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Brain, Mind And Consciousness
Three interrelated aspects of intelligence exist that we can examine as human beings. The first is the brain, the physical organ of intelligence subject to outer surgical and biochemical forms of examination. Such brain research has allowed scientists to map out the brain and its various functions with great precision and great curative or corrective powers for mental dysfunctions.
The second is the mind, the conditioned awareness that operates through the brain as its instrumentality. The mind is subtler than the brain and can access higher levels of awareness beyond the physical. Actually, we all primarily experience the mind, not the brain. We live in the realm of our senses with little feeling of our internal bodily organs. The mind has various functions like thought, emotion, ego, sensation and memory. It can not only reflect physical realities but can infer the laws behind physical appearances and speculate about what transcends physical reality.
The third factor of intelligence is consciousness or an unconditioned awareness beyond both body and mind. Yogis claim to experience this and most people can sense or infer it through the mind as our inherent intuition of the eternal. Consciousness is usually defined as immortal and infinite, not limited to any organ or instrument, physical or subtle. It is a universal principle pervading the entire world of nature, not as simply expressed in embodied creatures.
I would also introduce a fourth factor, prana or the life-force, both as an individual and as a cosmic principle. If there is a universal consciousness there must also be a universal life-force for its manifestation. I have avoided using the term ‘God’ for consciousness as a universal principle because the term is often defined in terms of faith or emotion and is commonly confused with personal experience or historical revelation.
Author - David Frawley
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