Materialists believe that the mind emerges from the brain and that the mind (soul) is an artifact of the brain. Like the Sadducees of Jesus’ time, they only believe what they can see, feel and touch (Matthew 22:23-31, Acts 23:8). This has been the prevailing paradigm in the western scientific world since Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution became the dominant scientific dogma.
Recently, however, there has been growing dissent in the area of neuroscience, psychology and psychiatry because the result of adherence to the materialists’ philosophy in the lives of patients, where the rubber meets the road, has been devastating [1]. Interestingly the discovery of the baffling area of quantum physics at the beginning of the last century [2] marked the beginning the crumbling of materialist philosophy. Denial of the power of the mind, and by extension the spirit, in the treatment of patients with mental and even physical disorders, has led to poor treatment outcomes in many cases. The materialist position, therefore, is becoming increasing untenable.
Alternatively the Bible presents the view of the spirit, soul and the body as separate, but intimately integrated entities (Genesis 2:7, Matthew 26:41, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, Hebrews 4:12). Each of us is a spirit, having a soul (mind) and living in a body. Life is actually a spiritual force. The mind has the power of intellect, emotions and free will [3], and, if enabled by the spirit and, empowered by the Holy Spirit, can make good choices that can positively change the body, which includes the brain.
The materialist view, however, in denying the existence of the spirit and soul, has held to the pre-eminence of the body. This mindset contributed to the view that the brain could not really be changed once we reached adolescence and that all we could hope for in many psychiatric and neurological conditions was compensation and reliance on medication rather than a total cure.
This was the prevailing view in the 1980s when I started in research and clinical practice as a communication pathologist treating patients with various mental and neurological conditions in clinical and educational settings and research settings. Because of my belief in the biblical view, I set out to help patients, who the medical community had given up on, with remarkable results [4]. I also was able help transform destitute students in deprived schools even to international notice [5]. At the time clinicians and educationalists like me who believed in the power of the mind to change the brain, were scoffed at. However, as the Sanhedrin discovered, when faced with the walking man who was once crippled (Act 4:14), it was difficult to deny her results.
Fortunately certain discoveries have led credence to the biblical view research included. It was discovered that the brain continually changes in response to mental and sensory signals throughout the human life span [6]. This process has now been termed ‘neuroplasticity’. It was once thought that, as adults, we had the full complement of nerve cells (neurons) and that we basically lost neurons until we died. Now we know scientifically that we continue to produce neurons in certain areas of the brain constantly, a process known as neurogenesis [7]. The growing medical specialties of psychoneuroimmunology and psychoneuroendocrinology [8] are bringing to light the intimate relationship between the mind, the brain and the immune and endocrine systems. Remarkably the eye-opening science of epigenetics is showing how our choices can profoundly influence, not just our own genes and those that we are in relationship with, but the genes of multiple generations of our descendants [9]. There is thankfully now a growing opposition to the materialist view even among mainstream scientists. In response to the growing evidence of the mind being able to change the brain, materialist have held the view that it is the brain that changes the brain [10] This is akin to a computer reprogramming and redesigning itself.
Thankfully, in the face of growing recent evidence, the materialist view is losing some of its pre-eminence. There is growing dissent among a populace that is seeking answers to gnawing questions and cures to intractable mental and physical disorders [11]. Surveys show that the majority of lay people globally do not see themselves as biological automata, but as thinking human beings with the ability to think and choose making biological change [12]. Furthermore, the crisis in the education, over-labeling and over-medication of our children is crying out for a change of direction. It is time to return to what the Creator says about the nature of man in the Bible- He knows what we are made of and how we are made (Psalm 103:14). The Mind definitely changes the Brain.
References
1. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2005 Jun 29;360(1458):1309-27. Quantum physics in neuroscience and psychology: a neurophysical model of mind-brain interaction. Schwartz JM, Stapp HP, Beauregard M.
Nour Foundation: Mind-Body Connections: How Does Consciousness Shape the Brain? United Nations 9/11/2008- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwXhcyTe7qQ
Creation Ministires:’ Charles Darwin’s real message: have you missed it’ by Carl Wieland-http://creation.com/charles-darwins-real-message-have-you-missed-it
2. Nobelprize.org – The Nobel Prize in Physics 1918.http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1918/
3. The Spiritual Man – June 1, 1968 Watchman Nee
4. Mind-Mapping: A Therapeutic Technique for Closed-Head Injury, a dissertation submitted for her Masters at the University of Pretoria, May 1990.
Mind-mapping as a Therapeutic technique, in Communiphon, South African Speech-Language-hearing Association No. 296, pg. 11-15,November 1990.
5. The Mind-Mapping Approach: A Model and Framework for Geodesic Learning, a dissertation submitted for her Ph.D. at the University of Pretoria, March 1997.
The Development of a Model for Geodesic Learning: The Geodesic Information Processing Model, in the South African Journal of Communication Disorders, Vol. 44, 1997.
6. Neural Plasticity Volume 2014 (2014), Article ID 541870, 10 pages. Adult Neuroplasticity: More Than 40 Years of Research. Eberhard Fuchs and Gabriele Flügge.
7. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2000 Oct;1(1):67-73. Neurogenesis in the adult brain: death of a dogma. Gross CG.
8. International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology- www.ispne.org/. Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society- www.pnirs.org/.
9. Ethan Watters, “DNA Is Not Destiny: The New Science of Epigenetics Rewrites the Rules of Disease, Heredity, and Identity,” Discover, November 2006,http://discovermagazine.com/2006 nov/cover.
Nova- Ghost In Your Genes, 2006
Nat Rev Genet. 2012 Jan 31;13(3):153-62. Understanding transgenerational epigenetic inheritance via the gametes in mammals. Daxinger L, Whitelaw E.
10. The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science– December 18, 2007 by Norman Doidge
11. Med J Aust. 2004 Jun 7;180(11):587-9. The rise and rise of complementary and alternative medicine: a sociological perspective. Coulter ID, Willis EM.
12. Scientific American- Site Survey Shows 60 Percent Think Free Will Exists. Read Why. By Gary Stix | January 15, 2015 |http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/talking-back/site-survey-shows-60-percent-think-free-will-exists-read-why/