It’s axiomatic that to have mindfulness meditation there must be a mind. Without a mind there can be no meditation.
So, what is mind?
We all have an implicit understanding as to what is meant by mind. Our minds allow us to experience the world. Our minds are where we think and feel. It is our faculty of consciousness. Without a mind we have no awareness.
The mind is also the domain of everything abstract. The mind has the ability to understand and process the non-material. Without a mind there is no philosophy. There is no religion. There is no truth.
Yet, without a brain there is no mind. Our minds rely on our brains. Our minds can survive without our kidneys, our eyes, our hands, our legs and every other organ, except our brains. However, when our bodies and thus our brains die, there is no proof that our minds can continue. This dependency is revealed when a brain is severely damaged in a particular way. The ability for abstraction and even consciousness can be completely lost, while the brain remains active, signalling the heart to pump and the lungs to breath. This seems to suggest that the mind is really something material – just a particular bunch of neurons firing in a complex way. Or, is it something else?
