Chapter 2
Body-Mind: A whole package
Philosophers have debated the body-mind relationship for thousands of years. Plato saw the physical body as a vessel for an immortal soul. This concept is called dualism. Descartes also thought our mind and our body were separate but connected through the pineal gland. Aristotle saw the soul and body as inseparable. These debates exposed a philosophical conundrum called the Interaction Problem. How can something non-material affect something material? Furthermore, how can a mental state affect our physical bodies?
Modern Neuroscience has largely undermined the concept of dualism. Research shows that mental states arise from
brain activity. The brain is a physical organ and part of our overall
biological system. Injuring our brain impacts our consciousness and behavior. Certain
drugs can also have a dramatic effect on mental states (e.g., LSD). And we don’t
even need psychedelics to change our mood. Changing your posture or making
faces can affect your emotions. In a
tit-for-tat manner, thoughts can alter our physical states (i.e., stress,
placebos, etc.). So, the relationship between mind and body is bidirectional.
The
point here is, just as our minds are impressively complex, even more so are our
body-minds. We have much yet to learn about humans as whole, biological entities.
For example, studies continue to learn about the brain-gut connection. Emerging
evidence links gut dysfunction and inflammation to diseases like Parkinson’s
and Alzheimer’s, potentially via microbial metabolites or immune system
activation. Time (and science) may tell.
Have
we, in the 21st Century, settled the long pondered question of
dualism? Certainly not. Part of the problem is that if we think of humans as
only physical beings of brain and body, where is there room for such religious
concepts as the Soul, or afterlife, or, for that matter (for occultists) ghosts?
The fact is that scientists can’t unequivocally say those things are not
possible. In fact, some apologists turn to quantum mechanics for support. They
argue that Quantum Entanglement might hold a clue to their perspective. Quantum
entanglement is the phenomenon where the quantum state of each particle in a
group cannot be described independently of the state of the others, even when
the particles are separated by a large distance. So, while proximity is required for cause and effect in Newtonian physics, it is not so much so in quantum physics. After all, as we’ll see in the next
chapter, neuroscientists can’t even agree on what consciousness is or how it is
even possible. So, does this prove the case for dualism and divine phenomena? Of
course, not. It just reminds us of the importance of intellectual humility.
As we’ll discuss in later chapters, dualism is
not the key question we must answer. I will argue that our behavior matters far
more than our beliefs, including that of the body-brain interaction. For now,
though, let’s discuss this question of consciousness – even though (spoiler
alert) we have far more questions unanswered about it than answered.
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