The title of this post is from a chapter in a book I’ve written due to be published in
the coming year.[i] There’s a
curious philosophical battle going on about the nature of mind. The nub of the
great controversy is the relationship between our minds and bodies. Most people
– not philosophers – generally assume and act as if they were made of both,
mind and body. I’m sitting in a
body at my computer and using my fingers to tap out the letters and sentences
you’re reading. So I am in a clear
sense a body. But the physical
side of writing is not enough to account for the meaningful sentences that
appear on the screen; that presupposes the operation of a mind. So it’s obvious to me that I am a mind
using a body.
But
mainstream educated opinion would dispute what may appear as self-evident. The
mainstream view is typically some
form of materialism where the role of mind is reduced to near nothing. So
the items below, selected from my chapter, involve a triple heresy. First, I stick to the account of myself
as a mind using a body. Second, I
think that different kinds of evidence show that our personal minds are part of
a greater mind, a “mind at large.” And third, I’m convinced it’s possible for us to engage in
meaningful and sometimes helpful dialogue with this mind at large. Here are three examples (from the
chapter in my book) of how it might work. I argue for the
presence of a greater mind, a presence we can interact with. One big idea that I pursue is that such interactions are likely
to increase exponentially as the world-crisis deepens.