The Mind versus the Brain, and Understanding Human Behaviour and Actions

The mind and the brain are two distinct and separate elements of our existence. The mind is where we consciously exist and act. It is where we experience, become aware, and where we must consider the conditions of existence, the world around us, and how to deal with them. The mind is where we individually are in charge and in control, where we must actively be engaged and take responsibility for what takes place and what we do. It is where we make choices and decisions, where we define aims, goals and objectives, and where we must consider, plan, organize and manage our behaviour and actions. The mind and mental existence is where we exercise our mental faculties, mental powers and abilities.

What we do in the mind defines and governs how we view, understand, manage and conduct ourselves individually, how we connect, communicate and cooperate with each other, and how we relate and interact with the world around us. The mind and mental existence is where problems and difficulties, errors and mistakes have their roots and beginnings, and where answers and solutions must start.

To understand individual behaviour, action and how we conduct ourselves, we need to understand the mind and mental existence, what takes place, what we do, and what we need to do, establish, develop and maintain in the mind and mental existence from the inside. They cannot be understood from the outside through observing outward behaviour and actions, as is the case with psychology. Neither can we understand what takes place and what we do in the mind and mental existence through studying the physical-biological roots and foundation or the genetic-neurological make up, systems and processes that lie behind the mind and mental existence, as the "sciences of the mind" - cognitive science, neuroscience, behavioral genetics and evolutionary psychology attempt to do.

The human brain, metaphorically speaking, is the muscle of our mind and mental existence. Our muscles give us our physical faculties, the power and ability of movement, to engage in physical action and activity, which we can translate into specific physical skills and practices, such as walking, tap dancing, rock climbing, playing instruments, operating machinery, doing brain surgery, etc.

Our muscles develop naturally, but to use the potential of our muscle for physical movement we must develop it before we can use it. A basic level of the muscle potential we can develop without much effort. Developing the full potential requires conscious and deliberate work and effort, exercise and practice. Learning how to walk is relatively easy. Learning how to tap dance or do brain surgery requires greater focus and concentration, work and effort, exercise and practice. Developing our physical powers and abilities translates into the development of the muscle fiber.

Without physical action or activity, not using a given muscle it will atrophy. The muscle will shrink and we loose the physical power and ability it provides. Exercising and practicing our physical faculties, a particular physical skill activates the respective muscle. However, it is not the muscle or its activity that defines or governs the physical action or activity in which we engage. This is what is referred to as being spastic, having lost control over our muscles. Exercising our physical powers and abilities, practicing given physical skills and practices is the result of choices and decisions we make, despite the fact that at times we do not pay attention or keep track of what we do or engage in. Our muscles are the physical-biological foundation of our physical powers and abilities, but they do not define or govern when, how and why, for what purpose or to what end we use them.

Similarly, the brain and its neurological structure are the physical-biological foundation of our mental powers and abilities, but they do not define or govern when, how and why, for what purpose or to what end we use them. The neurological foundation of our mental powers and abilities develops naturally. However, like with our natural physical faculties, we must develop our mental potential before we can use it. Again, a basic level of our mental potential is developed without much focus and concentration. To develop fully our mental potential requires conscious and deliberate mental work and effort, exercise and practice, resulting in the further development of the basic neurological structure of the brain. Translating our mental powers and abilities into specific mental skills and practices, such as mathematics, language, paying attention and keeping track of what one is doing and what is taking place around us, considering issues, experiences, situations and conditions and how to deal with them at some length, in depth and detail, establishing clarity of mind and understanding, establishing mental order and stability, certainty, security and confidence, etc., requires conscious and deliberate mental work and effort, exercise and practice. Developing our mental power and abilities and translating them into specific mental skills and practices translates into the further development of the neurological structure and connections in the brain. With a lack of mental activity and action, not using our mental powers and abilities, mental skills and practices, not engaging in mental work and effort the neurological structure of the brain will atrophy, it shrinks and we loose the mental powers and abilities it provides.

When we use given mental powers and abilities, engage in particular mental skills and practices it activates the underlying part of the neurological structure of the brain. However, this does not mean the activity in the neurological structure defines or governs when, how and why, for what purpose or to what end we use our mental powers and abilities, mental skills and practices. Within this context, MRI and fMRI scans can show activity in particular regions of the neurological structure in the brain and indicate an association with given mental activities. However, it cannot explain how and why, for what purpose or to what end the given mental powers and abilities, mental skills and practices are used. Moreover, it cannot explain the degree to which the particular mental power and ability, mental skill and practice have been developed, or how they have been developed.

MRI or fMRI scans also cannot tell us what mental faculties, potential mental powers and abilities, we possess, how to develop and use them, how to translate them into specific mental skills and practices. However, how we understand, manage and deal with the conditions, demands and challenges of the mind and mental existence, how we understand and meet our mental needs depends on the level to which we have developed our mental faculties and translated them into the necessary and appropriate mental skills and practices. The choices and decisions we make and how we make them, the aims, goals and objectives we pursue and how we define them, the outward behaviour and actions in which we engage, how we consider, plan and organize them also depend on the level to which we have developed and use our mental potential.

MRI and fMRI scans and knowledge of the neurological structure and working of the brain cannot tell us how to make sense of our experience, the perceptions, sensations and feelings that enter the mind and awareness, the conditions that lie behind them, and how to deal with them. They cannot tell us about our role and responsibility in the mind and mental existence that by nature are individually ours to understand and manage, or how to understand and manage them. They cannot tell us about problems and difficulties, limits and shortcomings, errors and mistakes in what we do and what we need to do, establish, develop and maintain in the mind and mental existence, or how to deal with them. This can only be understood from within the mind and mental existence. We need to understand and manage the mind and mental existence from the inside. Failing to do so, failing to understand and manage the mind, mental existence and mental development leads to mental problems and difficulties, mental disorder and instability, doubt, confusion, uncertainty and insecurity, feelings of fear, stress, anxiety, frustration, helplessness, depression, and even suicide.