I was reading, In Search of Schrodinger’s Cat, by physicist John Gribbin, when an idea came to me. Gribbin said that there is a question physicist have been ducking since the time of Newton – is the universe determined?
Determined means there are no choices. Newton discovered three laws of motion that explained the universe. Boiling it all down, if we knew the position and velocity of every particle of matter in the universe, we could predict where it would be in the future. Everything would be predictable - no choices.
Newton’s first law of motion is inertia – an object at rest remains at rest and an object in motion remains in motion in a straight line unless acted on by an outside force. What about my body? My body moves. Where does the outside force come from?
There are at least two possibilities. Consider the brain to be like a computer. It is programmed to some extent at birth and obtains more programming during life. The brain responds to stimuli from the environment. Under this explanation, the environment provides the stimulus. The brain merely responds to the stimulus based on its programming. It has no choice.
The other possibility is that the mind provides the force. That certainly seems to be the case. I decide and my body moves. Wait! Not so fast.
Psychology Today, states that neuroscientists using fMRI could predict which hand a subject was going to use seven seconds before the subject was conscious of making the decision. In a different experiment, subjects were given numbers and asked to decide to add or subtract the numbers. Researchers could predict the choice up to four seconds before the subject was aware of making the decision.
Some use the above as proof that we cannot make decisions. The brain changes and we think we have made decisions.
What if there is more to us than our consciousness. What if we control our consciousness?
Vernon Howard presented a simple experiment in a book. He had the reader visualize an object, like a yellow pear. Sit with eyes closed and visualize the pear. If your mind wanders off, bring it back to the pear. I was amazed. Given the stimulation from the environment, it seems easy to predict the mind would wander. How did I catch it? How did I bring it back to what I wanted to think about?
Some part of me can control my mind. Makes sense to me that I am a spirit or soul. I control my brain both consciously and subconsciously. To some extent, I create my reality. Do I also control my physiology? Is my health determined by my spirit?