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272 pages, Hardcover
First published March 2, 2021
The association between the mind and the brain is a fact. But the interpretation that the brain creates the mind is not a scientific fact. It’s only a theory developed to explain the association. And for everyday life, that is a workable model—it’s convenient to act as if our brains do create our minds. But there are additional scientific findings that suggest there’s more to the story. It turns out that the connection between mind and brain breaks down under exceptional circumstances, like near-death experiences.
The brain is a device for the mind to act more effectively on the physical body and to focus our thoughts on the physical world. It is the organ of attention to life...The mind can be a function of the brain the way the keys of an organ make music, by opening the various pipes to let the wind escape in various ways. The organ does not produce the wind or the music -- it removes the obstacle holding the wind back...Your brain may function like a cell phone. It receives the thoughts and feelings and converts them into electrical and chemical signals that the body can understand and use.
It is consistent with what we know of our neurobiology that, if our thoughts and feelings come from outside the body, the brain would act to filter out those that are not essential to our physical survival, just as other parts of our nervous system filter out nonessential information coming from the outside. Hallucinogenic drugs like LSD and psilocybin suppress brain activity. (!) [Does this reduce the filtering, thus giving us additional access to mystical experiences?] We are conscious not because of the brain but in spite of it.
Those who are exposed to NDE information have a greater appreciation for life, greater spirituality, and a more positive attitude toward death; and they had less anxiety about material possessions and achievement.
We may well find ourselves somewhere else after we die, but we are here now.
We may eventually come up with another explanation, but until then, some form of continued consciousness after death seems to be the most plausible working model.