BothAndBlog Forum

Mind matters.
https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussi ... ent/531820

As you have a mind you have a soul or spirit. By regarding the mind itself as a soul/spirit you can now revisit current theologies with a fresh perspective and the certainty that your soul/spirit is undeniably real and has always existed within you whatever your beliefs or doubts. — Brock Harding

The notion of "having" a mind, reminded me of Peter Pan, who "had" a shadow. Unfortunately, like some Souls, it kept wandering away from his body. So Peter, in order to control his unruly possession, tried to sew it onto his feet.

A lot of the confusion about Minds & Souls is due to the mistake of treating them as real physical objects that can be possessed (reification). Yet, Minds are not "undeniably real", but imaginatively Ideal. However, the metaphors we use to describe Minds & Souls are analogies to physical things. Which some people take literally. So, I prefer to think of the Mind as the metaphysical Function of the Brain. When the brain is processing information, it is Minding, or Thinking. Conceptual Functions and dynamic Processes are like fluids, and shadows, when you try to grasp them, they slip through your fingers.

Reification : to consider or represent (something abstract) as a material or concrete thing : to give definite content and form to (a concept or idea).

If you do some cursory google searches on Ancient Greek views of the soul and spirit you will quickly realise that early ideologies on the soul and spirit were merely an attempt to classify the mind which would have seemed an ethereal form in those days without informed science regarding brain function. — Brock Harding

The ancient Egyptians, who taught the Greeks a lot about spirituality and magic, associated the Soul with the human Heart, not the brain. They had no idea what the function of brain was (e.g. abstract reasoning), but the heart was clearly associated with Life and physical Emotions. Despite the "primitive" state of their physical science, they developed a sophisticated epistemology of the metaphysical Soul. Ironically, their ideology placed little value on the brain. So, when their Pharaohs were mummified, the brain was removed through the nose, perhaps because, like the guts, it quickly rotted after death.

Heart & Soul :
The ancient Egyptians believed that a soul (kꜣ/bꜣ; Egypt. pron. ka/ba) was made up of many parts. In addition to these components of the soul, there was the human body (called the ḥꜥ, occasionally a plural ḥꜥw, meaning approximately "sum of bodily parts").
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_E ... f_the_soul

Soul Ideology :
The ancient Egyptians believed the soul was divided into five parts Ren, Ba, Ka, Sheut, and Ib.
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancie ... f_the_soul

If you think of the 'Soul Ideology' as referring to the mind then I guess you have an early iteration of psychology. — Brock Harding

I'm not an Egyptologist, but my impression is that they didn't have a concept of abstract "Mind", in the modern sense, as associated with the brain. Their Ib (heart) was the seat of visceral Emotions & Feelings, but not of Reason. Ba (personality) was the generator of characteristic behaviors. Sheut (shadow) was a sort of impersonal essence or identity. And Ka (life force) was the living soul that departs upon death. But none of them were directly related to Reasoning. I suppose the Greek philosophers pioneered the notion of abstract logical reasoning, as a way of thinking not motivated by knee-jerk impulses. Modern psychology (Rational Emotive Therapy) only recently began to focus the rational mind inwardly in order to gain control of unruly emotions, just as rational Science learned to control unruly Nature.

Appreciate your comments but the original post was more about shifting perspective on how we view what our 'being' is more broadly comprised of. I find it odd that some people belive that they have a distinct soul and spirit seperate to the body. — Brock Harding

As far back as the Egyptians, people have analyzed their "being" into various categories : Emotions, Personality, Essence, and Life Force. But Descartes boiled it all down to just two categories : physical Body and metaphysical Soul. This was, in part, a way for scientists to avoid addressing the "hard problem" of how Conscious Mind is related to Material Body. And it was an important "shift of perspective" that allowed empirical Science to flourish for centuries, without the encumbrance of Magical Thinking and Spooky Spiritualism.

But in the 21st century, Materialism began to founder on the shores of Quantum im-materialism. So, I think we are in the process of another "perspective" or paradigm shift -- to give scientists permission to get involved in questions that have been the proprietary purview of religions for eons.This will require taking philosophical Meta-physics seriously though, as it is the only aspect of Reality we know directly : our personal consciousness -- the realm of ideas (Idealism).