Mind Expanding Techniques

In this section we will talk about the human mind and its activities. We will try to understand some basics for this hidden treasure within our heads.

Well, as the definition of mind is not so clear, we will try to organize our thoughts so to be able to keep up with this interesting conversation.

We know that the human mind was the object of study of philosophy, psychology and religion. Each one, based on its point of view, defined and explained the mind and how it works.

There are many theories about the mind. Some ancient religious civilizations refer to it as the connection between the body and the soul.

Many religions and philosophies believe that the human soul is an immaterial essence which is combined with the physical body and both constitutes the human individual. It is also believed that the immaterial essence can exist without the physical body, considering that the soul is immortal.

Science approached the mind through psychology. Scientific research concludes that the human mind is the result of the brain activities and has a conscious as well as an unconscious aspect.

The Philosophy of Mind is a branch of philosophy that is interested in the nature of the thoughts and experiences of humans. The main difference between Philosophy and psychology lies on the way they examine mentality. Psychology approaches mental phenomena through scientific experiments while Philosophy through reasoned arguments.

Consciousness, a Great Mystery

The Greater mystery around the human mind is the Consciousness. This attribute separates us from animals and makes us the dominant species on the planet. If you watch discovery channel, series about animals, you may feel that nature left us completely unarmed in relation to animals. Well, our weapon is our consciousness.

The problem of consciousness is that it still remains a mystery about what really is. Some neurologists describe it as the result of firing neurons in our heads. But this is just a physical approach. Ok, I think it’s reasonable that consciousness is the result of brain electrical or chemical activity, but yet this explanation does not answer the question “what really is?”

It is known that our brain is an electric signal coding and decoding machine. Every function is translated as electric signals that are carried through our neuron network to the exact brain’s processing centers (External Link) for decoding.

Awareness is from by nature an extremely complex process and is forever there. Anytime we have a reason to do something and also we know it. This knowledge exists from the beginning of our lives. So how you would describe this never-ending process in the form of electrical activity? I lack ideas…

States of Consciousness

Another interesting topic that got a lot of attention and research was the States of Consciousness. Science recognized that there are many states of Consciousness, despite the unclear definition of it. For example when we sleep we change state of awareness.

In late 1950s, a strange situation during the sleep state was observed. The eyes of the sleepers were starting moving rapidly every 90 minutes of sleep. That is to say to the end of a sleep cycle.

This is called REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and has a relation with the dreaming state. The subjects reported that when they were awakened during the REM state, they were dreaming.

The interest for the Altered States of Consciousness was born. Altered states are sleep, dreams, biofeedback, meditation, hypnosis, states induced by drugs and overall states that are different from the normal waking state. I will cover all these states of mind in detail.

Intelligence & Memory

Two other mind aspects, that are not independent though, constitutes the learning capacity. These are intelligence, and memory.

Intelligence is a broad meaning covering many mental activities such as problem solving, thinking abstractly, learning and understanding, reasoning, etc. There are many Theories of Intelligence that tried to explain and define intelligence. Though there is not yet a clear definition of intelligence.

Memory is the mind’s capacity to remember. It is a critical process, as without it we could not learn, speak, read or, in other words, form our consciousness.

Nevertheless Memory doesn’t last forever. Forgetting is a memory issue that pulled in the interest of scientists.

You can check in detail many of the mind’s aspects that I referred in this brief story for the human mind. Just click on the links you see or check the Articles section below.