Deepermind

Deepermind Philosophy 8/17/19

by -George Norwood

What is Deepermind?

By taking what seems right and that seems logical I have come up with a way of combining science and best parts of religious belief.

The part of religion that feels right for me is the belief in love and caring. What links science and love has to do with neuro-networks of the brain. Something as complex as the brain needs a "brain government", something that keeps the vastness of the brain working towards common goals.

No doubt language plays an important part in providing structure for abstract and complex thinking processes.

What seems mysterious is that we can only think about one thing at a time, yet the brain has millions, even billions of parts.

If there is a top brain cell or a group of brain cells, this singularity may account for our one thought at a time experience.

By assuming the brain has a hierarchy, many things fall into place as we will see.

Overall Structure of a Human Being

In the diagram below, there are three items. On the bottom the brown rectangle represents the countless brain processes that are going on all the time. Above these processes is our real self, the Experiencer, that which as awareness, that some people call the soul.

At the top is our reference, what we really believe in. Some call it "God" and others their personal convections.

Brain Processes

In diagram below there are two brain processes. One is an Inspection Process, and the other is the Goal Process. The brain has a huge number of these processes.

To accomplish a goal, a Goal Process is started by creating enough motivation. The goal is defined and the process of reaching the goal is performed by different types of reasoning and exploration. When the goal is reached, brain hormones are released which provides pleasure and sometimes joy.

The Goal Process is monitored by the Inspection Process. Is the goal in keeping with the person's overall goals? Is the process making progress? If the Goal Process is not working very well, the Goal Process can be terminated. During the period between birth and the early twenties, the brain is pruned in terms of brain cells perhaps as high as 80%.

Reversed Processes

If the inspector is entered backwards, it main mission is to control, not monitoring. Entering backwards it takes the goal of the main process and reverses it.

For example, if one was thirsty, and the goal was some cool water, the motive is clear, the process starts and the water faucet and glass is the clarified goal.

But if some bullies comes along, they might knock the glass to the floor. Thus they control first. They do not monitor the process and help the person to drink the water.

Just as evil is life spelled backwards, evil is the undoing of a good main process.

Fractals and Processes

Fractals are self replicating images. If you zoom down on a fractal, you will see another fractal similar to the first one.

Ons are similar to fractals. Each component is made up of smaller ons.

Processes and Life

At the top of the brain's hierarchy, the top brain cells have goals. These goals are communicated the lower processes. If the brain is not tied together it works against itself. Some parts of the brain will be at ware with other parts of the brain producing psychological conflicts.

If the top brain cells are weak, a coup can depose the current government. For example, the brain cells that crave a certain substance can take over.

Finding a More Optimized Life

To have an optimized life, the real person, the experiencer, most understand they are not a product of the busy mind. You, the real person can control your mind and thought patterns.

Cultural Bias Can Make Us Crazy

Most people are a victim of cultural pressures they are not aware of starting early in their lives. Most people's religion and politics originated by indoctrination.

Christianity teaches love and that is a good thing. But it also teaches the world is flat, that slavery is not such a bad thing, that words themselves are real things. Atheist web sites can point out many problems, such as contradictions in the Bible.

Science can be like a religion, when one believes that science knows everything or will one day know everything. Real science is not based in faith, but in ideas tested by experiment. It is always changing. Real science works well with the physical world, but things like consciousness are still a mystery to science.

We are Not Just Brain Tissue

Brains are made from atoms and atomic particles. There is no consciousness in atomic particles. I don't think the brain is a consciousness making machine. Consciousness, spirituality, experiencing the world is not based on some attribute of atomic particles as far as we know. Matter and consciousness are probably connected in some mysterious way, but we never greet people saying "hi there brain tissue."

We Can Control the Brain

If we do not control our brain, the brain chatters to us. When the brain is uncontrolled, the Goal Processes are processing weak goals or no goals at all.

The uncontrolled or non-directed brain is called the "the monkey mind". It produces an unfiltered stream of consciousness.

A monkey mind is unpleasant and many treat the problem with alcohol and drugs. Many people take psychoactive drugs which can be effective, but there is a method of stopping the monkey mind that has been known in the East for thousands of years. This is meditation.

Meditation

Meditation is a primary method of controlling the brain. Why? Meditation allows us to be in charge of our mind.

The monkey-mind can destroy our best goals. It takes away our purpose and tranquility.

The monkey-mind is often the result of our animal urges. Daydreaming about food and sex are examples. Worry about someone who doesn't seem to love us, or someone who is sick are other examples. Living in the past, or future all the time is highly distracting. Worry about bad things happening to ourselves can keep us up at night.

You cannot fight the monkey-mind straight on. If you tell your mind to stop thinking about something, you are stimulating your mind to think even more about it.

Lina Grace has a wonderful video on meditation and sleep.

How Meditation Works

Basically there are two ways to get control over the mind. First, because our conscious mind can only think one thought at a time, we can think about something we choose and keep thinking about it. Since we cannot think about more than one thing at a time, the money-mind chatter is turned off.

Secondly, we can deflect a money-mind thought. If we are worried about something we can use the rule, do what ever we can to solve the problem. But then after we tried out best, and have done everything we can do, allow to problem not to exist.

Deflection examples include chanting one word over and over again, picturing yourself on a perfect beach, concentrating on the breath and going to each part of the body and telling it to relax.

Monkey-Mind Metamorphose

If we use these techniques long enough the money-mind force changes. It matures. It has to jump high hurtles. It now cooks up a truly wonderful thought, perhaps with what we might believe as perfect insight, something wonderfully creative, instead of some useless chatter.

Witnessing

What has been said about the money-mind can be said about our personal melodrama. We can name our circumstances and the thoughts about these things can be just witnessed, like watching a cloud let it pass by.

Wrong Technique

If we are trying to stop thinking about something directly we are making the problem worse.

Do not think about a big pink elephant with a huge smile. Hey you are thinking about it, right?

Use distraction instead. Think about something you want to think about. The pink elephant went away, right?

More About Witnessing

Meditation is a tool, and being a mind tool it is not a end in itself. There is more. What we are dealing with is our awareness, our being, our personal goals and beliefs. Using meditation we can understand ourselves, and stand back and see how we can sort out who we are and all though thoughts. This is a tall order.

Most of our own personal beliefs and not shared by others unless we are in a group that attracts people of similar beliefs. For example, if we visit a particular house of religion, we will find that they are followers of some authority.

Who Are We?

Most neuroscientists maintain that we mechanical and have no soul, nothing that experiences life. The mind, brain and awareness are part of the same thing. Are we just 80 billion neurons, and 100 trillion synapses hooked together?

No. We have a name, we experience life and we are not some mechanical machine. Proof: atomic structure has no awareness, just electrical charge, weight, spin, color and some other characteristics.

My Background

I was trained early in life about electronics and computers. I repaired main frame computers for about ten years. Then spent about 35 years as a technical writer. I wrote about hard things, computers, telephone switching systems, radio telescopes, microwaves and robots. Late in life I received a degree in psychology.

My task here is to interrogate, science, philosophy and religion. To find a common thread. Some things do not connect to the thread.

Signal Flow

In electronics and computers, circuits and programs are recorded as processes. Signals move on diagrams (called schematics) left to right and down the page. Programs are written left to right and down the page too.

So, in order to understand complex processes within us I visualize a signal, or groups of signals flowing across a page.

Our Body

Our body is designed on a molecular level. The chemicals, levers and electrical impulses. Our brain is part of our body, and it is a computer like calculating machine. If we have a problem, the brain will try to find the answer. But we are not our brain any more than we are our little finger.

We are, our should be the master of our brain. The commanding force at the controls. We have beliefs, interests and goals. We send these idealized directions to our brain, something like a computer programmer instructs a computer by writing code.

The code we send our brains are not ones and zeros, but concepts such has I want to be healthy, happy and find meaning in life.

The brain is built as hierarchy, with concepts at the time, and the mechanisms to solve problems at the bottom. Without this setup there were no controls and organization. A person with conflicts, does not have a strong leader at the top of their brain.

Each department in our brain has a task, and has autonomy to figure out how to do the task and how important certain things may be. If a department takes over the person, the person becomes obsessed with one aspect in life, and is no longer in balance and harmony with life.

One could visualize that the brain requires a internal set of rules so that different parts of the brain work together. If a certain department fails to find a solution, a supervisor sees what is happening and can take strong measures to fix the problem.

A large number of brain cells die between birth and our early twenties. The brain cell circuits that do not work are weeded out. Memories that are not useful and erased.

Brain scientists have speculated that people without the ability to cull out brain cells may become autistic.

Why the Four Agreements Work

Don Miguel Ruiz passed on Toltec wisdom in his book "The Four Agreements."

These are the Four Agreements:

1) Be Impeccable with Your Word

2) Don't Take Anything Personally

3) Don't Make Assumptions

4) Always Do Your Best

If Number 1 is followed (truth) the on is not cluttered with misleading, confusing, and labor intensive deceptions.

If Number 2 is followed (not taking things personally) the ego area of the mind does not interfere with the on's processing, allowing the on to be unencumbered with extraneous information.

If Number 3 is followed (not making assumptions) the processing of the main on is not over simplified and thus making the processing thin and weak.

If Number 4 is followed (always do your best) the processing performed by the main on is as good as can be. As we go through life more problems are solved and goals are reached, building on each other.

Our Brain is Not Our Self

The brain is a huge computer made up of ons. Every thought, every idea, emotion and sensation is reflected in the brain. But it is no who we are. We use our brain (our computer) to manage everything we do. If we think of a box, the box thought is a pattern of ons in the brain. If the ons are located in the conscious area of the brain, then we are aware of the box.

The other component of ourselves is the soul. I use this word in a non-religious sense here, but our soul is mysterious.

We can define the word soul as that property that allows consciousness. The soul experiences life.

Where do I get this idea?

We just don't say "Hi brain tissue. Your atomic particles are looking good"

Without consciousness, there world be no words, no mathematics and no civilization or science.

Consciousness comes first. It is primary. There is no proof of this, because you need consciousness to think about proof.

Motive

Everything we do starts with a motive. Every movement, every thought, every conversation starts with a feeling of wanting to do it.

Pure motive is all emotional. We may use logic to create a motive to solve a problem, but it is an urge.

Thoughts are created with the energy of a motive. If you control your thoughts, you can control your motivations.

It is a vast circle. Emotions generate logic and logic generates emotions. Motives are emotional based and inspire a process which is logical. If the process is successful, then a goal is reached. The goal is has two aspects, the actual goal and the feelings associated in reaching the goal.

The process is monitored by the investigative layer. This layer checks if the motive to see if it is worthwhile. It also checks the process to see if process is working and important that watches the

Facts and Love

Many people believe that truth is the most important thing. But if someone was hiding from someone that wanted to do harm, telling the bad person about where the victim was hiding would be wrong. Facts are like points, and love is a vector. Love has direction. Mere facts are isolated.

Beliefs are principles we use to support higher functions of the brain. Different people with different convictions have different upper brain structures.

When the upper brain structures direct the lower brain structures to believe as they do, things go badly. For example, the Bible talks about a flat Earth, and the upper brain structures forces the lower brain structures to believe that way. But this goes against science and can be shown wrong by experiments.

The bottom line that beliefs have to work with science where science can supply proofs. In areas that go beyond science such as life after death, science has nothing to say, as there is no way to prove life after death is true or not.

But our reality is our special dream. Reality is based the nature of things and conformation from others.

A regular dream when have at night can break the laws of nature and is not shared with others.

Valuable Postulates of Life

In geometry, a postulate is a statement that is assumed true without proof. By assuming certain postulates are true, we can generate theorems that are the results of postulates.

My postulates of life I call "Ideas."

The first Idea is: One should always treat everyone with kindness and love.

Is there anything better than the truth?

If you blurt out the truth you can do damage. Under certain conditions you could cause great harm by telling the truth. For example, you should lie to a person with a gun with intent to do harm.

What is better than truth is kindness and love.

So the second Idea is: Always be truthful, knowing we have the option to be silent.

But under normal circumstances it is best to be truthful. In this way we can be closer to the truth, and not create a make-believe world.

Dealing with Delusional People

There are some people that have strong belief systems. For example, people that believe in the Bible as the word of God may be your next door neighbor.

So how can you work with them without upsetting them.

One way is to say through your filters I believe in the Bible etc. This means to say I am also full of peace and love.

Of course, the Bible has conflicts, is X rated in parts, and promotes the idea that women are not as good as men and that that slavery is acceptable and so on. Atheist web sites have much to say about this. But the Bible is a cornerstone of western civilization, and solace to millions of people.

So an atheist might do harm in condemning what brings peace and happiness to so many people. Naked truth (you opinion of it) could cause great harm and often has no direction. Love has purpose and produces excellent effects.

So the third Idea therefore is: Love gives truth, direction and purpose.

The next idea is: In the material world, scientific method is our source of truth.

By careful observation of the material world, it has been found that the way things move can be described in simple mathematical equations.

Our ideas that are not of the material world cannot be described in mathematical equations, but though life experience.

Thus the fifth Idea is: Our beliefs are our personal truths developed through experience and contemplation.***

Science has showed us that our brains are made up of about 86 billion neurons. These neurons are somewhat independent, analyzing hundred, to many thousands of inputs from other neurons.

But we are more than a mechanical system of brain cells. These brain cells need prospective and purpose so that they can do their jobs. The brain has some type of overall government. This overall government has not been observed, but without it we would not be sane.

We also have consciousness, a feeling of being alive. We work our brain to serve us and what we believe... our purposes in life. What is this "we"? I call it an old fashion word "the soul".

The sixth Idea is: Beyond matter, energy, time and space, people have souls and souls enable consciousness.

In science we find the idea that everything in the material world is made up of atomic particles. For example, the brain is made up of these particles, which build up atoms and molecules. The molecules build up brain tissue.

But atomic particles have no feelings; no consciousness. Have you ever heard of an atomic particle that was happy or sad? Is there a particle out there that has feelings or consciousness? But everyone has feelings and consciousness. Hey something is missing.

Consciousness has been called the crack in the cosmic (scientific) egg.

Since consciousness exists, there must be a mechanism causing it. I will define this as the soul. The soul allows us to experience life. It is the mechanism that allows consciousness. Without a soul there could be no science as there would be no consciousness.

How the brain interfaces with the soul and consciousness no one understands. But it does.

The seventh Idea is: The brain and the soul work in hand in hand. What we do and think is reflected in both the soul and the brain.

The reason for the Idea above, is we can see the brain causing us to (1) lose consciousness, and (2) we can also lose consciousness through the soul.

(1) If the brain is physically damaged we can lose consciousness. A head injury can knock us out.

(2)If the soul is damaged we can lose the will to live. A sick soul can cause us to be depressed or cause other mental health problems.

When we sleep, both the brain and the soul seem to go into repair mode. During sleep we dream in Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep.

During non-REM sleep, perhaps the brain slows down and almost stops, but the soul remains, keeping us alive.

The eight Idea is: The brain has 100 trillion brain cells and something needs to manage all these cells.

In addition to producing consciousness, the soul may be responsible to the organization of how different parts of ourselves work together. It may be the central organizing factor that help produce an overall government of these 100 trillion brain cells.

Without an organizing factor the brain would immediately fail. There would be no overall purpose. Different departments of the brain would fight. Barriers would be created making some departments walled off from others. Wars between departments would be common. People would have many personalities and the left hand might beat on the body while the right hand would try to stop the left hand.

There has to be something that is the head of all these cells. With this many brain cells, something has to keep all the cells to work together and not fight (conflicts within the mind) or isolate themselves (multiple personalities).

There must be a government of the mind to keep it working together. Otherwise some lower departments who only know one aspect of life would try to take over the brain. We see this in deviant people who only think about drugs or sex.

The ninth Idea is: There must be brain cells who are top managers in the government of the brain. These top brain cells must have simple basic standards to govern the brain.

In any government there is a president, CEO or top manager and so there must be top brain cells. These top brain cells must have a reference or set goals.

For any complex system there must be a loop between what is being done and the controls for the operation. There must be a reference that sets the standards.

A car on cruise control, has a reference speed. If the car senses it is going too fast, it will reduce the gas flow to the engine. If the car sense it is going too slow it will increase the gas flow to the engine.

Brain cells lets us know if we need water by telling us that we are thirsty. Somehow the amount of liquid in the body is measured.

In a similar way, the top brain cells need to measure the progress of the person. The top brain cells reference a standard of what is good and what is bad. This is our basic belief system. If this is taken away, we become aimless.

Each brain cell in the brain has a support network. The top brain cells are remote from the day to day activities of complex activities that occur in everyone's life. Exactly how to we wash the dishes. We just get the job done. It is done by lower brain cells.

So at the top, the top brain cells have to keep things simple. For example love and service may be our top purpose. Each organized religion has a small collection of simple beliefs that define the core of the belief system.

For example, the Unitarian Universalist Church has two main beliefs and those are love and service. Christians believe in love and the ten commandments. The newest world-wide religion, the Baha'i Faith believes the essential unity of all great religions, that we have an immortal soul, and the equality of men and women. Buddhists believe in prajna (discernment, insight, wisdom and enlightenment). Hindus believe that truth is eternal, Brahman is truth and reality. Hindus also believe that the Vedas are the ultimate authority, and that dharma must be observed.

About this site.

There are about twenty web pages on this site. This first page contains my most up to date ideas. Other pages may not be as current.

Feel free to browse around on this website using the Deepermind Table of Contents. I recommend certain books which support many of my ideas.

Feel free to write me if you have questions or comments.
My email address is:

This website was built using the free program: Microsoft Expression Web 4. This web site is copyrighted ©. 2005-2019. No reproduction can take place without permission. Revised August 17, 2019