
Your mind, contrary to what everyone thinks, is not your brain. It’s incredible, after one-hundred years, we’ve learned so little from quantum physics.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
By David Stone
What is that thinking, feeling thing you call your mind?

Quantum physics, a term I dislike because it implies something separate from plain old physics, was an increasing wonder as pioneers like Einstein, Planck and Schrödinger unveiled mysteries of the very small. The tiny fundamental elements making up the bigger stuff we see as “the world” are different than the mythical reality we believe we live in. But because science explains the discoveries so poorly, most people believe in things proven long ago as untrue.
What could be stranger than living in universe built by myth upon myth, limited, while the truth is so much snazzier?
Misunderstanding your mind and its astonishing powers sacrifices many joys.
The basics nobody quite gets…
For centuries, we were at ease, imagining our minds were tucked between our ears. Our brain’s infinite abilities dazzled us, the more we learned, but in reality, our brains are physical and subject to the same limits as any other material. Our minds, though, are not. They are juggernauts of freedom.
Let me explain.
Probably the most critical fact discovered in the last century of physics is that nothing is really hard and fast. Before jumping into matter, everything is suspended in what’s known as superposition. Our most basic building blocks are indefinite, suspended waves of probability — superpositions — that can go in many directions. Not until the wave interacts with another object does it become real, that is, matter. In the study of human consciousness, that’s known as a collapse of the wave function.

These terms seem flakey and unreal, but that’s only because they’re new. As words. As how we assemble reality, they’re more ancient than anyone knows.
Our brains are incredibly complex, but imperfect receivers and processors of external stimuli. A beam of light is combined into a picture in our minds. But the important message here is that the beam of light, a photon, was only a probability until hitting a retina. And the picture? It’s a thought and not material. For that reason, it can’t be in your brain, but mental processing trips it up into an unmeasurable, invisible place: your mind.
In a way, it’s sort of like spiritual digestion, but the results are better.
The really astonishing, brain-melting truth about your mind
What’s true about that photon, that beam of light, is true of everything else turned into reality in your mind. A field, a tree, the smile on the face of a child — all come together in your mind after processing in your brain. You think about them, another function of mind, and you probably have feelings about them. And all that helps you assemble the steady flow of seeing, hearing, tasting and smelling sent rising, expanding outside your skull.
It’s even more amazing when you learn you have that much control. You realize all that traffic as happy, sad, thrilling, frustrating. You are in control, a fact few understand. You can have a glutinous slice of joy. Or not.
Because it’s your mind, after all, and all you need do is develop it. Think of it as a workout, a gym for your mind. Years ago, I developed a practice of focusing on spotting colors and combinations I liked. It’s like riding on a treadmill, building a kind of muscle memory, except it’s fun.
Although you may have already read enough, there’s still the “really astonishing, brain-melting part,” something I learned from studying the breakthrough scientific theory of biocentrism. Hold onto your virtual, probabilistic hats here…
Your brain, like everything else dances along in that cloud of superposition until your mind sets it up as a receiver. Nothing ever exists without detection, overseen by tools and processes created by your immaterial mind. Call it spirit or soul or whatever. It’s your mind, consciousness, and it makes all things new and, possibly, even old.
Also from Assorted Ideas, Large & Small
-
Your mind, no matter what you think, is not stuck inside your skull…
Your mind, contrary to what everyone thinks, is not your brain. It’s incredible, after one-hundred years, we’ve learned so little from quantum physics. By David Stone Assorted Ideas, Large & Small What […]
-
A Science Cult Out To Make You Small
Protected socially like an endangered religion, a science cult works at making your life seem smaller and less meaningful. If you knock religion, you’re in trouble with a lot of people. But […]
-
Charity Partners from NYC Visit Panamanian Orphanage
Jim Luce, founder of Orphans International, which seeks better lives for kids without families, visited Panama, last week. It marked his first charitable work away from home since the start of the […]
-
Experience, Not Evolution, Gets You Up In The Morning
Experience as a quest, not evolution, is the driving force in life. Not that evolution doesn’t happen. It does but it’s in service of expanding frontiers of experience. By David Stone Assorted […]
-
Not just Billy Joel, everyone’s in a New York State of Mind. Listen.
NYCNext corrals the best New York City voices, from rap to Broadway, across the spectrum, in a New York State of Mind… singing celebration of love. I’ve literally got nothing to add. […]