Exploration of the conscious mind.

What is the conscious mind? Is it something physical like the brain? Is it something nonphysical, like a computer program, but operating within the brain's biological-computer?

There is another perplexing question. If the mind is non-physical, like a computer program, how is the mind related to the soul?

The conscious mind defined.

First, let's establish that there are two parts of the mind. The human mind is bicameral, that is, it is composed of two elements: the conscious mind and the subconscious mind.

The conscious mind is responsible for processing everyday thoughts. It is responsible for our conscious movements, thoughts, ideas and communications. Most of our waking time is under the control of our conscious mind.

The subconscious mind, which we will discuss in detail in the next section, is far more complex. Part of the subconscious mind, called the autonomic nervous system, is responsible for all of those things that we don't think about, yet our brain continues to manage. For example, regulation of body temperature, digestion of food, even the act of getting hungry, vision, breathing. These are all under the control of the autonomic nervous system. It's a brain system that, if it's working correctly, we rarely think about.

Similarities to a Computer System

A computer system has two types of memory: A). Short term or random access memory; B). Long-term random access memory. Short-term memory is where computer programs are stored when the execute and where data used in computations is temporarily stored. This memory is only active while a particular program is running. As you read this webpage, the words on the page are stored in short-term memory and then overwritten, in whole or in part, when a new page is read. Long-term memory, or random-access memory includes disk drives, thumb drives, memory cards, external hard disk and all those forms of memory that we used to permanently store data and programs. Short-term memory is statically attached directly to the central processor while everything else is outside it.

The brain works in much the same way. Art imitates life. Our brains stores the information we need to operate on a daily basis in short term memory. This memory is both imperfect and occasionally overridden. Have you ever heard the saying, "Use a word three times and it's yours." That means that if you learn a new word, and make use of it in a sentence at least three times within a day or so, that word will be permanently added to your vocabulary. It is unlikely that you will forget the word or its meaning over time. Using the word three times moves it from short-term memory, the brain's computer buffer, to long-term memory, the brain's permanent storage.

This doesn't answer the question of the location of the brains permanent vs. temporary storage. Everyone is relatively certain that short-term memory is actually stored in the brain. The problem, however, is the location of the brain's long-term/permanent storage. Clearly, some of the permanent storage is hardwired, such as reflexes. However, under certain conditions such as hypnosis, an individual can have almost perfect recall of events as early as infancy and early childhood. If one thinks about it, the amount of data storage for this type of memory recall is massive!

In some instances, under hypnosis, people are believed to recall, from memory, events which happened before they were born! This process is often called past life. Where are these memories stored? Can they be stored in the brain? The brain didn't even exist before you were born or incarnated. If these memories are real, where are they stored? How are they accessed?

Exploration of the subconscious mind.

For many years, the subconscious mine was an enigma. How and why it worked were a riddle. Modern science, however, has begun to offers some insight into the working of the subconscious.

The first part of the subconscious mind is the autonomic system which we discussed in the last chapter. This controls automatic functions such as breathing, heart rate, etc. The other part of the subconscious mind is even more mysterious. It is responsible for our dreams, long-term memory, and occasional flashes of inspiration.

Did you ever hear the phrase, "I'll sleep on it," meaning "I'll push the problem to the back of my mind and wait for some flash of inspiration." That flash of inspiration is the subconscious mind communicating with the conscious mind to say "I found the solution.". Oddly enough, those flashes of inspiration, those insights, often come when our subconscious mind is most active... when our conscious mind sleeps.

The subconscious and memory.

It is uncanny, but under the correct controlled conditions that human mind exhibits almost perfect recall. Conscious, waking memory is flawed. We constantly forget things. Our recall of events is imperfect. This can be seen in the case of criminal investigations, where multiple witnesses can give different descriptions of the same person or event. Didn't they all see the same thing? They did. However, their short-term memory was corrupted. That corruption is due to the conscious mind's filtering of sensory inputs. The brain doesn't need perfect recall in short-term memory to do most daily functions. The amount of data required to actually live your daily life is only a fraction of the data actually absorbed by your senses in the course of a waking day.

Is it really necessary to remember the color of the shirt that each person wore in the office today? Is it really essential to remember the exact height, shoe size, or birthday for each one of your friends and family members?

The conscious mind filters everything it takes in, storing what it thinks is important and essentially discarding details that it deems unimportant. As we shall see, however,it doesn't really discard them. It stores them in a buffer, or holding area, to be sorted out later. That sorting process generally occurs when we sleep, which is when the conscious mind sleeps and the subconscious is most active.

Moving Memories: Changing Locations.

You just bought a new type of frozen dinner at the store. Perhaps you bought a few of them. The first time, you read the cooking instructions. The second time, you probably don't remember them, so you read the instructions again! By the third time, the instructions are stuck in your head. You have moved the memory of the cooking instructions from short-term to long-term memory through repetition.

This process of repetition is how the conscious mind sorts important from on important information.

Of course, there are other methods that the mind use to shift information from short-term to long-term memory. Repetition is only one. For example, the conscious mind tends to more rapidly store music, rhymes and pictures. That's why we remember our ABCs when they are song to us, rather than just repeated verbally. Our mind much more easily remembers the ABC jingle. The music is a key to move the information from short-term to long-term memory.

  

Almah: Young woman or a virgin?

In the bible we read the Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a virgin. But, do we understand what was written? Not really.

The word virgin was a translation from Hebrew, and the Hebrew word was almah, which can mean several things, including young woman as well as, literally, virgin. We also must remember that this was not originally written in Hebrew. The original text was in Aramaic, an even older language. We have to ask ourselves, was this truly a supernatural event,  or a natural occurrence which was purposely poorly translated to meet the needs and objectives of people seeking temporal political power?

We also have to ask ourselves whether Jesus was his historical name, or was it Immanuel (also spelled Emmanuel)? Although He is most often referred to as Jesus, Immanuel is also a frequently used name for, presumably, the same person!

Just some things to consider.

If you are interested, you can read more about this at:
http://theresurgence.com/2012/12/13/why-a-virgin-birth

What does it mean to be alive?

If I see something, and I see it growing, I know it's alive. I see a baby grow from an infant to toddler to teenager and adult. I know it is alive. I see plants shoot up through the dirt, grow leaves and flowers, and I know it's alive.  I see a rock, and all it does is stay the same or slowly erodes. It's not alive.

But some things are far more mysterious. What about viruses? Are they alive?

What is life?

Now take a look at this very interesting video about some things that sit on the boundary between living and non-living.

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Oregons is home of worlds biggest and oldest living thing

The largest living organism ever found has been discovered in an ancient American forest.

The Armillaria ostoyae, popularly known as the honey mushroom, started from a single spore too small to see without a microscope. It has been spreading its black shoestring filaments, called rhizomorphs, through the forest for an estimated 2,400 years, killing trees as it grows. It now covers 2,200 acres (880 hectares) of the Malheur National Forest, in eastern Oregon.

The outline of the giant fungus stretches 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometres) across, and it extends an average of three feet (one metre) into the ground. It covers an area as big as 1,665 football fields...

Read more at

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/oregons-monster-mushroom-is-worlds-biggest-living-thing-710278.html