It's all in your head

The "Cartesian split" is a concept that manages to both be true and false at the same time. What do I mean by this?

The overall philosophical concept of a "mind" and "body", something that inhabits the metaphysical and physical respectively, is, scientifically speaking, preposterous. This is not to say that science deems such a concept wrong, but rather that, because such a claim cannot be observed or tested by any physical means, science simply says "okay sure, whatever".

However, the overarching concept that the mind can control and influence the body is a valid one. Not because one has dominance over the other, but precisely because they are one and the same. For example, it is a well established phenomena that cancer patients who have optimistic outlooks regarding their treatment, and who have social and familial support, have higher survival rates than those who do not. Furthermore, there are several documented cases of people, sometimes entire groups of people, who can deliberately control aspects of their body that are generally considered to be involuntary (heart rate, body temperature, the body's electro-magnectic field (bioelectromagnetism) etc.). And this is in addition to the very well known and documented "placebo effect". "Your mind makes it real" indeed.

Let's look at a topic we all love and adore: Religion.

Taking religion as one of our ubiquitous "seeing devices", let's see if we can determine (With whatever level of detail this short blog can provide) how the Cartesian Split manifests itself in this particular case.

Many of the religious (for the sake of this post, consider "religious" to mean "Christian", however Christianity is by no means the only religion that can be examined this way) often cite an experience of euphoria or ecstasy when engaging in religious ceremonies. These ceremonies can range from individual/group prayer, communion or any other type of ceremony. Through their particular looking glass (see what I did there?) they perceive this euphoria as some level of contact with God.

Now what exactly does this have to do with the Cartesian split? Let me ask you. Do you think the religious would describe themselves as experiencing these sensations with their body, or their "soul"? Through their seeing device (religion) they are experiencing something that is completely detached from the physical world.

But of course, we know this is simply not the case. Dopamine, adrenaline, and a slew of other neural chemicals are released and combined to produce a very much physiological response. We know this. We've studied it. We've measured it. We've seen it.

So now we have two different seeing devices. One states that a certain experience is wholly within the realm of the mind/soul/whatever. While the other states that it is an experience of the (unsplit) brain/body. But there is one thing that is true regardless of the seeing device we use: an experience is occurring despite the absence of any physical or otherwise observable stimuli.

One seeing device claims it is divine, the other says it's mundane, but both would agree, it's all in their heads.

Even with two completely separate seeing devices, one of whom endoreses the Cartesian split, the other of which rejects it, both come to the conclusion that it is the mind influencing the body.

Thus we come to the conclusion of my argument. That while the concept of a mind/body distinction depends upon your own set of religious and/or philosophical beliefs, the concept that the mind/brain can and does influence the body is an indisputable truth.


P.S. It just occurred to me that although I make the argument that body and mind are the same, I give no examples of the body affecting the mind, which should logically happen if they are the same thing.

So I will quickly point to a few quick examples.

1. The sick/ill/diseased: There are many specific types of behavior associated with being sick. Fatigue (both physical and mental), depression (the non-clinical kind. Hehe, yeah thought you had me there, didn't you) and lack of hygiene. These are all examples of the mind being influenced by the body, in this case specific behaviors being triggered by the bodies immune system. We all know how much we love life when we have a 103F fever.

2: Paradoxical Undressing: Those familiar with hypothermia are undoubtedly aware of the phenomena of people taking off their clothes when they are freezing to death. If the mind was in full control of the body, and not the other way around, this should never happen. The person would know that they are in a situation where getting naked is probably not the best course of action. This is another example of the body's condition influencing the mind, in this case to do something rather illogical and counterproductive.

I had one more example when I started this but I've now forgotten, I will come back if/when I recall what it was.