Monday, February 19, 2007

The Realm of the Mind

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I have dealt with a few people in my life that suffers from mental illnesses, family and friends both. The most challenging of those illnesses is Schizophrenia.

Mental illness is truly fascinating to me. One person talked about how once the voices were under control with drugs, visual manifestations began of real people. Just as real as any physical person in the room.

How does the brain do this? I have always known that perception is your reality, but this is a whole different level. The perception-real to the person experiencing it- is something that does not exist in the physical world. People who are not there, voices that are convincing enough to coerce a person to act on the suggestions- these are real to the person experiencing them.

The brain manifests an entire entity or entities.
Begs the question; are we just vehicles for the entity that is the brain? Do we just house that existence? The brain makes up entire personas, some are coping mechanisms, some are friends, some are alter egos.
How does the brain do that? What combinations of neurons and synapse make whole other people that the person recognizes as separate from self but still sees as real? It is amazing to me that we can house whole other consciousnesses. Wow.

The brain is an uncharted territory right here on earth. I think it will remain so for quite some time. I hope the exploration continues…