Brain vs. Mind

What if your emotions were just as logical as your thoughts? This article explores the surprising relationship between your brain and your mind—and challenges everything you thought you knew about what makes you "rational."

In other posts, I have discussed some levels of physiology, explaining briefly and in more layman’s terms rather than those of a pre-med student. Having gone into that level of detail in those pages, let me explain even more simply but extremely importantly and in many ways, much more complexly, the difference between the brain and the mind. In order to perfectly make my point, which is integral to understanding the meaning within these pages, let me state that these are terms I use to delineate my point and to make it more visual without the physiological constraints that may be applicable.

The brain is the tool we use to delineate, discriminate, and disseminate the logical from the illogical. However, this tool uses an objective logic. An objective logic is the logic that we or anyone would use when describing someone else’s circumstance; i.e., ‘He shouldn’t cut toward him when using that knife to cut the apple, as he could cut his thumb’. This is an example that I hope everyone can relate to.

Logic is not only a system of analysis we use every day in our lives, but it also includes other topics of psychology such as behavioral modification – learning as a toddler that fire is hot – we remember and build upon these systems for all of our lives. Logic is also a language which our brain studies, relates, and communicates. Without this logic, our brain would fail to work. For example, we must hold our breath underwater because… – logic; we must not stick our hand in fire because… – logic. Most of it’s simple – but it is logic.

When we see our friend cutting the apple in this manner, we typically assess whether we should say anything to her; maybe we do, but maybe we presume that ‘she's a grown woman’ and she must know what she’s doing. But nonetheless, we make that determination, and even if she doesn’t cut her thumb, we still realize that it was not a wise way for our friend to cut an apple; make sense?

Now, the interesting part is that our brain will make the same assessment even if WE are the one cutting the apple. So we either immediately discount the internal warning of this method of cutting, change the method with which we cut, or stay with the unsafe method but cut more slowly so that we are able to ensure a greater level of safety.

If my description of the brain makes sense, we can move on; however, remember that the brain is ALWAYS LOGICAL; it may be based on false data but still based on logic. Because of this possibility, we can make the right decision based on wrong information, right?

Now, the interesting thing is the difference between the brain and the mind; the mind to which I refer is the term I choose to represent our emotional aspect of living. The brain was all logical right? Well, guess what, so is the emotional mind. This is something that will likely come across as diametrically oppositional to everything you’ve ever learned or were told – but stay with me on this matter, and it will make sense. Much of the improvements you make and gain in your life will be conditional upon whether you grasp, comprehend, and adapt to this realization.

The emotional mind is entirely logical and reliable! Now, how can I say this when we can all think of hundreds of situations where a sibling, a spouse, or a co-worker was entirely irrational and emotional in some action or reaction, right? That irrationality we saw was in no way logical, right? Wrong! Every emotion we have and every emotion that every human being has is entirely logical and totally rational. The secret is we have to redefine our definitions of logical and rational.

Remember when we were discussing the brain, I used the term objectively logical. That objectivity relies on being able to see our world from a third-person viewpoint, as though we are an objective bystander. It would be the viewpoint we’d have if we were a fly on the wall and had to go back and report factually the witnessed events with which we had no emotional investment.

Lack of emotional investment is extremely important in developing true objectivity; when unable to have the lack of emotional investment, it’s imperative to develop the ability to divest oneself of the normal emotional investment. The inability of most people to do this is why patrons in a bank while it is being robbed will later vary tremendously when attempting to give eyewitness accounts to the police.

Most readers will be able to recall one of these types of circumstances when thinking of an argument with a spouse or loved one, and both later recall totally different accounts of the conflict. This can occur without either party lying (though of course many people lie), but it happens because of the emotional investment in the conflict. Many people think that the way to avoid this circumstance is to eliminate emotions, but in most personal development, this is unlikely.

It is, in fact, this very emotional investment that is the key to self-discovery and self-development. It is also the key to developing a tremendous level of insight, utilized in self-examination or in the effort to assist others in their personal growth.

-David Jones

CAPTIVE Coaching and Empowerment, LLC