The Mark Steel lectures – Descartes PDF

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The M ark Steel l ectures – Descartes. “ Separate mind an d body”

A f ter watching th ese youtu be cl ips, I f el t that the presenti ng st yl e was l aid back and I enj oyed the quirkin ess of the presentation. I l iken it to “ The H u man Body” with Robert Winston, especial l y the moment where he ge ts drunk in a di nghy (“ Brain Power” ). The question at the en d ask s f or a possibl e word that gets ri d o f the sepa ration of mind an d body. I woul d l ike to throw out “ ho l ism”, “ co mpl eti sm” and “ j ust- is- ism”. I f avour “ j ust- i s- ism”. W hy ? Be ca use the scie ntif ic method can continue to keep p ul l ing things apa rt to it smal l est component and testin g i t, but someon e has to p ut it al l together a nd make se nse of it . Some sc ientist s are too much in th eir own he ads, or too el itis t, to ap pl y what they ha ve l earn ed to the general worl d that we l ive in.

Substance dua l ism do es not take into a cco unt f or the su bj ective qu al ities of experien ce , whi ch is o nl y expl ained as states of the brain with a f un ctiona l rol e. If someone was in a coma, th ey a re not expe riencin g anything at the consciou s l evel , but they st il l have an exper ience of some sort and their bo dies have occasional movement . Dr. E ben A l exan der got bacte rial meningit is and was in a coma f or 7 da ys. H e woke up with me mories of ha ving expe rienced a “ technicol or trip to hea ven”. This exp erience l ed to him wr iting a bo ok a nd he is q uoted as sayin g “ we are more, much more, than our physical bra ins”.

This is ju st one

exa mpl e but p eopl e re member these experi ences. In this sta te, pati ent st il l hav e physical movements , l ike a twitching f ace or l eg movement .

http:/ / l if e.nat ional pos t. com/ 2013/ 0 1/ 04/ dua l ism- deba te- is- there- a consciousn ess- beyon d- that- which- comes- f rom- ou r- bra ins/

The M ark Steel l ectures – Descartes. “ H ospita l s”

A s f ar a s hosp ital s are concerne d, I hav e onl y experienced the E D. In my experien ce the fo cus has bee n o n removin g the cau se o f pa in by providing pain rel ief . The f ocus is al ways on the physical componen t of the pain an d th e mental / e motional

component

is

f or

another

s pecial ist

to

sort

out

(l ike

counsel l ing psychol ogi sts or p sych iatrist ). I get a n insi ders perspe ctive when my nursin g f rien ds tel l m e about their da y. The y f ind nursin g to be great when they can get to k now their charges and their f amil ies; a nd it is bitterswe et when the patient s are discharged because th ey are better. The p ressure of s eeing to ever yone when the wards a re f ul l an d giv ing that qual ity t ime is over whel min g

but they tr y an d make u p f or the l ack of at tention at another tim e. I per sonal l y bel ieve

that

in

hospita l s,

the

physical

is

de al t

with

f irst

then

the

emotion al / psychol o gical . M aybe a hos pital can be seen as an ana l ogy of the scient if ic me thod and du al ism.

The M ark Steel l ectures – Descartes. “ Think ing an d f eel ing”

I woul d l ike to think my thought s come f rom cu es f rom my environmen t, which my brain s ynthesises into thought based on memor y, current experien ces and current homeostat ic bal an ce. A l l my neurones are connecte d in a certain man ner that i s optimal f or me, where a l l these connecti ons ha ve ma de a persona l think ing reservoir. W ithin my p ersonal th inking reser voir, there are potentia l s of actio ns, or opt ions, to cho ose f rom. If any of these option s set of a n eural circuit , I woul d l ike to think that an idea or acti on is produced. I b el ieve my thou ghts al l have an emotion al compone nt , no m atter h ow smal l . I f I am ha ving a conversat ion with the cashier whil e p aying f or my petrol , I do n ot f eel that I am in l ove wi th hi m and want to el o pe; I j ust hope he has a good day. There is stil l an emotional component to the conversation j ust ver y, ver y smal l . In that m oment , I a m honouri ng the person who m I have made a connection to, the process and mysel f . The onl y thing i s tha t thi s has become a automati c resp onse because I have ha d experien ce with doing and bei ng l i ke this. Knowi ng or gut in stincts is som ething that we have ma de co nnect ions with a lon g time ago and is our f undamen tal criteria f or vir tue. In Ayu rve da, ol d Greek syste m, C hin ese medic ine, Native A merican and al l other nat ure bas ed medicinal approaches the bel i ef s are that our internal s tates are ref l ected in our externa l e nviro nment and vice versa . Ou r chakras, orga ns, el e ments or direct ions, have emotional , spiritua l , mental and physical component s to gu ide us in our own l if e....