Part Two: Physics

Chapter Eight: Science of Mind

8.1 Neurology and the Brain

The brain can best be conceived of as a marvelously interconnected collection of discreet or independent systems working together in perfect harmony. From the oldest systems to the newest each addition to the brains physical structure generally represented new abilities to our organism. But not always. As discussed earlier, the ability of speech came from an area of the brain that once served a different function entirely. We gained speech without the arrival of a new physical equivalent or "part" within the brain. Fortunately, memorizing all of the various systems, or parts, of the physical brain and their particular functions, is not necessary for the discussion at hand. It will be extremely helpful however to gain a working knowledge of the basic components, so we will begin there, with the neurons.

All that gooey gray matter upstairs which we call a brain is composed of billions of individual cells called neurons. 

Each neuron is a very long, thin, stretched out cell, with a little nodule (the cell body) in the middle (roughly) that houses the nucleus. Remember the nucleus is where Mr. DNA lives and with the help of Ms. Enzyme "reads" the genetic instructions for the manufacture of all sorts of essential proteins. Proteins, you recall, are the long oddly curled up molecules that enable the life processes.

Every neuron works by propagating an electric pulse down its length from one end to the other. It is a biological wire essentially. An organic wire you might say. It is able to send this electrical pulse in an interesting way. In a wire the electrons, in vast numbers, flow (or are pushed by the generating source) along atoms of the copper wire because copper does not hold the outermost electron very strongly - enabling the electrons to easily "jump" from atom to atom very quickly. In a neuron the single pulse is sent down the line by what is essentially a domino effect. All along the length of the neuron is a series of sodium and potassium channels. Think of them as little gates that open and close similar to the locks in the Panama Canal. As one section "fills" it changes the potential of the next gate to open. Once the section is completely filled (by sodium ions or water in our analogy) the next gate opens (imagine the weight of the filled section pushing against the gate of the next section) and the electrical potential flows to the next channel (seeking to equalize the tremendous pressure of the water contained in the one section). As the next gate seeks to equalize the ionized charge of the sodium ions with oppositely charged potassium ions it in turn changes the electrical potential of the next gate (sodium channel) closer to opening and so on through the length of the neuron.

There are a wide variety of types of neurons and they differ greatly in both appearance and function.  All neurons are connected, or rather separated, by a small gap called the synaptic junction or the synaptic cleft.  No two neurons actually touch each other.  Instead, when the signal reaches the "end of the line" at the synapse, it stimulates the release of particular chemicals which float across the synaptic cleft and are picked up by the next neuron and generates another domino effect in the next neuron, and so on.  These chemicals are called neurotransmitters.  Neurotransmitters can be imagined as little keys.  These keys float across the gap to the next neuron and fit into locks, called receptors, which are designed to allow only the right key to fit into it and thus stimulate (or impede as the case may be) the "firing" of the receiving neuron to which it connects via the synapse.  

We see from this that the brain is not simply a collection of "wires" and so the analogy of brain wiring breaks down.  It is an electro-chemical process.  These chemicals, or neurotransmitters, are what allows us to use drugs like anti-depressants to affect changes in mental function.  From recreational drugs to the treatment of serious mental conditions, all mind altering drugs work by changing the levels of naturally occurring chemical equivalents within the brain.  LSD for example, changes the levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin¹ within the brain.  Because of the function that serotonin plays in regulating sleep, it has been suggested that the vivid hallucinations experienced under the influence of LSD can be thought of as a kind of dreaming while still awake.  Less intense chemicals like many of the most common anti-depressants also work on serotonin.  They are referred to as serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Meaning that after the serotonin has done it's work, instead of being re-absorbed back into its little holding tanks, its re-absorption, or reuptake, is inhibited  - allowing more of the neurotransmitter to be in circulation at any given moment within the synapse.  A lower than normal level of serotonin has been established as a factor in severe chronic depression.  So the chemicals present in the brain at any given moment plays as vital a role in the production of Mind as does the "wiring".  

Another factor in the creation of Mind would be how well established the pathways within the brain are for any given task or state of mind.  Like a path in the jungle - the more it's used, the easier it is to traverse.  Yet another is the overall shape of the brain.  By shape I mean "as in good shape".  It has been shown that the physical brain increases measurably in size when constantly stimulated by math or other problems in contrast to a control group who did nothing mentally strenuous during the same time periods.  The brain can be compared in this respect to a muscle.  Regular exercise keeps it from getting flabby and short of breath.  Exercise gives it stamina and endurance for the long haul.  Genetic dispositions also play a part in how the brain images "self".

At the time the ancient Egyptians were preparing their dead for resurrection into a new and better world, the brain was scooped out of the skull and discarded. The other vital organs that could not easily be dried out (to prevent decay) were also removed.  But these were retained and placed into decorative jars so that they would be at hand when the body was once again called into service. The brain was kind of like the tonsils of their day or appendix perhaps. It surprises me that with their skill at embalming, finesse at war, relatively sophisticated trade and marketing, and with a written language, the educated Egyptian elite would not have easily made the connections necessary to realize the actual function of the organ they were so quick to dispose of as so much useless stuffing to keep the head from caving in or something.

Today we know a great deal about the brain than 99% of our forbearers ever did.  And we have a little more insight into how it provides the skeletal support for Mind.

Undeveloped Paragraphs - please bear with me - I'm in the process of moving.  Very little time for writing right now.  JY

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The brain’s chemical structure, the one we manipulate with anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, and various other chemicals designed to modify our mood, has a history.  Like everything else in the biological world it came into being through a long chain of evolutionary events.  It may have had many “dead-ends” that were not offering enough support to the survival of our species.  One could hypothesize then that there may well have been an LSD Man, or a Valium Man, at some point in the history of the chemical balances – very delicate balances – that create the shared reality of Modern Man.  I have often wondered if the alterations of  consciousness  induced by taking the drug LSD is similar in experience to what a psychotic might feel.  Where there points in time when in the development and refinement of the human brain when the average perception of the world would be very similar to that of a modern day psychotic?  A time when the current levels of each of the many neurotransmitters where far different than today? 

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All mental activity results from an initial “spark” that sets into motion a cascade of signals racing around various areas of the brain.  What sets off the initial signal?  Two things:  a stimulus from an external event as received from the sense organs, or a random self-generated signal - background noise you might say - within the brain itself as when dreaming.

Dysfunctional Frontal Lobes, which act as the dampening processor for impulses generated primarily in the older, and more primitive, parts of the brain (the limbic system), often result in heightened aggression and an inability to control one's aggressive impulses.

Brain determines behavior, studies show that behavior modifies brain as well. Rewiring.

Consciousness, being a subjective experience, is filtered through a mass collection of associations.  Hard work is associated, for example, with a frown, moving quickly.  If man is indeed inherently lazy, that given a paradise would do nothing all day but eat, drink, sex, and lots of sleeping.  However, this socially collective 'consciousness' of work as being unpleasant, while having fun and not working hard is pleasurable.  But this is nothing more than a learned response to hard work.  It may be, like myself, that when we are working hard we frown because we are concentrating.  We move fast because hard work requires efficiency.  When we play a game, we concentrate very hard and yet we are not working hard we are playing.  The Protestant work ethic may very well left us with an association of hard work and suffering as a way of acquiring grace, but the attitudes and associations with any mental phenomena are always, like everything else, changing.  Why do we have to suffer when we work hard?  It's not an inherent aspect of hard work that we suffer.  It's an association that has been pounded into us of the western world as children for countless generations.  We of the west have xcreated a separation of work and play as if the two were two totally different things and they are not. 

The trick to living a happy life and  working hard (so as to further enjoy the freedoms and choices that prosperity can bring) is to not separate work and play.  You often concentrate and work very hard when you are playing a game.  But you enjoy it.  Enjoy the 'game' of hard work and you can turn that same concentration into a pleasant experience instead of a dismal one.

There is a great deal of material written on the subject of consciousness. Mind, is an even more aloof concept to pin down and only the bravest have dared to tackle this problem.  Roger Penrose.

Symbolic and universal imagery.  -circle & spiral (geometry of mind? basic visual patterns article) further stretch to "default" interpretive imagery. Primal images: earth or ground (us), wind or sky (elevated or causative being or deity), sun or fire (creative or sustaining energy, force, or "will" of deity) 

“Why do we have all these genetic time-bombs ticking inside our genomes? It is striking that so many of our triplet-repeat diseases involve neurological function and that none of those linked to triplet repeats in humans have yet been reported in other primates, such as chimpanzees. If such diseases turn out to be unique to humankind, they might represent a genetic cost we have incurred because of the rapid evolution of our brains. It is possible that long Microsatellites at or near certain genes might contribute to brain function and might therefore have persisted throughout evolutionary time and even through they occasionally expand too much and cause disease.”¹

#1 serotonin: (Amer. Her. 3rd Ed.) An organic compound, C₁₀H₁₂N₂O, formed from tryptophan and found in animal and human tissue, especially the brain, blood serum, and gastric mucous membranes, and active as a neurotransmitter and in vasoconstriction, stimulation of the smooth muscles, and regulation of cyclic body processes.  [Back to Text]

#2  Scientific American, January 1999, “DNA Microsatellites: Agents of Evolution?” by E. Richard Moxon and Christopher Wills, pg. 99  [Back to Text]