Spencer Burch Noetics is a fascinating field of science which is trying to prove ideas that seem like they could only be found in a science-fiction novel. What if there is actually some truth to these intangible ideas? Could these findings change our world completely? The Institute of Noetic Sciences raises three very perplexing situations and ideas: the mind-body dichotomy, the “observer effect” and the idea of “the mind’s eye.” The mind is something that has been studied millennia before we knew anything about the brain. Aristotle and Plato argued that the mind is independent of the physical brain while their contemporary, Parmenides, argues that the mind and body are one and the same. Can chemical reactions in the brain really give us the ability to remember people, objects, words, memories, etc. or is there something else going on? The “mind’s eye” is the concept that refers to people being able to vividly recall a situation in which it is almost like they are actually seeing this situation through their eyes. How can simple chemical reactions recreate such an image? What about the idea that a human only uses 10% of his brain? Do we as humans have 90% more potential? Or when we die, we lose a slight amount of weight that is thought to be our soul leaving our body? Noetics attempts to answer these kinds of questions and many similar ones. Noetic science (derived from the greek word nous, which does not have a direct translation into english but is closest in meaning to “mind”) is the study of human potential. The science tries to explain the phenomenon of intuition and occurrences such as deja vu which are dubbed “divine intellect.” Noetic science also contains studies on nondual states of awareness (feelings of oneness with the surroundings - i.e. meditation), consciousness, consciousness’ effect on the physical world (mostly on the quantum level), and topics pertaining to healing through consciousness. 1 Spencer Burch The Institute of Noetic Science (IONS) is the leading institute on Noetics and was co- founded in 1973 by Edgar Mitchell (an astronaut for Apollo 14) and Paul N. Temple. While Mitchell was on his three day journey back to earth, he claims he had epiphany in which he realized that, “The presence of divinity became almost palpable, and I knew that life in the universe was not just an accident based on random processes.” Mitchell and Temple wanted to encourage the study of human potential beyond what was already know to exist (possibly an almost divine potential). Thus the Institute of Noetic Science was created. Currently the institute is researching all of the topics listed above and publishes their findings in various scientific papers and books. The mind is defined as the part of the brain that reasons, thinks, perceives, feels, judges, etc. The term’s (in ancient greek the term was “!"#$" (nous)) use can be traced back to Plato, Aristotle, Buddha, and many other ancient philosophers who believed that there was a relationship between the mind and the soul. The mind is something that has always been a mystery to mankind. How are human beings able to think, recreate images, memorize, dream, love, and understand with just simple chemical reaction happening in a collection of cells that make up the brain? From a biological perspective, the body contains many neurons which are excitable cells that transfer and process information by electrochemical signaling. Neurons are the key components in the central nervous system, the peripheral nervous system, and the brain. Essentially, the neuron system has two main functions: to transfer and process information that is obtained by the senses and to react to information by sending signals to other parts of the body. 2 Spencer Burch The nervous system is responsible for transferring information from one place to another, but it is the brain that seems to be the biggest miracle of life (Allott 52). The brain is composed of about 100 billion neurons, each of which can have up to 10,00 synaptic connections (specialized junctions where signals are transferred from a neuron). Neurons communicate with each other via fibers called axons which can carry signals long distances throughout the body and cary out functions such as muscle contraction or the secretion of hormones. Although the main purpose of the brain is to create behavior that is beneficial to the owner’s health, it is also used as a tool for thinking. However, even with all of the scientific progress that has been made over the years, it is still unknown how exactly the brain works. We can understand how neurons work in extreme detail, but how these neurons cooperate and work in groups of thousands to millions is something we are sill trying to decipher (Allott 52). The relationship between the brain and the mind is very challenging to understand from both a philosophical and scientific view. The only form evidence we have come across that hints at a strong relationship between the two, is the impact that physical changes to the brain have on the mind. For example, a brain injury or the use of psychoactive drugs has the ability not only to change the way chemical reactions happen in the brain, but also has an effect on our mind or state of being (www.greenfacts.org). However, association does not mean causation and we cannot state with certainty that there is a strong correlation between the actual matter of the brain and the mind. The mind-body dichotomy (sometimes referred to as the mind-body problem) is one of the main issues that has been thought about and debated in philosophy for most of history. The mind-body dichotomy asks us to consider whether the mind is identical to the brain, somewhat 3 Spencer Burch related in an unknown way, or almost completely distinct. There are three major theories or schools of thought behind this issue: dualism, materialism, and idealism. Dualism is the idea that the brain and the mind are completely independent of each other. Socrates and Plato believed that the mind was actually part of the soul, which also determined the intelligence and wisdom of an individual. They both battled with the idea that something as complex as the mind or intelligence could simply be created by their physical body. René Descartes also believed in the idea of dualism and was the first to state that the mind was a product of consciousness, not a product of the brain (www.iep.utm.edu). In contrast to dualism, materialism is the idea that the only thing that actually exists is matter and that all things are made of matter. Phenomenon, including consciousness, are therefore just the result of material interactions. Materialism is more of a cut and dry scientific approach and is often criticized for its lack of “spiritualness.” This view is more easily understood by its opposition to the idea of an immaterial mind, most notably the ideas presented by Descartes (www.iep.utm.edu). The third and final school of thought is idealism. Idealism is the philosophical theory that the “real world” is inseparable from the mind; the idea that reality is solely based on the mind or ideas. It is quite the opposite materialism in which it believes that everything physical is just a product of the mind. Therefore, the brain only exists because the mind believes it exists. Many philosophers have sided with this idea including Immanuel Kant who said, “... if I remove the thinking subject, the whole material world must at once vanish because it is nothing but a phenomenal appearance in the sensibility of ourselves as a subject, and a manner or species of 4 Spencer Burch representation.” (Critique of Pure Reason A383). Kant believed that the only thing we could know for certain are ideas (www.utm.edu). The mind has possibly been one of the most debated topics since the time of Plato and Aristotle and even to this today, we are just as unsure about it as we were back then. As Barry Beyerstein describes in 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior, although this uncertainty has allowed for An add for satellite TV that many logical explanations (such as dualism, materialism, and reads, “"You only use 11% of its potential. Ditto. Now idealism), it has also given birth to many myths. One of the there's a way to get the most of both." biggest myths is the idea that we as humans only use 10% of our brains with 90% untapped potential. According to an article written in a 2004 Scientific American, there is no scientific evidence that supports this conclusion - instead there is evidence that supports the idea that we use all of our brain. One reason this myth has endured for so long is that it has been adopted by psychics to explain psychic powers. The argument supporting this, however, is based on the logical fallacy from ignorance. The lack of information on the given topic is used in this fallacy to support this specific claim. In addition, gaining a considerable about of “brain power” would not lead to paranormal powers. For example, if we were to compare the human brain to a computer (since the basic tasks of a computer can somewhat mimic the abilities of the brain), adding more RAM (random-access memory) and a bigger hard drive (the “memory” of a computer) will make the 5 Spencer Burch computer faster, more capable of doing hard tasks, more capable of doing multiple things at once, etc., but it will not give the computer the ability to do processes it wasn’t able to do before.