Letter to the Editor

On the Mind/Brain Question

From: PSCF 45 (June 1993): 147.

I have agreed with those many philosphers who have contended that the mind and the physical brain are united but are entities of quite different natures, over against the contention of other philosphers or materialists who have contended that the term "mind" should refer wholly to the physical brain.

Consider Einstein's dramatic conclusions: "space" is actually "time;" the universe exists within "space-time" so real that the very curvature of "time" (space-time) has been verified by science. (In encyclopedias, see "relativity.") Then how unthinkable that no part of personal existence is derived from that curved, intangible, pervading reality that we innocently have called "time"!

In this connection, I contend that intersteller space is more than simply a voidóthat in fact it represents the inner curved structure of a definite sphere (a time-sphere) set apart unto itself within the infinite being of God. I submit that this sphere, an intangible pervading reality of sublime nature, has definite boundaries far beyond the uttermost stars.

Einstein concluded that "space" and "time" are the same, and science tells us that fully ninety-nine percent of every atom is not physical reality, but rather is spaceóthat is, "time." (In the context of the following view of the atoms of the brain, then, intangible thoughts originate and are held in the ninety-nine percent of the brain that is the intangible essence of "time," not in the one percent that is physical.)

In my view, intangible "mind" is derived from the intangible essense of the space-time (time-sphere) within which our entire physical universe exists. That is, it seems reasonable that all of this goes back to relatively soon after the Big Bang, to some primordial uniting of space-time with physical reality to form each atom. Current "mind," then, may be regarded as the united, intangibly interconnected essence of "time" within the atoms of the brainóunited into an intagible entity when those atoms first became relative to and reactive to one another in some special way, as at some point in the birth process of a personal being.

Rapidly affected by this remarkable union, this intangible entity may become of immortal nature, caught up as "soul" at physical death, once more in the safety of the larger essence of space-time, as our galaxy continues on, hurtling ever outward from the vast explosion that began the universe.

Robert E. Crenshaw

Route 4, Box 1703
Laurens, SC 29360