Our physical brains quickly and easily handle mundane sequences of operations, or "processes" without question. It repeats processes like a machine: A»B»C»...»Z». Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines the word "process" to mean "a series of actions, operations, or motions involved in the accomplishment of an end". Heartbeat, breathing, and digestion are processes that occur without a single thought about "what comes next". But, in many cases, our movement has become so consistent, that life itself becomes one of the mechanistic processes of the physical brain. Although, life is supposed to be dynamic, the brain only handles what it knows---what it has learned and what is sequenced.
Just as life is a process of the physical brain, so is the "mind". We can touch, feel, or see a brain, but we can't touch a mind because it is a sequence of operations that occur to accomplish one or more tasks. The mind is our dynamic structure that takes in information, pushes it through the rules of our belief systems and stored knowledge, and devises a solution. The brain has many processes that interact with each other. The brain's mind process has two lesser processes of interest: an ability to analyze and another to react.
Where do we develop dynamic solutions if our brains are so rigid? First of all, when the brain encounters a sequence of events many times, it stores that information so that it knows how to automatically react and what to expect---a new process. It is a way that we handle those daily tasks that we know must be done and don't have to think about it. Taking out the garbage, saying "hi" to our mates, and some tasks at work become so ingrained that they are processed quickly and easily without thought or emotion. Call it the physical body's way of "making our lives more efficient".
Is it really an efficient method? In some ways, yes. We can simply go through life "without thinking" and allow our physical brains to issue commands to ensure that tasks are completed. "Going through life without thinking" is the key point here! We "can" set our physical brain's mechanisms in motion to process life and then phase-out to let it run its path. In general, a consistent and repetitive motion in life, without thought, is called a "rut". This is where we run into trouble.
Is going through life without thought a positive move? It all depends on what you want out of life. We can "let it ride" or "actively participate". It is in active participation that we begin to acquire dynamic solutions and processes in our physical brains. But, all dynamic processing and information occurs within an area known as the "virtual mind". The thoughts and dynamic ideas in this mind are intercepted and processed by the physical mind and turned into new or altered mechanistic enhancements---call it "retooling".
However, we have to be open to the new information and understand what it is before we can truly make beneficial use of it. Some of the unique ideas that are intercepted become colored by our own mind to fit within our experiences and belief systems through "analytic overlay". Analytic overlay, taken from remote viewing, is the mixing of signals. It is our need to take incoming information and apply our own assumptions, views, and beliefs to make it fit within our realm. With this regard, it is our taking of information arriving externally, and modifying it to fit our understanding and systems. In this way we become more comfortable with new information; however, we tend to obscure information that could provide us with new and intriguing insight.
--- Virtual Mind ---
The virtual mind is the higher self. Some call it the subconscious, other the soul. It is that part of us that exists among and communicates with the other entities across the Universe. It allows us to move about freely from our physical realm, investigate new ideas, communicate with others, and acquire information that is seen as a "flash of genius".
We have, as a society, grown to ignore the virtual mind. It has been overcome and overpowered by orthodoxy, which is the basis of the physical brain---standard processing of standard information. The orthodox methods limit us as the greatest amount of information is limited by the person with the least amount of knowledge. In this view, it is ourselves that is the person with the least knowledge because we are limiting our access to the vast amount of information available to us.
Many have come to accept the idea of the virtual mind in religious terms. That which is not physically understood is taken as a "miracle" or as an understanding of "faith". However, to truly grasp and take hold of the realities of life, one must move from the elements of faith to that of knowledge. Knowledge of ourselves, the Universe around us, and the interaction gives us the power to understand and control our lives.
--- The Doomsday Device ---
Without the virtual self, left to its own recognizance, the physical brain creates its own "dynamic structures". But, these structures are merely replications of what is already there. When one "lives inside their own head" they tend to generate their own ideas. Such generation is a downward spiral because the physical brain is focusing and processing "itself". In this case, we end up poking holes in our own existence because the mind is seeking resolution and solutions for itself.
By creating its own structures, it defines resolutions that actually require problems or issues to create the "cause" for the "effect" or solution. As such, our brain tells us to go out and seek a problem to which it can apply its solution. This is, as grandma called it, "idle hands". I believe it was "idle hands are the devil's playground".
In both of these cases, self-flatulation and the search for chaos, the physical brain is seeking information and issues for those solutions that it's created within its own realm. This occurs when we cut off the information given to use by the virtual self. It literally creates a doomsday device, or a self-destructive situation, in which we cannot move forward, cannot move back, and simply exist in a situation of pure chaos.
--- What's next? ---
Essentially, you need to hang a sign on your brain that states "Authorized Personnel Only". We are not smart enough to go into a closed off brain and create something forward moving. The brain, alone and cut off, can create the most tumultuous chaos out of, literally, nothing at all. However, it is in our virtual mind that we can interact and grow to acquire the information we need to move forward in our lives.
The virtual mind is that part of us that gives us the power, knowledge, and ability to move forward in the physical life. The physical realm is never satisfied and is only bent on survival. It is the virtual mind, the soul that is easily fulfilled and is bent on life, love, and happiness. Let it come to the surface once in a while. Distract your conscious mind and let your brain have a piece of a "souler vacation" from time to time. Not only will it allow you to acquire the knowledge you seek, but it will also allow your virtual mind to help you resolve and move forward in your physical life.
I think that I recall John Milton, in "Paradise Lost", saying "The mind is its own place and in itself can make a heaven of hell and hell of heaven." Bravo!
About The Author
Edward B. Toupin, Ph.D. is an author, publisher, life-strategy coach, counselor, Reiki Master, and technical writer living in Las Vegas, NV. His research focus is on cognitive transformations, epistemology, and metaphysical topics. His experiences have spawned a new series of articles and a book project entitled "Dynamics of Life" that peers into the hidden recesses of our physical and spiritual interactions.
