Finding the edge of the mind
When I ask people where their mind is located, they most often say it’s in their brain. The mind is generally perceived as a place where abstract thinking, empathy, and creativity take place.
What enables the mind to do what it does? The mind cannot exist in isolation.
The only way the mind can receive input is via the central nervous system (CNS). Everything we ever experienced comes to our mind through our senses – sight, smell, touch, hearing, taste, proprioception (the sense of awareness of balance, position in space and self-organisation) and interoception (the sense of what is going on in our body). Without these inputs there can be no thought, no empathy, and no creativity.
And the CNS has a much larger role than merely providing input. At least some of those acts of thinking, empathy, and creation also require other parts of the body, all of which are controlled by the CNS. For example:
When you draw, can the picture take shape in your mind without the action of pencil on paper? Even when using a computer, you’re using your fingers and eyes to draw.
When you speak, can you express what you want without using your breath, voice, face, hands? Do words and tone of voice occur in the brain, or is it the harmonious combination of brain, breath, vocal cords, posture, and gesture that gives us our voice and enables us (literally) to speak our mind?
If using our body in movement is an element in at least some of the thinking process, then the mind must include the CNS, on which we rely to do what we do with our body. And if gestures are part of thought processes, perhaps the mind includes the whole body, at least at times when we are using ourselves in that way.
A further extension to the concept of our mind is the use of external aids to increase our capabilities. Is your to-do list and diary part of your mind, even if stored in a notebook or smartphone? Without it your mind would be cluttered by having to remember more. By extending your mind’s storage capabilities outside of your body, you increase your potential. You have literally used a tool to expand your mind.
The concepts of mind, body, and tools overlap and reinforce each other. To be human is to be constantly at the interplay of all three, enabling us to use as much of our self as possible. Our capacity for abstract thought, empathy and creativity depends on it.
Where are the edges of your mind? Where are they in relation to your body? Please leave a comment.