Cary Neeper's Blog: Reviewing World-changing Nonfiction - Posts Tagged "mind"

Oxford, W. H. Freeman , 1992

Author of a widely used 1978 text in physical chemistry, P.W.Atkins treats the lay reader with marvelous English in describing the wonder he sees in all that was learned at that time—about time, space, the origin of the universe, dimensionality, and why mathematics works.

His understanding of complex systems and their emergence from chaos drive his thesis that we can understand creation and will, eventually, describe its beginning in terms so accurate that our religious concepts will no longer be necessary.

Unfortunately, this kind of presumption has driven the recent split between science and people of institutional faith, so that the honest, invaluable approach of science—which leaves all conditions open to additional evidence and testing—is lost, as is the awe scientists feel for the complexity they find in nature.

Since this book was published, there has been a growing awareness of the several sources of unpredictability in complex systems. Ilya Prigogine called the choices at chemical bifurcation points “irreducible randomness.” Unpredictable phenomena may arise when many agents interact in nonlinear ways, which is nearly everything, from our bodies to electrical grids.

Atkins, however, neglects the concept of mind as the unpredictable emergent activity of our extremely complex brain with its 86 billion neurons, each with up to 10,000 connections. But his most egregious error is his failure to recognize the difference between science and religion. As Jeffrey Lockridge puts it so eloquently in Grasshopper Dreaming, science explores and suggests how things work, while religion invests in questions that ask why things are as they are, including the universe and our lives. What is our purpose or reason for being, the meaning of life itself? Science doesn’t ask those questions.

“How the Body Knows Its Mind” by Sian Bailock, New York, Atria Paperback, Simon and Schuster, 2015.
Our physical environment--including our bodies and the way they do things-- “…influence how [we] think and feel.” Chapter 5 of this book is entitled “…How our Hands Help Us Think…” Watch any speaker, says the author. We usually use our hands to help us communicate. This book also goes on to explain learning by doing, the “Physical Nature of Emotion,” the benefits of movement and sports and laughter to our mental health and well-being.

There is a two-way street between body and mind. Holding a pencil in your teeth, even a fake smile can make you feel happier. Body expressions “send feedback to our brain,” providing relief, stress reduction, and emotion. Tylenol can reduce social as well as physical pain. Infants who crawl have better memory. Action creates thought.

The sea squirt tadpole has a brain until it finds a place to attach itself. Then “…their brain is absorbed by their body.” This makes clear why block play is so important for very young humans. Maria Montessori pointed out years ago that mental development is dependent on movement. Physical experience helps in learning math. Dancers learn choreography by physically acting out the movements. Or entire body can be useful in memory.

One chapter is devoted to Body Language. Body posture is important. No wonder exercise can make a big difference in our attitudes. It can also slow the influence of Alzheimers disease.

Unstable walking can indicate “cognitive impairment.” Sedentary rats have more heart problems than active ones.“How you stand can change your state of mind.” So can medication. Physical closeness can help you feel more connected. Bailock’s book makes all this, and much more, clear.