| Nation-building is not just a physical upbuilding, but a conceptual upbuilding marked by a deeper understanding of how the human being interacts with the world through the instruments of the body. The essay here is only a cursory sketch of the topic and is not exhaustive. To briefly highlight the relationship between the soul, body, and mind, I will use a computer analogy. The Mind, Body, and Soul Human brain = Hardware; Mind/Intellect = Software. Computers are comprised of hardware and software. Hardware is the wiring, physical components, and frame of the computer. But software is the finer program derived from the hardware. To see the software, you need energy. Electricity interacts with the hardware and specific codes to produce the software. The brain and mind are similar. The brain is the hardware, but the mind is the finer programming derived from the brain. The mind is the software we use to process and interact with the world through formed conceptual codes that becomes an interactive set of beliefs. But the energy that powers the computer is analogous to the energy from the soul that is needed to power the physical body and the brain, thus enabling the latter to flash the finer programming of the mind. If you observe two computers and see different applications being browsed, opened, and closed…you would conclude two different people are using the computers, for computers only process commands of the user. The body and brain are similar in that they serve in a forming and executive capacity, always as an expression of a preceding volition. Thus, for two brains to produce two different thoughts in the mind and interpretive feelings in response to the same event, there must be something else operating the mind, like in the case of the computer. And that “something else” is the human soul. Summary: There is the person, the computer, and the operating system. A person uses the computer to interact with the operating system. Through internet connection, the latter gives the person access to a world wide web of downloadable information. Similarly, the human soul uses the brain to interact with the material world through the mind. The mind, being the software of the brain, is able through the inner-net connection of the soul to access the world of thoughts and impressions from its wider environment. Therefore, the software in relation to the person is the mind in relation to the soul. Mindfulness, therefore, is not the effort of the mind to become aware of itself, but an effort of the soul to release itself from association with thoughts, in order again to perceive its unbounded nature as a soul whose inner stirrings produce the thoughts and feelings it is experiencing. Returning to this center, we are then able to “see” with new eyes and thereby react differently to the moment. Thoughts, Feelings, and Instincts in Relation to the Mind and Brain Then there are the natural instincts of the body, which are innate biological responses to the physical environment. Feelings are produced when the mind through thoughts assigns a definite meaning to instincts. Thus, feelings are always associated with a type of thought-belief. A feeling is never a primary response, but always secondary. Thought is primary and precedes feeling. Think of fear. An animal approaches, and adrenaline might rush in response to the stimulus of the approaching animal. You see and sense energy in the form of the animal coming close. The adrenaline only becomes fear when you assign the thought of impending danger, i.e., the assumption of inevitable harm that may result from the interaction between you and the animal. Thus, to feel fear, you must think and believe a misfortune will be the outcome. The thought-belief turns the adrenaline into the defined physiological state(feeling) of fear. However, someone else might have adrenaline but, in their love of animals, believe they will enjoy the animal. Here, their thought-belief turns the adrenaline into the feeling of excitement and joyful anticipation. In both instances, a definite thought interacts with an instinct to produce a defined feeling, i.e., anatomical experience. Next there is imagination. After a feeling is generated, the mind forms visual images that corresponds to the specific feeling, which gives birth to imagination. Imagination therefore is the result of the combined working of feeling and intellect. To organize this, we must consider the explanation above about the brain and intellect. Just like the physical brain produces the metaphysical counterpart of the intellect, so does the physiological feeling produce the metaphysical counterpart of “imagination” that is always characterized by that specific feeling. One of the many practical implications is that when we or society “feel strongly” about anything, it means we have become fixed to a specific thought-belief, outside of which we cannot see. Furthermore, when everything becomes “how we feel”, it usually means we are losing the capacity to perceive the thought-belief that is creating how we feel. Thus, it is only when we try to objectively examine, question, and transcend our fixed meanings and limited feelings that we can open ourselves to perceive the all-embracing nature of Truth. The descriptions here, when elaborated and expanded, can form a necessary foundation for the transformation of some societal institutions and systems in the process of nation-building. Even a different form of education. But in times to come I intend to go deeper and demonstrate how this can be done. ~Dr. Ikenna Q. Ezealah |
The Relationship Between The Soul, Body, Mind, Thoughts, & Feelings
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