What Is Mind?

“Mind is isolated, and it doesn't like that, so the concentration of our perceptions gets turned into symbology, and we make art.”

Very interesting sum of points.  A very TRUE statement.

However, if the Mind is so isolated, how come it is also so connected?  You're right.  Mind does not like isolation.  Mind likes to connect, learn, and grow, and it cannot do that if it is isolated.

So, I ask you, based on your statement, do you think that tne Mind learns more through Art, or through other forms of communication?

Re: What Is Mind?

“Diagram is an isolated instance of universal energy examining itself through time.” , Ain't that what I said? (ha). The idea in this sentence opens my mind to the overwhelming immensity, and endless realities Universe holds. I don't believe human intelligence is the alpha and omega in the intelligent mind department. From what I've seen of astronomy down to high energy particle physics, there seems to be an intelligence so immense that it appears almost alien to human thought. I look around and I'm the only animal who can use a computer, or for sure realize I'm mortal. I forsee an end. I believe that's what seperates me from a chimp, or a dolphin. How can I not think human thought process is all. But, thats delusion. Compared to the life of a proton, what significance does my life, or my maya, or Diagram, have to the barely perceptable intelligence of Source. I get glimpses. They tell me that love, and fellowship, and well-being are what are important now. These don't mean diddley any other time. As a species we are thriving and hence evolving. First we became aware of ourselves, and now, slowly awakening to Source. Spiritual evolution, I believe will reach a critical mass someday, and when it does, I believe all theories of life, and mind will become one. This just feels like the truth to me. We are all doing our part to make this happen now.                                   peace.                                   jerry

Re: What Is Mind?

Another interesting sum of points.  I would say, for the most part, I agree with your ideas.  Especially the idea that there is much more 'intelligence' out there than what we recognize or understand.

I think humans tend to think that human intelligence is the only intelligence…we have a hard time recognizing other forms of intellect.

What will happen if/when we do reach critical mass?

Re: What Is Mind?

Interesting point.  If you care to go on and on about it all, then please do.  We don't mind.  This is a pod for thinking.  When I ask, “What Is Mind?” I hope to have the answer be explained not only through the 'answers' and comments, but also through the ideas that it spawns.  In essence, it is ALL an answer, is it not?

Welcome, Anna.

I think the Mind IS related to the Collective Consciousness.  It's all hard to define.  Sometimes the answers lie within the questions, though.  Sometimes there are no answers.  Sometimes the question IS the answer.

I like your question about the hunter vs. prey theory, especially when you ask if it's applicable to humans.  I think it's overly applicable.  Do you think, perhaps, that humans are different in the sense that we have both hunters and prey among us?

Re: What Is Mind?

Do you think, perhaps, that humans are different in the sense that we have both hunters and prey among us?

That's an interesting point. Are we different? I dunno maybe that just boils down to the strong surviving - as it does in just about every other species and natural situation. To go back to the sharks - they'll prey upon each other if there is no other food source around. They'll also travel and hunt in packs as a team, but are at the same time very territorial. Perhaps we're more like the big prey animals of this earth than we'd care to admit?

I tihnk as humans, there all sorts of hunters and prey, and I think not only within in the scope of our humanity, but with in each human individual there can be levels of such. I've been the hunter as well as the prey. I think most of us, most of the time, just try to stay out of the way of both.

Another thought just dawned on me. Is mind attached to the instinctual or the evolved state of human intelligence? I've been angling more from the instinctual facet, but perhaps that's not complete? As humans, did our instinctual minds evolve into something more intelligent than those of the animals - or is it still all instinct? Wow! I'm confusing myself! Maybe the human mind is founded on instinct and evolved through our humanity whereas the animal minds remains purely instinctual. If so, then perhaps that's the difference between the shark hunter/prey and the human hunter/prey.

I still don't know. When you think about the social and cultural activites and atrocities that happen, damn right there are hunters and prey. And damn right only the strong survive - the weak suffer hardships within, psychological deaths, abuse, financial difficulty… Does the 'strong' human survive to become a dictator, a business leader, a titan of his/her community? Have we re-defined weak and strong?

My brainis on overload.


And did you ever think about 'String Theory' & the collective consciousness that bind all living things together?

Re: What Is Mind?

I am often fascinated by the human desire to think of ourselves as more evolved than animals; it seems to me that animals are more in tune with each other and the planet than we are. I know that they “fail” our tests of consciousness, but what if we are limted in our understanding by our own tests? Many animals and plants are able to communicate and work with each other, while humans (for the most part) just domesticate and dominate other species.

As for string theory and the collective unconscious, will you expand on that? I know a little bit about string theory and how it relates to matter, but I don't know of any aspect of that theory that is used to describe relationships. I do, however, have several thoughts and ideas using chaos theory as a model for relationships and the collective unconscious.

Just look at all of us — Carl Jung would be quite proud.

Blessings, Jana

Re: What Is Mind?

Jana,

Right on! Perhaps the 'evolved state of humanity' is not necessarilly a good thing and through that evolution we've lost contact with THE MIND.

Re: What Is Mind?

Hi,

 I'm a new member and I wanted to introduce myself to the group, and I think I can add my two cents to the discussion.

 What is Mind?

    Mind is the vehicle through which the Spirit (Collective Conciousness, Energy, God,etc.) can interact with the Kosmos (not to be confussed with the physical world). If Mind conducts Spirit, then the nature of Mind is Spirit. In the degree that the Mind becomes aware that it is an extension of Spirit, it starts to fulfill its potential. With the ability to fully exhert its potential this Mind is a new “Spirit-Mind”. This new “Spirit-Mind” raises a new question:
 
 What is the will of Spirit?

Blessings of Light…..

Seeker of the Light

Re: What Is Mind?

Excellent comment!  Welcome to my pod!

Good question…

I think that the Will of the Spirit can differ depending on the individual.  Why?

What makes the Spirit-Mind individualistic?

Re: What Is Mind?

Jax: You asked if “mind learns more through Art, or through other forms of communication?” I would say that Art was one of the first essential steps to current forms of communication that have a better bandwidth than Art for the non-Art related aspects of living.  So Art, very important, but not as important as ways to communicate we've learned since. We needed Art in order to abstract the world.  We already had Music to show how we felt at that moment (needed Music to woo), but people tend to forget unless there's pictures.  Or masks.  When was papier mache invented?

jerry says ”I don't believe human intelligence is the alpha and omega in the intelligent mind department”.  We're pretty good for the local neighborhood (y'know, the solar system, and maybe all the way up to this arm of the galaxy), but I figure we're Intelligence version 1.1 right now.  Maybe 1.2, cuz I'm behind on my cognitive philosophy. 1.5 tops, but you'd have to admit the dolphins and chimps as 1.0 each and I don't know if I'm ready to do that yet.  Int. v. 2.0 can only come either as our replacement or our descendent.  Or something.  I'm trying to make a metaphor here.

Anna:  hiya.  Welcome!  Sharks are very good at being sharks, and we have a fascination because we are indeed large predators.  We ate almost everything bigger than us on the land.  But we're omnivores.  We take the best of predation (meat proteins) and the best of preydom (seed fats) and call the fusion mind and use them to take over the world that taught us how.  We are the pack and the herd, integrated into the tribe.  And now we're mucking it all up.  “Who let the primates run the laboratory?” (David Suzuki, I think).

Jana:  My understanding of string theory as it relates to consciousness requires reading an earlier post in this vine, so I hope you've gone back.   “Mind is life's effort to recontact the universe”.  Our DNA isolates the meat.  From the theory of evolution, we borrow heavily that isolated populations manifest earlier viable mutations.  Now, from string theory, there are two kinds of dimensions: long (the three space dimensions we know and the time one) and curled (the one's too small for any of our perceptors to interpret).  It's the curled dimensions that require either a leap of faith or a willing suspension of disbelief.

Everyone Please acknowledge the fact that I'm making this stuff up here.  So don't go believing me without any critical thought whatsoever, unless you're wealthy and want to be my patron.  Regarding glaring errors, gaps in logic and later glory, they're all mine.

Mind is removed from the spacetime continuum along one of the curled dimensions.  Diagram is a “parallel Universe” along this dimension, completely composed of integrated perceptual data.

Re: What Is Mind?

Perhaps I am obtuse, but I'm still not making the connection between string (or M) theory and the collective unconscious. It seems to me that M theory – being the most expanded of string theories– attempts to unite standard and quantum theories and, in doing so, offers us the possibility of up to 11 dimensions, and great big questions about time and space, and some confusion about the nature of gravity in that model… but that's just it – it is a model used by physicists to describe the physical universe. Whatever it is describing needs to make mathematical sense in order to even be considered possibly “true.” Because both the curled and uncurled strings in M theory can be mathematically proven in various situations and equations, speculation of their existence doesn't require a leap of faith as much as an open mind.
 
(Sometimes our minds close around something when we're taking those leaps, as in “if not this, I don't know what else” whereas in science our minds are supposed to say “if not this, could it be this?”)

Still, it hasn't been used to describe how we all work together, as much as to unify quantum and standard physics. As far as I know, our understanding of quarks, compound particles, photons etc. is still based in quantum theory. This is the area embellished by “What The Bleep Do We Know” and other such films and books. My mind has an easier time understanding the web of life, chaos theory, and micro/macrocosms in relation to other beings, I guess.

In other words, string theory encompasses a lot of what we already know and play around with in our understanding of consciousness, but is it offering something else, something new? I would especially be interested in websites if you have them (I already have Brian Greene's book).

Thanks for the nudges toward expanding and learning.

Blessings, Jana

Re: What Is Mind?

Jana:  we're trying to integrate string theory and cognitive philosophy using a linear means of communication (text).  If you didn't feel obtuse, I'd have to worship you!  None of us are trained in either field. Don't worry, fellow seeker!

I've read The Elegant Universe as well, and I've seen half the movie (Nova TV special I missed the following week).  My interpretation of it was:  by accepting the possibility of up to 11 dimensions, we can get around an irksome contradition.  This contradiction comes from our understanding of the force of gravity and our understanding of the electromagnetic force both being works in progress.  Our attempts don't ”offer us the possibility of up to 11 dimensions”, they require all of them.  After that, the math works nicely (for those inclined towards thinking about transformations using non-linear polynomials through multidimensional matrices), even if we can't check our work yet.

How does this connect to Mind?  What if Mind is a 4D 'shadow' or manifold of an 11th dimensional entity?  Can we prove it?  Heck no.

Re: What Is Mind?

What if Mind is a 4D 'shadow' or manifold of an 11th dimensional entity?

Now that is an interesting thought…

Re: What Is Mind?

Hello Jana. I love reading your stuff. I dig on quantum physics also. your post, What if Mind is a 4D 'shadow' or manifold of an 11th dimensional entity?, gave me chill bumps. what a thought!

Re: What Is Mind?

Hey Jerry — actually, the words in bold are copied from the etceterist, not my original thought… and they are interesting to contemplate aren't they? I'm not sure we'll ever pinpoint the exact location of mind (nor should we) but I am pretty sure that it isn't something that resides only in our own physical matter.

Re: What Is Mind?

this pod excites me so. I don’t know much about string theory and all even though i try to understand some of the basics. I am a biologist (working on masters). I’ve been thinking a lot about process theology and how new complexities can take forms so different than that which they came form. The whole evolution of life is miraculous. The brain’s workings create this emergent property which seems to be more that the sum of its parts. Who knows what thoughts and emotions we will be capable of down the road (if we don’t kill ourselves off first). It will definitly require making the most of that which we already have, and striving for more. Also, I saw david lynch speaking at a university about the power of trancendental meditation. I wrote the website down for this foundation he started but don’t have it with me. It was really nice to hear him talk though about creativity and consciousness.

Re: What Is Mind?

Welcome, Christa!

We're excited to have you!  Don't feel intimidated by discussions here…we're all here to discuss and learn, so if you don't know overly much about a given subject, then ask questions, or just read and learn!

I'm excited about my own pod, too!  I'm so glad to be learning from so many brilliant minds that are willing to share their wonderful ideas!  It's nice to have a place to all come together.

Welcome.  It'll be good to have a biologist among us!  ;)

Salaam.
Jax

Re: What Is Mind?

Agreed!  Interesting thought indeed!

Re: What Is Mind?

So many interesting points…

If the human mind evolved beyond the instinctive level of any animals, and animals are still animals, then I would say that there had to be something different about the human mind to begin with, or else some kind of animal would have started to evolve intelligence by now.  Or, perhaps one has, and we haven't yet recognized it…but then we would have to get into discussion about what intelligence is in order to argue for or against the intelligence of animals, no?

Have we re-defined weak and strong?

Perhaps.  What was the original definition.  All I said was that the strong survive…so in that sense, then yes, Hitler could have been considered strong…to a point.  However, did he really survive?  If I remember correctly his career was rather short-lived.  So was he.  Well, he at least disappeared when he wasn't too old.  I would say that the strong are the ones who endure as opposed to the ones who conquer.  Usually it is weaker individuals who are trying to prove their “strength” who wind up as dictators.  Those who are truly strong don't have to prove anything.  They stand resolutely within themselves.  So, it could be that perception verses reality are different in the case of the strong and the weak.

And yes, I think about String Theory and the Collective Consciousness all the time…  ;)

Re: What Is Mind?

HI All,

I am just simply reading the thoughts put forth by many: what is mind? There is discussion about theories, and examples which could give us an indication of what is mind.
Yet, I still have an unqualified mind to discuss the exemplary thoughts spoken of, namely quarks, string theory, etc.

I have it in mind that mind is substance, and while I use mind to understand mind, I will never actually complete my task of understanding mind within its own framework. How can we understand mind through its own machinations? Mind understands only that which is on its own level and that which is lower. We can manipulate mind to form ideas of the higher (what is higher than mind?) and thoughts which pertain to that which we want to believe, so that others can accept or reject. We attach ourselves to our own thoughts or we reject them.

Mind is substance. I refer to mind as non-physical matter, but matter all the same. Matter in the sense that:
1. it is capable of containing,
2. provides a framework for utilising for manipulation of a triplicity of matter - mental, emotional and physical (eg a writer in his book can bring about within you a feeling of elation at the winning of a prestigious award by one of the characters of the story, and you may squirm at the excitment it brings you to think of this happening to yourself),
3. the substance itself cannot be seen yet we are capable of thinking; this is the matter aware of itself as matter, but it can experienced through a painting, or visual material (matter)
4. provides a doorway or gateway to experience the universe,
5. there is a limitless supply of this mental substance,
6. there is limitless practical application of mind: whatever you focus upon there are thoughts that come to 'your mind' by no effort on your part to identify and actually create them; why? how?
7. we share in this 'mind'; therefore we are connected via mind.

Whatever we focus on or give attention to? What is giving the attention? Is it mind or is it something other than mind?

How does mind come to be mind?

Re: What Is Mind?

Mind is substance. I refer to mind as non-physical matter, but matter all the same

I do agree here.  Mind has Affect as well as Effect.  (I also agree with the analysis of mind looking at mind.  It's like watching a pile of squirrels hide under itself.)

The only aspect I have issue with is:  5. there is a limitless supply of this mental substance, but only because few things pass the “limitless litmus” (which is fun to say).  These few things are the integers and aspects of the future as in your sixth point:   there is limitless practical application of mind.  That I have no problem with.

I do have to wonder about the limitless supply of any substance.  There is probably a bottleneck analogous to phosphorus in biology.  There is effectively limitless hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon in the terran environment, but once all the free phosphorus is bound in some lifeform or other, growth crashes to a halt and evolution kicks in. 

The bottleneck parameter must exist in any finite system.  The question here is:

Is mind a finite system?

Re: What Is Mind?

One can’t see the “windows” that are our own eyes…
As also…
The “space” or what ever is our mind, cannot be seen, or entered…yet…
We have many representations that can enlighten us to the inner workings of our mind…
…yet we can no less Behold our mind, than we can “hold” the “physical” thoughts that spring forth…

The Mind is…
As we can all feel it…
Infinity is, though it cannot be seen or held…
Death lies beyond, yet it is…
Life comes through the Mother/Father, yet where was it first…?
There are books and sciences that “explain” the mind’s workings…
…yet they are as much assumptions, as the intrinsic spin of the electron…

Yet in all this lack of “concrete” proof…
We still think…
We still feel…
We still have all the crazy experiences that led us to this page…

A valid question…
What is Mind?
The answer lies in the “eyes” of the beholder…
T.O.W.

Re: What Is Mind?

I am thinking of expanding our discussion here further; a bigger picture, which all of us will fill in as we discover more of this subject.

We live in and on a physical planet. We know it exists through our senses, right? Yet, we have only physical understandings of how and why we have these senses and yet we still have them. They are creations of something: let's say, mind. Yet they are finite, in that they cannot sense the energy of another planet but can sense energy from the sun, the source of light, toward food, our power or electricity, and many other things.
However, if we can accept that these senses are finite, we also accept that there are other senses (deeper senses) with which we may use to sense other energies not of the physical world. Thus, we come to emotional sense, and mental or manasic sense. We can grasp this through the feelings the body gets from emotional expressions from others and our responses to them.
Yet, the seeker of truth, who uses mind every moment of waking and sleeping, cannot record in mind (to a degree of continuity of consciousness in daily life) these deeper senses or a response to these deeper senses. Why? Has the mind developed enough to have a 'response apparatus' or sensitivity through which discovery and/or sense of these deeper energies may be recorded? How may that be evoked or developed?

For, we must remember, mind is not only a thinking apparatus, by responding to thought, emotions, physical actions; it is also a recorder, thus giving rise to memory and other mind-memory related experiences; and a relater, thus giving rise to interaction in the mind - inter-thinking (thought to thought relating) or mental sensitivity (some call telepathy) as well as a capability of understanding abstractions ( ideas brought into mental substance through the power of concentrated thought).

What I am trying to do is to step back further from the experience of mind, and asking: what is beyond mind?
Some say intuition, but is that it? I would like to believe the abilities we have are limitless, and not bound by the parameters of mind.

We are likewise using a combination of energies to experience our world; a personality is a combination of a physical, emotional and mental (or thinking) being or identity, and could be said to be a triplicity of energies. This triplicity is outstanding in its daily machinations, being able to live out a life of relative simplicity; we all know this, demonstrated in our own individual lives.

Yet, we also know in our hearts, that this is not all there is; there is 'something more'! What might that be.

Re: What Is Mind?

Very interesting posts. There are many ways of looking at this question as the above posts reveal. Purely from physical and human perspective mind is often equated with brain - the apparatus. But if we observe our thoughts…many things land in our consciousness or brain at random without conscious thinking on our part.

Brain seem to be in many ways a receiver/transmitter of thoughts (stream of consciousness)  much like a radio captures radio-waves and transmitts them in different bands/channels. Brain is also capable of functioning at different level. Here comes different levels of mind and consciousness and perception. All questions can be answered at diffrent levels of perception.

Brain also functions like a computer in storing memories (like hardware) or creating reality images according to habitual perception/beliefs/attitudes/expectations (work like software) from the pure unified field of energy or mind-matter.

In exploring what is Mind holistically…if we probe deeply we naturally need to move from outside-physical to more inward non-physical and finally unified Consciousness-Energy realms. In energy realms at the level of quantum physics there is no inner and outer, the separation between observer and observation fades….all is part of unified  universal quantum field. The whole human body and not just brain is part of this unified field.

A greater perception of human -mind is the entire bio-energy or electromagnetic field that surrounds our body..our aura. Our skin is a very sensitive sensor of energy..we get vibes of a place, person or event in distant place or time all the time. We just are not conscious of them. Our phsychic, clairvoyant, telepathic, intutive abilities also come from being immersed in this unified field.  When we talk about spirit-mind-body connection or alignment or developing intuition along with rational we are trying to create a unified mind that can connect with unified field to consciously evolve our mind-body to its fullest potential. Journey to mind is a fascinating adventure to self-discovery.

“All things are preceded by the mind, led by the mind, created by the mind.” - Buddha

Re: What Is Mind?

Hello Everyone here!
The other important question is, “What does one mean when one uses the word 'mind'? For instance, the Buddha is quoted here but what was the Sankrit word he used? Is its correct translation 'mind'? What did he 'see' that he called 'mind'?

I have written a lot, scattered here and there, about the 'mind' and the soul, and there relationship but it is too scattered to collect here in its entirety. However, a few bits have been collected and can be accessed here - Click.

Anyone sufficiently interested in exploring what I have seen in this regard should got to my book and “Search” for text on the subject/s. www.themilkiswhite.com .  There is very little, if any, that is not brief and succinct so the seeker will not have to read pages and pages. There is also reference to these in my blog.
Love to all,
Ian.
()

Re: What Is Mind?

Hello Jax,
I think this is a challenging pod - a good choice.
I have found that when one has identified “Mind” & “Soul” life, as well as the understanding of life, is so much easier. apart from what I have said at the end of these messages here is something else of possible interest to you and others. CLICK

Now I must go, my friend, as someone is trying to contact me on the zchat and I have lost her as I have never used it before!
See you later,
Ian.
()

charge symmetry(implosion)science clears psychobabble

once you can clearly depict the fractal symmetry
for charge that creates implosive suction

then you can know mind

www.soulinvitation.com/braincoherence

bill tiller clearly measured the physics:
attention compresses charge
(book:conscious acts of creation)

but had no clue how or why..
onset of biologic charge fractality…
–this explains immoto (who sadly knows no science)
–once you understand how dna braids to charge implode..
then you can know soul
www.soulinvitation.com/dnamanifesto

Re: What Is Mind?

Hopefully these short snippets will give some ideas :-)

“In short, the great maya, illusion, is that the world we
know is only a thought, an idea—it is a picture with many
objects but, nevertheless, a picture—nothing more, nothing
less. No matter what you do, it is all within your mind—even
when external to your body, it's still within your mind.” read more..

And this is taken from my another post today:

”..the conciousness experiences (observes) itself by its own projection (mind) but the mind does not recognise that it is projected into conciousness.”

“Our existence is based on dynamic and continuous
flow of energy that is focused and organized in a manner that
keeps our structure “stable” over time. Otherwise, our physical
form would not exist from one moment to another and we
would be dissolved around the place.” read more…

/peter

Re: What Is Mind?

Hi Peter,
To add to this have a look at my two most recent blogs.
Anyone interested can do the same.
()

Re: What Is Mind?

I love your curiosty, and as you can see your mind has already had a rippling effect to other minds…

This brings to mind an enlightening and thought-provoking book I read last year over the mind and the phenomemon of conciousness.
It is called “The Mysterious Flame” by Colin McGinn.

It's online if you do a Google book search :)

Grace & Peace

Re: What Is Mind?

Leah, if your reply is for me, I do thank you. However, I no longer read books on such matters as information comes to me unasked and spontaneously - it has done for years and is quite amazing although I am getting used to it. My writings explain this.
I am not boasting; I am merely stating a fact. :-)
()

Re: What Is Mind?

Hello!

I am new at GAIA. Here is defined and described so much different aspects of mind, I cant to decide which one is wider. I will try to give biological aspect of observed point. Namely, different levels of consciousness and unconsciousness are tied to different parts of nervous system. Its function, energy, i.e. information’s flow depend on complex biochemical and electrochemical reactions (hormones, neurotransmitters, ions, biological pumps, electric, magnetic fields etc.). If we put brain, as highest achievement of evolution, aside, there are different parts of nervous system, like spin, together with parasympathic and sympathic nervous system, which manage with organic level of organisms (inner organs). That part of nervous system is functioning at basic, unconscious, instinctive level. This part is very important in traditional medicines, like Chinese (chi flows) and Indian (chakras).

Meanwhile, brain, as center of consciousnes, has multi-role: its inner parts as little (tree of life) and middle brain are partiay tied to ruling and sensations on organic level, giving connection betveen autonomic parts of nervous system and brain cortex. It has important role in control of hormones (hypophisis) and senses of time and space (thalamical and hypothalamical regions) by controling of circadian rhytms. Some assert that thalamus is 6th chakra. This statement is connected only to individual point of view, while magnetic and electric fields could participate in forming of fields of greater potentials in space and time, as 4 dimensions. From that point of view Teilhard de Chardin defined mindsphere as noosphere.

Not only humans has ability to think and have mind, its characteristic of animals, as all we know, even plants. Meanwhile, plants’ way of thinking, flowing of informations is mostley biochemicaly, based on phytohormones, secondary methabolits etc. Elecrtomagnetical field of plants is formed by diffrent qualities, opposite to animals, while field of individual plant is wider to animal field (presented as aura).

Question is, where s border between individual and general mind, or does it actually exist?