What do we know about how our mind works (psychology of the mind)

Some critics of psychology argue that psychology is just a statement of facts, a confirmation of what has long been known. It is difficult to argue with this, because people, receiving new information, tend to think it was obvious from the start. However, there are a number of psychological experiments that make you look at familiar things in a new way. Here is a small list of similar experiments in psychology that reveal the essence of how our mind works.
1. Cognitive dissonance

Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) conducted their experiment in which they tested the idea that it is difficult for a person to accept two conflicting beliefs, so he unconsciously fits one with the other. An interesting takeaway from this classic psychology experiment: our consciousness constantly performs rationalization without being reflected in consciousness. In the study, really boring tasks, as if by a wave magic wand turned into interesting and exciting. Therefore, it is impossible to say with certainty that we know what we are really thinking. Perhaps right now, we are engaging in habitual rationalization to protect ourselves from cognitive dissonance.

2. Hallucinations are common

Hallucinations are like daydreams, and we tend to think of them as symptoms of a serious mental illness. In fact, they are more common among "normal" (mentally healthy) people than we might have imagined. In Ohayon's (2000) study, a third of those surveyed report hallucinations, 20% experience hallucinations once a month and 2% once a week. Similarly, "normal" people often have paranoid thoughts, the same study noted that 40% of those surveyed had paranoid thoughts about virtual travel.
Thus the gap between people with mental disorders and "normal" is much smaller than many would like to think. If we consider our fantasies and dreams about the future as hallucinations, then this percentage could increase significantly. Some people don't even come out of their hallucinations in real life, .

3. Placebo effect

Q. Have you experienced that your headache gets better a few seconds after you take an aspirin? This cannot be the action of the drug, since its absorption takes at least 15 minutes. It's the placebo effect: Your mind knows you've taken the pill, so you'll feel better. In medicine, this effect is quite strong, especially in the case of pain. Some studies suggest that a placebo solution (salt water) can be as powerful as morphine (Hrobjartsson et al., 2001.). Other studies show that even 80% of the potency is sufficient. powerful tool like Prozac, is the placebo effect. This is another confirmation that our mind and body are not different and are one

4. Obedience to authority

Most of us would like to think of ourselves as independent thinking people, with free will. We are confident that we will not knowingly harm another person if under very serious pressure. Stanley Milgram's famous study (1960s) found that 63% of participants continued to shock the other person, despite the fact that their "victims" screamed, showed anguish, and eventually calmed down.
Thus, situations have tremendous power and can control our behavior, and this is a power that we do not notice until it shows up in such studies. Do you own the situation, or does the situation own you?

By the way, there is a wonderful feature film, it is called “Experimenter”. You can get acquainted not only with this experiment, but also learn about the theory of “6 handshakes”

5. Blind choice

We all know the reasons for our decisions, don't we? For example, do you know why we are attracted to this or that person? Don't be so sure. Johansson, P. Hall, L., Sikstrom S., and Olsson, A. (2005) showed in their study that people are easily deceived to justify their choice, which they did not actually make, by pointing to people they are attracted to. First, it was necessary to choose attractive people on the cards, then explain your choice, but during the experiment, the cards were quietly replaced. The subjects did not notice the substitution and gave their explanations of the attractiveness of people on the cards. Under certain circumstances, we don't actually pay attention to the choices we've made. We seem to have little or no idea about our choices and our motives for choosing. We then use rationalization to hide and cover up the traces of our ignorance.
This is another example of the general idea that we have relatively limited access to the inner workings of our minds.

6. Fantasies can reduce motivation.

One of the ways people usually motivate themselves is by fantasizing about the future. The idea is that positive dreams about the future help motivate you towards that goal. Beware, however, psychologists Oettingen and Mayer (2002) found that fantasizing about future success is actually a bad motivation. It seems that feeling the taste of the future in the situation "here and now" reduces the desire to achieve it. Fantasies are not able to warn of the problems that we may encounter on the way to our goal. people spend great amount time, energy and resources to support their fantasies, preferring not to notice real life, and depriving themselves of "liveness"

7. Brainstorming doesn't work

Do you want to think outside the box? Know that according to psychological research, brainstorming doesn't work (Furnham, 2000). In a group, people are more likely to be lazy, quickly forgetting their own ideas, and worrying about what others will think (despite the rule that "there are no bad ideas"). Therefore, it is much better to send people to come up with new ideas in private. Groups are only good at evaluating these ideas.

8. Do not suppress!

When you are depressed or worried about something, you can often hear from people: “I try not to think about it, I just put it aside in my thoughts!”
This is very bad advice. Attempts to suppress your thoughts are unproductive. Wegner et al., (1987) found out how difficult it is to control one's thoughts, for example, without thinking about a white lame monkey. What people experience when they try to suppress their thoughts is the boomerang effect: the thought comes back stronger than before when it was released. Looking for something that can really divert your attention and your thoughts. It's much best strategy. Things are even worse with the suppression of feelings, which results in psychosomatic disorders, or in some cases, can paralyze the whole life (for example, an unexperienced feeling of grief, loss of a loved one, fear, or a feeling of toxic shame

9. Multitasking skills

Despite all the limitations of our mind, we can teach it to do incredible things. For example, we hear a lot about our ability to multitask, but in practice, do you know people who can read and write at the same time?
A study by Spelke, Hirst & Neisser, (1976) aimed to test the ability to multitask when two volunteers were trained for 16 weeks until they could read a story and classify word lists at the same time. In the end, they were able to complete two tasks at once, just as they could perform similar tasks individually before the experiment began.

10. Little things in life

We tend to think that the big events in our lives are the most important: graduation, marriage, or the birth of a child. But in fact, the major events of life are often not as important to our well-being as the daily and routine activities of our lives (Kanner et al., 1981). Major events mainly affect us through our daily activities and the impact they have. The same is true at work, where job satisfaction is highly dependent on everyday hustle and bustle.
And far more important to people's happiness are things like sleep quality, fewer ups and downs at work (stability), and relationships with our friends and family. In other words, it's the little things that make us happy.

The last thesis strongly resonates with, which says that life cannot be postponed until tomorrow, because it happens every second. Our whole life is woven from thousands of little things that are usually not realized, and this affects the quality of life itself. Many people think that they do not live, but participate in the dress rehearsal of life, preparing themselves for something big and serious, and what is their disappointment when the realization comes that life is passing by. In this case, just so that it would not be excruciatingly painful for the aimlessly lived years

The article was prepared based on materials and psychological research foreign authors.

INTELLIGENCE- a philosophical category expressing the highest type of mental activity, opposed to reason . The distinction between reason and reason as two “faculties of the soul” is already outlined in ancient philosophy: if reason, as the lowest form of thinking, cognizes the relative, earthly and finite, then reason directs to comprehend the absolute, divine and infinite. The allocation of reason as a higher level of cognition compared to reason was clearly carried out in the philosophy of the Renaissance by Nicholas of Cusa and J. Bruno, being connected by them with the ability of the mind to comprehend the unity of opposites that the mind separates.

The most detailed development of the concept of two levels of mental activity in terms of mind and reason is obtained in German classical philosophy - primarily in Kant and Hegel. According to Kant, “all our knowledge begins with the senses, then passes to the understanding and ends in the mind” ( Kant I. Op. in 6 vol. M., 1964, p. 340). In contrast to the “final” reason, limited in its cognitive capabilities by sensually given material, on which a priori forms of reason are superimposed, thinking at its highest stage of reason is characterized by the desire to go beyond the limits of the sensual contemplation of the “final” experience given by the possibilities, to the search for unconditional grounds for cognition. to the attainment of the absolute. The desire for this goal is necessary, according to Kant, in the very essence of thinking, but its real achievement is impossible, and, trying to achieve it, the mind falls into insoluble contradictions - antinomies. Reason, according to Kant, can, therefore, perform only the regulative function of searching for the unattainable ultimate foundations of cognition, attempts to implement which are designed to lead to the identification of the fundamental limitation of cognition to the sphere of “appearances” and the inaccessibility of “things in themselves” for it. The "constitutive", according to Kant's terminology, the function of real cognition within the limits of "final" experience remains with the mind. Kant, therefore, does not simply state the presence of reason as a certain cognitive attitude, he carries out critical reflection in relation to this attitude. The “thing-in-itself” can be conceived, but it cannot be known in the sense that Kant puts into this concept, for which the ideal of theoretical knowledge is the conceptual constructions of mathematics and exact natural science.

The meaning of this teaching of Kant about the impracticability of claims to comprehend "things in themselves" often came down to agnosticism, regarded as an unjustified belittling of human cognitive abilities. Meanwhile, Kant by no means denied the possibility of unlimited assimilation of ever new layers of reality in the practical and theoretical activity of man. However, Kant proceeds from the fact that such progressive assimilation always takes place within the framework of experience, i.e. The interaction of a person with the world that surrounds him, which is always “final” in nature, cannot, by definition, exhaust the reality of this world. Therefore, the theoretical consciousness of a person is not able to take a certain absolute position of “outsideness” in relation to the reality of the world embracing a person, which in principle exceeds the possibilities of any rational objectifying modeling of it, as happens in the conceptual constructions of mathematics and exact natural science that are articulated and thus controlled by consciousness. Kant's agnosticism in relation to reason carries a very powerful anti-dogmatic orientation against any attempts to build a “closed” theoretical picture of the reality of the world as a whole, complete in its initial premises and foundations, no matter what specific content this picture is filled with.

Continuing the tradition of distinguishing between mind and reason, Hegel significantly reconsiders the assessment of reason. If Kant, according to Hegel, is primarily a "philosopher of reason", then for Hegel the concept of reason becomes the most important component of his system. Hegel proceeds from the fact that it is necessary to overcome the Kantian idea of ​​limiting the positive functions of cognition to the framework of reason as "finite" thinking. Unlike Kant, Hegel believes that it is precisely by reaching the stage of reason that thinking fully realizes its constructive abilities, acting as a free, spontaneous activity of the spirit not bound by any external restrictions. The limits of thinking, according to Hegel, are not outside of thinking, i.e. in experience, contemplation, in the pre-foundness of the object, and within thinking - in its insufficient activity. The approach to thinking as a mere formal activity of systematizing material given from outside, which is characteristic of reason, is overcome, from Hegel’s point of view, at the stage of reason, when thinking makes its own forms its object, and overcoming their narrowness, abstractness, one-sidedness, develops its own immanent thinking, the ideal content is an “idealized object”. Thus, it forms that "reasonable" or "concrete concept", which, according to Hegel, should be clearly distinguished from the rational definitions of thought, expressing only an abstract universality (cf. Climbing from the abstract to the concrete ). The internal stimulus for the work of the mind for Hegel is the dialectic of knowledge, which consists in the discovery of the abstractness and finiteness of the pre-found definitions of thought, which manifests itself in their inconsistency. The rationality of thinking is expressed in its ability to remove this inconsistency at a higher level of content, which, in turn, reveals internal contradictions, which are the source of further development.

So, if Kant limits the constitutive function of thinking to reason as an activity within the framework of some given system of coordinates of cognition, i.e. "closed" rationality, then Hegel made his subject of consideration "open" rationality, capable of creatively constructive development of its initial premises in the process of intense self-critical reflection. However, the interpretation of such "open rationality" within the framework of the Hegelian concept of reason had a number of significant flaws. Hegel, in contrast to Kant, believes that the mind is able to achieve absolute knowledge, while the actual development of the initial premises of "paradigms", "research programs", "pictures of the world", etc. does not lead to their transformation into some kind of comprehensive "monologue", they never cease to be relative cognitive models reality, in principle allowing other ways of its comprehension, with which one should enter into a dialogue relationship. The improvement and development of the initial theoretical premises is not carried out in the closed space of speculative thinking, but involves an appeal to experience, interaction with empirical knowledge, it is not a kind of quasi-natural process of self-development of the concept, but is the result of the real activity of the subjects of knowledge and involves the multivariance of actions, a critical analysis of various problem situations etc. On the whole, the typology of mind and reason cannot be assessed as a kind of anachronism, which is important only for the history of philosophy. The real constructive meaning of this distinction can be revealed from the standpoint of modern epistemology and methodology of science, in particular, in connection with the development of the concepts of "open" and "closed" rationality within the framework of the concept of modern non-classical meta-rationality.

Man is a being, an animal. But he is distinguished from other living beings by the presence of reason, the ability to think and perform. How did he acquire these abilities? And how did he start using them? What is the human mind?

How did the mind come about

Man gained intelligence through work, as is usually said. Some may argue about how, holding a stick in his hands and trying to build something out of it, a person could develop to the current level?

Man developed only in one direction - to facilitate survival in earthly conditions. Trying to adapt to earthly life, man began to turn to his mind. He managed to use it to achieve success in the use of the gifts of nature and thereby learned to create benefits. Man has found a way to survive not through congenital reflexes, but logically performing their actions. Over time, this allowed him to realize that his mind was capable of more. And so a wonderful world appeared on Earth thanks to the human mind.

But if a person is a highly developed being, then why can't he overcome his original instincts, get the best of his vices? Now a person does not need to protect his life from predators and the environment. But now he is looking for ways to escape from himself.

What is the human mind in spiritual terms? Does this mean that it develops unilaterally? Or are we simply unable to part with our instincts and primitive needs, because of which the development of the mind, except for adaptation to satisfy our needs, is impossible?

From these reflections, we can conclude that labor did not create the human mind, but only helped to develop it.

The brain is the source of the mind?

This organ was created by nature to regulate functions in the body. It helps to navigate the environment, stores and uses innate instincts, and it is comparable to a library that stores many books of information. The brain is subject to feelings, reflexes, emotions, but is not a pure mind and does not function as an organ that forms it.

But other animals lack the ability to think, because their brains are not sufficiently developed. Then how to explain it?

This organ helps answer the question of what the human mind is in a biological sense. Together with all our sensations - instincts, emotions, irritations - it is an integral part of our mind. And often a person does things guided not by his highly developed intellect, but by feelings and emotions, which each individual has developed to a greater or lesser extent.

Personal development

Since ancient times, people have considered consciousness to be a divine gift. Therefore, many philosophers adhered to religious beliefs. That is, they adhered to them not because they became philosophers. It was the religion that taught them to think. One question is followed by a series of other reflections. Some believed that every great thought that came to their mind was sent down by God. What can be celebrated in a religion like Buddhism.

What is the human mind? High personal development can not be achieved by every person. It is closely related to the intellect, but it is not easy to master it. Personality is the next step after the development of the mind. It is also part of the consciousness, the mind.

The intellect is responsible for logical activity, perceives and processes information. And personality is a connection of principles, ideas, rules of conduct, ways of perceiving the information received, and the ability to compare it.

Religion for our mind

The appearance of religions is one of the manifestations of the development of the human mind. Atheists consider believers only fanatics and do not take seriously the words of the holy scriptures. Indeed, not every person, whether a Christian or a Muslim, correctly understands and interprets what is prescribed.

But if we remove unnecessary sayings, we can say that thousands of years ago, a person realized that he was a highly developed being, and began to think about how he appeared, why he perceives the world this way, why the Universe itself is so arranged? The wonderful world of the human mind does not stop there.

Having invented writing, a person began to express his thoughts and assumptions about this. Not having high technologies in ancient times and being content with a little experience in knowing this world, a person tried to explain to himself the questions about the origin of his existence.

This indicates that people were also focused on satisfying spiritual needs (interest in life, the emergence of the arts, turning to their inner world), and not only focused on survival. Religion has driven man to this. The amazing world that was created thanks to the human mind would not be the same if there was no desire for spiritual food in it.

And even though many assumptions from ancient times turned out to be wrong, they at least indicate that we were able to think consistently, create logical chains and look for confirmation for them.

This is an amazing world created by the mind, ritual ceremonies were performed on the dead, which shows us their relationship to a living being. Life was precious to them.

The struggle of nature and reason

The existence of a highly developed science, technology, economy in our life does not mean that we have reached the highest level of intelligence. They only explain the world created thanks to the mind of man and nature. The native planet has been of interest to us since ancient times. And it is this interest and the desire to satisfy it that shows us as beings with intelligence.

The brain is our tool that helps us achieve what we want. And it is also the link between natural instincts and true intelligence. He is able to capture the subtlest vibrations of the non-material plane of being, to become an instrument of the spirit, as he said

Ways of thinking

A person is capable of producing both emotional and logical thinking. The second is just used in the creation of science and technology.

The emotional is involved in solving complex problems that are not amenable to algorithmic thinking. It also contributes to decision-making, choice of action, behavior.

The mind and personality of a person cannot be formed by desiring a specific result. Everyone meets with different people, hears information from them, and by particle choosing from it, adds up knowledge. Even other people's actions form a person's personality. This is what distinguishes the external and internal wonderful world, which was created thanks to the human mind.

Life by the hands of man

Ancient buildings still amaze with their beauty and grandeur. Until now, we are trying to figure out how people managed to achieve such perfection, what technologies did they use? Many studies, experiments and studies have not helped to establish this accurately. The world, thanks to the human mind, has become more favorable for our life.

Having made a tool for the first time, man did not limit himself to it. He began to create goods that satisfy his other needs, that is, household items.

Man did not stop at satisfying his needs. Gradually, in man-made life, as the human mind developed, its echoes began to appear. House and clothing ceased to satisfy people only as a means of protection from bad weather, and weapons as an object of hunting and a means of attacking predators.

The amazing world, thanks to the human mind, changed and improved with each generation, which changed, leaving behind improved anthropogenic lands. Buildings became more complex and more elaborate. Clothing is sleeker and more comfortable. Weapons are more reliable and dangerous.

The grandiose buildings of mankind

Until now, people do not stop there. They outperform the previous generation every time.

Man has always sought to surpass the one who stands above. An example of this is the myth of the Tower of Babel. It tells about how people aspired to reach the level of their creator, God. They wanted to be equal to him. True, it failed. After all, to be a man is not only to have a high material development, but also a spiritual one.

Buildings as information carriers

Almost all buildings carry religious ideas, which are reflected in ornaments, frescoes, mosaics, and reliefs. Many are of practical importance, reflecting a person's desire to achieve excellence in art.

Many buildings have survived to this day, which shows a high level of technology development and an effort to preserve their material values. Spiritual values ​​were also important. And this is not limited to the wonderful world created by the human mind.

What does a person with a strong mind mean? This means capable
listen even to what he hates to hear. This does not mean,
that he is already receiving this information. He studies her
accepts as an idea and does not reject it in advance.
It means a man of strong mind. Man of weak mind
can't accept the idea. It immediately starts to boil, as soon as
hear some information. He cannot listen. Means weak mind.
Oleg Torsunov
We can conquer the mind or control the mind only when
when we have a strong spiritual mind.
Vasily Tushkin

A strong mind as a quality of a person is the ability to completely control one's mind and feelings, to achieve lofty goals on the basis of true faith.

A woman is visiting a friend at the dacha and notices that all the beds under the windows are planted with prickly cacti: - Reasonably so. Do you believe that cacti will stop those sassy men from climbing in through the window? - No, I believe that they will not jump out ...

The mind becomes really strong only when a person has strong faith.

The mind can make the mind and feelings walk along the line, but without faith it still will not be truly strong. Faith endows the mind with gigantic power. He becomes determined and determined. Reason, united with faith, is ready to overcome any obstacles. When faith is weak or non-existent, a person, even with a muscular mind, remains indecisive. Everything will interfere with him and gradually turn into a whiner: - Everything is gone, everything is bad.

And why does it happen? No faith. If faith leaves a person, the mind immediately begins to wither, purposefulness disappears and the whiner syndrome manifests itself at the top of its voice.

How to determine whether a person has a strong mind or a weak one? It is very simple, if, with the help of his mind, he is able to control, keep his restless mind and insatiable feelings in check, is able to answer the question why he lives, what is his goal and faith in life, then his mind is strong. If he stutters, hesitates when answering this question, then his mind is weak, and he does not use it much in his life.

True faith is an unusually powerful force, it is she who connects a person with happiness, it is she who inspires, inspires and endows him with enthusiasm to change his life. Therefore, the strength of the mind depends on how strongly a person can direct his inner state to the activity to which faith calls him.

A strong mind is manifested in the ability, with the help of real faith, to concentrate on achieving high goals.

Philosopher Vyacheslav Ruzov argues that it is faith that fully allows the mind to manifest itself. The mind itself is a very useful thing, but it cannot lead a person out of the material world. He will lead him on ideal roads within this material world very qualitatively and unmistakably, but he will not be able to lead him to God. Yes, the roads will be good and correct - you turned in the right place, turned around in the right one, but you won’t get so easily outside this territory with the help of your mind.

To go to God, the mind must unite with faith. That's when the mind unites with faith, it can already lead further, it is already able to lead beyond the boundaries of the material world.

Strong mind, mind and feelings.

A person who is controlled by "I want" cannot have a strong mind. If insatiable feelings and a lusty mind colonize the mind, the person becomes weak and dependent. What makes a person weak? The mind is under the cap of the feelings and the mind. What are the functions of the mind? It works in the “right - wrong”, “harmful or useful” mode, you can do it or absolutely not. Reason answers the question of what is good and what is bad.

A strong mind keeps feelings and mind in check, a person becomes strong, strong-willed and mature. A muscular mind easily puts feelings and a lustful mind on the shoulder blades, making its owner strong and self-confident. A weak person is the owner of a frail mind, unable to control his feelings and mind.

In other words, when the mind is captured by the senses, a person becomes weak-willed and weak. Feelings are by nature insatiable and deceptive. They must be controlled by the mind, which itself needs to be controlled by the mind. The mind, by its very nature, constantly strives for pleasure, for the satisfaction of its “I want”. It works in the “like or dislike”, “pleasant or unpleasant” mode. The mind is characterized by variability, lust, confusion and randomness.

If a person sees life from the standpoint of reason, he knows what is good and what is bad, he realizes how to act and how not to act, he is literally charged with usefulness, necessity and pragmatism. Vision from the standpoint of reason is indispensable in comprehending the wisdom of the world, because it is consistent in the context of cognition of reality.

True reason cannot be limited to theory, which, as you know, is dead without practice, it is clearly aimed at making new knowledge part of its own. life experience. A strong mind analyzes, processes incoming information and tests it in practice, that is, if successful, makes it part of its life experience. To do this, he gradually learns to abstract and synthesize the phenomena of the material world, for this he carefully looks out for patterns and cause-and-effect relationships in the apparent chaos and confusion of the phenomena of material reality.

In a word, a strong mind is wise, because it brings new knowledge to the test of practice. A meager mind knows how to do the right thing, but does not make this knowledge second nature, does not follow this knowledge in practice. From unclaimed knowledge of benefit, like from a goat's milk. It only clutters up the mind, brings "woe from the mind", makes a person angry, envious and cynical.

A strong mind can only belong to a strong person. If the mind is frail and weak, weak-willed and unstable, it is absurd to say that we have a strong person in front of us.

A strong man is the master of his mind and feelings. He is not colonized by desires and insatiable feelings, he is the captain of his own destiny. When the mind is faced with a certain problem, the first thing it does is ask the mind a question: What to do? How to do it right? If the mind is strong, it will always give a detailed, correct and balanced answer.

How does an eccentric mind behave when it encounters a persistent, strong mind? Psychologist Oleg Torsunov writes: “The mind at this moment occupies a subordinate position. It means no doubt. A person gets into some kind of situation, and he does not doubt, he clearly knows what needs to be done. This means a strong strong mind, a pure mind. If the mind does not have a clear traced structure, if it is so soft, amorphous, and in some places it is completely empty (i.e. the space of a person’s mind is very small) – he meets the same situation in which his own fate has put him. And the mind turns to the mind: "Reason, what to do?". And the mind says, "I don't know." He says, "I don't know." The mind says, “Well, if you don’t know, then I know! If I want it that way, then that’s how we will act.” This is the first. And secondly, if the mind cannot choose between its "I want" - it has doubts. He thinks: “So what? Or like this? I don’t even know where is better…” This means - the mind is weak, undeveloped.

In other words, the mind asks, and the mind answers that you need to do this, and not otherwise. The mind, aimed at pleasure and entertainment, says: - But I do not want to do this. A strong mind answers: - But no one asks you. You are my sixteenth number. I'm not asking you if you want it or not, I'm just telling you what to do. Let it be bad for us now, but then everything will be fine, I tell you for sure, because I know it.

That is the answer of a strong mind.

Petr Kovalev 2018

Secrets of the Mind. History of Mind. The mind of Stalin, Yeltsin, Putin, Berezovsky, bin Laden Tkachenko Konstantin Vladimirovich

1. WHAT IS THE HUMAN MIND AND WHY IT ARISED

There is a generally accepted opinion that labor created man and his mind. In the process of labor, a person developed his mind, but one-sidedly - he adapted his own thinking to his survival in earthly conditions. Man has achieved undoubted success in using the environment to satisfy his needs. These advances allowed man to overestimate the development of his mind, believing that it is limitless.

Such a development of the mind is at least indicated by the fact that the seemingly huge achievements of man in the economy, science, technology (atomic energy, space flights, cloning, success in the fight against diseases, etc.) could give a person opportunities for a successful victory (for each person individually) over such serious vices that destroy the person himself, such as alcoholism, smoking, drug addiction, voluptuousness, etc. Why does our highly developed mind not prevent the death of people, even the most talented, from these and other vices ? Why does he not stop the killer's hand when, in a fit of wild rage, he kills his parent, or a parent his child? This means that the development of the mind is one-sided, or our mind cannot develop in any other way. To answer this question, one should understand what our mind is, why and how it arose.

Summing up all the available data on the human mind, we can say that it was not labor that created the human mind, it only developed it.

Nature created the human brain as a supplement to his sensations, irritations coming from outside world, emotions and feelings. A person also has instincts embedded in his body by Nature. In order to coordinate all this, Nature created such a complex organ in the human body as the brain. It does not have an independent function (it is not a pure mind), but is subject to stimuli from the external environment, as well as feelings, emotions, instincts (for example, the instinct of hunger, self-preservation, etc.).

Thus, it is possible to determine what our mind is made of: from our brain and all sensations, irritations, feelings, emotions, instincts. And very often a person acts based not on his highly developed intellect, but on his feelings and emotions, and therefore the brain and feelings are components of our mind.

A similar statement is contained in the Bible: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul” (Genesis 1, 2).

And to this day, the church adheres to the same view of the origin of the mind, believing that the feelings - the soul, coupled with the brain - created the consciousness of man. Priest Alexander Men wrote about this in his book The Origins of Religion:

“... Science can try to restore successive stages in development - but nothing more. The brain itself was essential tool capable of capturing the subtlest vibrations of the non-material plane of being, to become an instrument of the spirit. All evolution, as well as the development of the nervous apparatus, is, according to the Russian philosopher Vl. Solovyov, "the necessary path to perfection" ... Before this question reached the spiritual boundary, we are still in the animal kingdom. Instincts and purely natural laws and factors operate here. Only at the moment when the light of consciousness flashed for the first time in a being that had taken the form of a person, when he became a personality, did the union of two world spheres occur: nature and spirit.

"The dust of the earth" (as the Bible calls the psychophysical nature of man) became the bearer of the "living soul" (Genesis 2:7).

The person says: “I am like that and I can only do this, and not otherwise.” For example, scolding, getting irritated, drinking, smoking, indulging in sensuality uncontrollably, mocking other people. And this is not done by his mind (brain), but by his instincts, or emotions, or the rational foundations of his own "I", misunderstood by the person himself. The mind is silent here. He, as we have said, is subject to feelings, emotions, instincts.

Here is one of their examples related to the subordination of the human mind to feelings and desires.

A 33-year-old young man, an alcoholic, demands money from his retired mother for vodka. He does not work himself, he lives at her expense. One day, the mother does not have a penny. The son cuts off her hands with an axe. The mother remains alive, the son is condemned for fanaticism. With her crippled hands, she carries parcels to her son in prison. Where is the mind here? He is silent. Feelings and instincts work.

Scientists derived the determinant of human intelligence at the beginning of the 20th century (1905). They attributed to him the ability of a person to logic and mathematics. If these abilities were present, then the person was considered smart, intellectual. An "intellectual coefficient" - IQ was deduced. For almost a century, this coefficient has been used to evaluate a person's abilities, i.e. his mind. Only in our time, scientists have come to the conclusion that the human "brain that counts, multiplies (mathematics), reflects and comes to different conclusions (logic), is the same brain that laughs, cries and loves." From here it was concluded that "a person devoid of emotions and feelings cannot be truly smart (intellectual) - he is flawed." Thus, the intellect (human thinking) is “not the only thing that determines being”, i.e. not only the intellect determines the behavior of a person in life.

American scientists - psychologists from Harvard University have derived a new coefficient of human intelligence - EQ, - the "emotional" coefficient. It has been proven that among the factors contributing to a person's success in life, only 20% belongs to the "intellectual quotient" - IQ. The remaining 80% percent relate to the factors of "emotional thinking" - EQ.

The human brain is subordinate to emotions and feelings, as an organ that serves them, and in general, the brain and feelings (emotions) that make up a person’s thinking are his mind.

AT last years such a term as “emotional thinking” appeared, which, according to the meaning of its authors, includes the provision on uncertainty (in the process of thinking). This means that when a person thinks emotionally, he does not determine the course of his thoughts with the help of logic and mathematics. And uncertainty lies at the heart of the main postulate of quantum mechanics. Therefore, human emotional thinking is closer to quantum mechanics, which, according to scientists, excludes logical (algorithmic, Aristotelian) thinking.

Uncertainty is one of the main characteristics of Nature. In his development - the development of his mind - a person left this uncertainty, and now he is returning to it in order to understand quantum mechanics and create artificial intelligence - a quantum computer.

The developers of such a computer are currently faced with insurmountable difficulties. The first of them is that, according to R. Feynman, one of the largest American physicists of our time, "no one understands quantum mechanics." He also said that it is practically impossible to solve many problems of quantum (wave-like) mechanics with the help of classical computers. Another mathematician, Englishman Sir Roger Penrose, came to the conclusion that logical thinking is imperfect and not only it is used in Nature. Penrose wrote several books, among them The New Brain of the King and Shadows of the Mind, which became bestsellers, where he proves that the brain is a quantum computer and that logical thinking is alien to a person, i.e., in other words, when a person resorts to logical thinking, he bases it primarily on emotional thinking.

The human mind has both quantum (emotional) thinking and logical thinking. Emotional thinking is also built on logic, only it is not yet amenable to mathematical recalculation. The English mathematician claims that with the help of observations (emotional and figurative thinking) it is possible to solve problems that are logically, algorithmically unsolvable. Penrose's new emotion-based theory of consciousness is that "the human intellect uses quantum gravity as the basis for intuitive insights." In our opinion, this new theory explains only one part of the operations of our mind.

We gave this example of reasoning around the creation of a quantum computer to show once again that in solving the most complex intellectual problems, our brain depends on our feelings and emotions, and only with their help, as in the past, it saved human life in harsh natural conditions, so in the future, with their help, he may be able to create artificial intelligence - a quantum computer.