If we take time to look at what is happening inside the mind, we notice that it is working constantly. Even when we are asleep, the mind is constantly active. When we are awake thoughts come one after the other in a seemingly unstoppable, incessant and perpetual flow, churning out a variety of thoughts, feelings and ideas. If asked, where thoughts come from, many people would say that they originate in the brain. And yet a series of case studies, recorded ever since the 19th century, seem to give rise to serious speculation as to the truth of that idea.
A case was recorded of an elderly man, who with increasing senility had reached the point where intelligible communication had ceased. One day, a short while before his death, he was suddenly able to hold a normal conversation with his relatives whom he, suddenly, fully recognised. The atrophying of the brain explained the progressive dementia of the man, but could not explain the sudden recovery. After his death, doctors requested permission to perform an autopsy, as they were completely mystified. They found that the brain had atrophied to the size of a small ball and the rest of the cranium was filled with fluid. It would seem then, that it was not the brain that was thinking.
What if the mind is not a function of the brain, but is independent, and is a function of spirit or soul? And what if that spirit or soul has the natural power to manipulate the organs of the body? According to the medical case above, the patient’s mind recovered even though the brain had not. The spiritual explanation of this is that, during the time that the mind is influenced by the material of the body, it will follow the condition of the brain. That would explain the increasing senility. However, at some point, close to death, the soul was detached to some extent from the body and was able to manipulate the bodily organs in order to speak, without the use of the brain.
Brahma Kumaris consider the soul, or consciousness, to be intangible, invisible, immortal. It gives light, or energy, to the body to remain active; “I am the soul, the consciousness; it is I, the soul, that thinks. The body is an instrument, a costume for me to use temporarily in this great cosmic drama”.
Nick Christianson is a Rajyoga teacher with the Brahma Kumaris based in the UK.