Is It Irrational to Believe the Mind is Separate from the Brain?

Some have made the claim that it is irrational to believe in a mind separate from the brain. The materialist argues that there is no real mind because everything reduces to a tangible physical object. Thus, our consciousness is merely a by-product of electrochemical reactions in the brain. Duelists, on the other hand, believe that there is a distinction between the brain and the mind. That is, while the mind most certainly is linked to the brain, the physical attributes of the brain are not the totality of the mind.

This post will not delve deeply into these subjects, nor will it attempt to prove one position over the other. Instead, I want to ask a more basic question: Suppose that we grant the materialist claims as they regard the empirical dimensions that we experience on a daily basis. Is it irrational, under that system, to believe there is a mental aspect that is separate from the empirical brain?

I should point out that I am asking a very narrow question. I am not asking what the likelihood of such a mind would be. I am merely asking whether an immaterial mental realm is actually incompatible with the materialistic worldview. If it is not—if mental existence remains viable even under materialistic concepts—then the materialist’s claim that belief in the separation of mind and brain is irrational is itself irrational, because even granting everything the materialist is forced to concede the possibility of the immaterial mental dimension.

As one might be able to surmise from the use of the term “dimension” I will begin by examining a planiverse. The planiverse is just like our universe, except instead of existing in three dimensions the planiverse exists in only two dimensions (i.e., a plane—hence, the planiverse). Compressing dimensions in this manner helps us to visualize the effects of added dimensions since each of us are able to view two dimensional representations using our three dimensional empirical faculties. If the mental dimension exists, it would be a fourth (or higher) dimension; therefore, if we examine how a three dimensional object would appear to a two dimensional observer, that can yield information as to how an extra-dimensional object would appear to a three dimensional observer such as ourselves.

To think of the planiverse go no further than getting a piece of paper. Let us stipulate that the piece of paper is the entire planiverse. Nothing exists beyond the edge of the paper, just as we believe nothing exists beyond the edge of our universe. Now draw a circle on the paper with a radius of, say, one inch. That is our two-dimensional observer. This circle cannot view depth: it can only view length and width. Therefore, if you had another circle that approached the first circle, it must go around the circle or else through the circle—it cannot go over the circle (i.e. “stacking”) because that requires the third dimension.

Because of that requirement, however, interesting things can occur. Place a coffee cup on your piece of paper. The coffee cup is three dimensional. The circle, however, only sees the portion of the coffee cup that exists in the plane of the piece of paper (for the sake of argument, we will say that the layer of the coffee cup that touches the paper moves into the plane of the circle so that it would become visible to our observer). The circle would view the coffee cup as another circular object rather than as a “cup-shaped” object.

We, however, as three dimensional observers can see that the coffee cup extends beyond what is observable in the two dimensions that the circle can see. Now, if you were to grab the top of the cup and push it from one edge of the planiverse to the other edge (without going through the circle so as to not terrify our observer!), the circle would observe another circular object move through the planiverse. However, the observer would be unable to find what caused the movement. The forces occurred in the third dimension, not in the two dimensions the circle has access to.

With this example in mind, we can extrapolate back to the three dimensions. If a mental dimension exists in, say, the fourth dimension, then immaterial consciousness could be just as much a physical object as a three dimensional coffee cup is physical even if a two dimensional observer cannot see it in its entirety. If the mental object in the higher dimension is really a physical object then it remains a material object. While it exists “above” the three dimensional space so that it cannot be empirically viewed as such, it nevertheless remains just as materialistic as a rock in three dimensions because there is nothing “special” about it. It just happens to exist in a different dimension than what we can observe.

Furthermore, it is easy to imagine that this fourth dimensional physical object is connected to an object that we can view in three dimensional space just as the circle of the coffee cup that broke the plane of the planiverse existed as a full physical object in three dimensions connected to the two dimensional observable existence. A fourth dimensional object therefore can exist fully in three dimensions just as well as it exists in the fourth dimension. But three dimensional observers can only view the portion that occurs in three dimensional space. Nevertheless, the object remains purely materialistic in nature. There is nothing supernatural about it at all. Therefore, no rules of materialism have been violated.

Finally, we can argue that if the portion that exists in the fourth dimension can exert force to cause effects to occur in the three dimensional portion of the object, then we have all that we need to prove the possibility of a materialistic mental realm.

Let us put this in a concrete example then. Take an average human being. Let us stipulate that in addition to the body that we see in three dimensional space there also exists a fourth dimensional aspect to that person which is the mind. This mind is physically attached to the three dimensional body; it cannot be removed from it naturally. Furthermore, this mind is where all the “thoughts” of the individual reside, all the motives and impulses, and dreams.

Because this fourth dimensional object is physically linked this means that the mind can influence the body. It has direct access to it. It cannot be seen in the three dimensional realm (just as hovering an atom’s width above the circle in the planiverse renders you invisible to the circle), yet the connection is there. When you think, therefore, even though this is something that occurs in the fourth dimensional aspect of your being, it manifests itself in your body as well. You brain has certain electrical and chemical changes that result.

Likewise, one can reverse the normal flow. One can stimulate certain portions of the brain and cause changes in the fourth dimensional portion of the being. What the brain “sees” remains locked away in the fourth dimension, yet there is a physical link to the three dimensions that are observable.

This idea would obviously work even under a materialistic universe. It is therefore not accurate to say that an immaterial mental dimension is irrational, even if we grant every single presupposition of the materialist. But there is something else that this theory has to make it even more robust. It explains phenomena that are quite difficult to explain under the usual materialistic theories. Just a few examples would include out of body experiences, near death experiences, astral projection, and the like. While it is obvious that not every claim of such experiences can be substantiated, there is enough evidence of people who have been clinically dead who can describe things that occurred in different areas of the hospital that they had no access to (for example) that not all claims can be easily dismissed as hoaxes, and it stretches credibility to assume voices that no one except the person who was clinically dead could hear bounced through the heating vents!

This is not problematic if the fourth dimensional aspect of a human being (the mind) can survive for even limited amounts of time if “severed” from the three dimensional body (just as severing an arm will not instantly kill the arm, and it can later be reattached).

Given all of this, even if it cannot be proven true (and even if we say it’s not even likely to be true), the materialist cannot claim that the mental dimension is irrational. It could exist even under materialistic premises.

The direct theological implication of this is that we instantly have a possible explanation for the spiritual realm as well. A spiritual realm could exist in the fourth dimension (or any higher dimension) and be rendered invisible to us. But while atheists like to claim that a spiritual entity cannot interact with a physical object, we can see that objects that exist fourth dimensionally can interact with physical objects if the physical objects in the three empirical dimensions also have existence in the fourth dimension (all without violating any rules of materialism). Naturally, I’m not arguing that this actually is how the spiritual realm exists; however, the materialist’s claim that it is irrational to hold to the existence of such a realm is disproven by this possibility alone. It is not irrational at all, even given all the claims of materialism.