I vaguely recall dwelling into my
thoughts, dreams, and ideas. I seldom speak much against the raging amount of
thoughts my constant pensive think pad of a head churns. Each one of us has
words, thoughts, emotions unspoken, unheard of. Mostly we never acknowledge
them for others to be obliged to hear. And why? Fear. We all fear the anti in us,
might be an alter ego, and could be a fiend of thoughts and mostly one with
graver conscience; a state of constant activity. There is never a moment apart
from our own self, not even as we sleep. Our mind churns the legacy of
subconscious activity. Momentarily we live where we might have been, might be,
fear about or desire to be. But who remembers dreams these days? In all hustle bustles
we call living. Each of us is merely passing our days by. Who has the time? To spare a minute into a world
aside. One that is tranquil and somber or something besides the tearing hurries
of milliseconds. Passing by. Christianity proposes that human beings are more
than just a physical entity, but possess a soul, a doctrine known as dualism.
Naturalism says that human beings are purely physical beings and that all
manifestations of human beings are a function of an advanced brain,where the mind is the brain. Or is it? Is this why we are so efficiently robotic at
times? Is it the reason why we seize to find peace within ourselves? This is the conflict.
I’m a realist, or so I like to
believe. And though believing in dreams is an unlikely prospect, times too many,
it is sufficiently legitimate. This I realized as I read more into how the brain functions and how the working of
mind overlaps with the concept of consciousness. Within each macro brain region
(micro level being the genes but there are merely 30,000 genes in our body, so even
if every single gene in the body is devoted to a synapse, i.e. a helping hand
in the system of chemical transmission, one would still be out by 1010 connections
in the brain hence it is better to attribute autonomous functions to macro
level i.e. the brain regions than gene level) there is absolutely no single
isolated complete function. It all forms a structured set with macro regions
functioning like building blocks. A single brain region, like the prefrontal
cortex say, can participate in more than one function. So brain regions are
like timed performers on a stage (i.e. the brain), and not as freelancing bits
or individual autonomous units. Our brain is beautifully fragmented and absolutely
nothing that dwells inside it can be unreal, maybe merely less believable. But
then the mind is where partiality strikes mayhem for its functioning is still unknown,
almost chaotic. It is where consciousness resides. I address mind as a
corollary of brain here, mostly because I’m in partial favor of the Dualism
theory of mind ( it states that the functioning of the brain and mind is not inter-dependent,
ignoring the consideration for existence of soul because I’m still not very
convinced on that one. But it suggests that mental function may not be linked
to brain function in a cause-and-effect relationship necessarily) instead of
Strict Materialism (states that functioning of the brain and mind is
inter-dependent or correlates).This view was further strengthened when I
recently read about the Identity theory of mind. The theory holds that the mind
and the brain are less distinctive entities. The processes and functions of
each of them can be correlated and are often parallel but not identical. Stability
of thoughts and consciousness hence can never be assured. So while you think
you’re resting your brain, you've actually got an active corollary. The mind
refuses to seize action at any given point, and hence the disambiguation of its
apparent linkage to “the soul”. Experiences are reflected in the strength and
extension of brain connections and it is in this very process, whereby
connections mirror what happens to us and how we deal with situations, and this
is where the mind comes into action, again. In situations regarding apparent “out
of mind” state or something “mind blowing” an individual no longer is accessing personalized cognitive perspectives, but experiencing diminished personalized meaning of the occurrence in a way that one becomes the passive recipient of
incoming sensory information which eventually gets stored subconsciously and
remains there inadvertently. Hence one keeps collecting memoirs of sorts,
bypassing diverse information. The key is to learn to use it to one’s benefit
rather than just getting past it. Your dream could well be the answer to an
unsolved question, that fleeting thought might be one’s cue. It is for us to
learn to take things slow once in a while, and think. Not simply pass by. And
that way maybe one can calm a racing mind.
*note* This piece is a part of a case study and also an answer to an array of questions(without being fundamentally statistical/or preachy).
The first stanza reminded me of http://www.bu.edu/quantum/zen/readings/keepingQuietNeruda.html
ReplyDeleteVery well put. A little all over the place though. :p But amazingly, you managed to make a non fictional abstract excerpt fascinating with an amazing vocab. It made for rather heavy reading, and I felt rather dumb. The research astounded me, and the thought that went on behind it was awe inspiring.
It would've been more casual had I not been dealing with conclusive study,hence the amalgam.
ReplyDeleteI'll be glad if that conversely pushes you to read more into this,it might just interest you.
Thank you for the appreciation.