The Second Freedom: Mind

"The Second Freedom: Mind"
Part 1 of 8
by Al Link and Pala Copeland

Center of the Cyclone

Your mind, center of the cyclone of consciousness, is a remarkable servant. When set to work with clear purpose and direction, it can guide you through a myriad of concepts and activities, from the mundane (Where shall my date and I eat dinner tonight?) to the lofty (Shall I ask my beloved to share the rest of our lives together?), and from the concrete (How do I program the VCR?) to the abstract (Why are we here?). It truly is mind boggling to reflect on the mental accomplishments of humankind as individuals and in concert, from technological invention to artistic creation, from scientific reasoning to metaphysical contemplation.

Thinking about your own mind, you might well locate it in your head and associate it with the processes of your brain, that intricate organ which is a decipherer of information. Your brain, fueled by electrochemical energy, operates a continuous sending/receiving process. There is no “off” switch. Complex functions, such as perception, information processing, and language, occur in the largest portion of your brain, the left and right cerebral hemispheres. Although your electrical brain is located in your head, your “chemical brain” extends throughout your body via a complex network of molecules called receptors and ligands. Their interaction stores emotions and thoughts in cells throughout your entire organism. Your whole body is actively involved in all learning, including the accumulation, storage, and retrieval of memory, feeling, and thought.i You have not only a headbrain, but also a bodybrain. Your mind, however, is much more than your elaborate biological hardware.

Mind is your consciousness interface between the biological—the brain, central nervous system, heart, and the rest of the physical human body—and other sources of awareness including your subconsciousness, the collective consciousness, and the superconsciousness. Mind assimilates all the sources of consciousness that generate information inputs the bodybrain receives and decodes. “For all that lives and all that ever has is part of a collective brain, a neural net of the most sprawling kind…an evolution-driven, worldwide, multi-billion-year-old interspecies mind.”