Part Four:  Anecdotal and Empirical Evidence Our Minds and Brains Are Distinct—Yet Function Together

 As we saw in previous blogs in this series, our minds (thoughts) and brains (matter) are distinct features of our being. Nevertheless, our brain and mind function together. For example, when I observe a fawn in the woods, the light reflecting off the animal passes into my retinas, stimulates nerve impulses that travel via the optic nerves to my brain, where a visual image is formed. At the same time, this physical activity is going on, I’m thinking to myself, “I wonder how soft its fur is?” “I hope it survives to adulthood,” and so on. In other words, as philosophy professor Chad Meister explains:

There is [a] distinction between physical events, on the one hand, and mental events on the other. . . . Thoughts do not seem to be the kinds of things which can be described in terms of physics, chemistry and biology. . . . Therefore, mental events and brain events are not identical; one is physical and the other is not. (“A Philosophical and Historical Case for Life after Death,“ Areopagus Journal)

Neurosurgeon and professor at Harvard Medical School, Doctor Eben Alexander, contracted bacterial meningitis and lay in a coma for seven days. During this time, he had no brain function in his entire cortex (the part of the brain that controls thoughts and emotions). While in that state, Dr. Alexander alleged to have had an out of body experience and observed things outside his physical surroundings. Here’s what the doctor concluded from this experience:

Today many believe that the living spiritual truths of religion have lost their power, and that science, not faith, is the road to truth. Before my experience I strongly suspected that this was the case myself.

But I now understand that such a view is far too simple. The plain fact is that the materialist picture of the body and brain as the producers, rather than the vehicles, of human consciousness, is doomed. In its place a new view of mind and body will emerge, and in fact is emerging already. (http://www.newsweek.com/proof-heaven-doctors-experience-afterlife-65327)

One can debate whether or not so-called near-death experiences are real or even plausible. If nothing else, however, Dr. Alexander’s experience does confirm that our mind can survive what amounts to the physical death of our bodies. His and thousands of similar documented accounts illustrate two facts. (A fascinating book on this subject is John Burke’s, Imagine Heaven,)

First, they confirm our immaterial minds are not identical to our material (physical) brains. Second, our immaterial minds, as a faculty of our souls, can exist independently of our physical bodies. This supports mounting scientific research that all mental states and events are not reducible to mere physical matter. To claim otherwise is a materialistic and philosophical assumption—not a statement of scientific fact. This is more compelling evidence that life will continue to exist following physical death—and for Christians in resurrected bodies in the best of all possible world (see my previous blog series).©

Next week we’ll see that studies in brain science demonstrate our thoughts can alter our brains instead of our brains controlling our thoughts. This is just the opposite of what evolutionary materialists claim!