No study is more fascinating or of greater benefit than the subject mind. It has engaged the most powerful intellects of all ages, from the days of Aristotle down to the present. However, during the last two thousand years, that is with the exception of the last one hundred years, not much progress has been made in this department of science. Anatomists and physicians have studied the brain and ignored the mind, while psychologists have studied the mind and ignored the brain. The human mind cannot, by itself, become an object of investigation; it needs the medium of an organic apparatus.

It is mind which distinguishes man from the animals and man from man. While there is not much difference between one cow or one cat from another, the difference between one man and another is vast. In man the scale extends from the lowest point of idiocy to the highest endowment of genius. On the one side you have a Newton who can solve the most abstruse of problems, and on the other a man who can scarcely grope his way through ordinary life.

The world has always recognized and paid tribute to greatness of intellect. A man is measured by what he is, and not by what he has.

"What is the difference between the brain and the mind?"

It is astonishing how many people believe the brain and mind to be synonymous and use the terms interchangeably. While the relationship between the brain and mind is intimate, there is not the slightest similarity either in appearance or function. Their composition and activities differ as widely as the radio from the ether waves. The brain is a human radio, a receiving station or instrument. The mind is analogous to the ethereal atmosphere surrounding it.

Yet another comparison. The brain is the organ of the mind just as the eye is the organ of vision, or the ear of hearing. Naturally, the perfection of seeing or hearing will be in relation to the perfection of its organ. The same analogy applies to the mind.

Thought does not originate in the brain, nor is it created by the brain. And it is the mind which remembers, not the brain cells. It is the Ego, the "I," which thinks; mind is the substance which "I" uses, and thoughts are the tools. Thoughts are transmitted to the brain from the mind, and it therefore follows that the brain influences and determines the type and quality of thoughts received.

The matrix is unalterable. We know we have the same identity we had as a child, and throughout eternity we shall be the same.

Furthermore, the brain is physical and subject to evolution. The mind is spiritual and already perfect. The brain is personal and individual. The mind is universal. These distinctions are of primary importance for a correct understanding of mind.

We shall not burden you with a description of the brain. For our purpose here, merely let us state that the brain is the term applied to that part of the central nervous system which in vertebrates is contained within the skull. The brain readily lends itself to analysis and examination; not so the mind, although some philosophers have gone so far as to say mind is a product of matter. This is another error made by those who seek a material basis for all mental phenomena.

"What is the nature of mind?" Mind is a substance similar to the ether, which is the finest form of matter known; or it can be compared to a vast field of magnetism. This substance pervades the entire universe, and all particles of matter are held together by it. The molecules of the body never touch, but remain quite a distance from each other, and are also held in place by it. There are forces of repulsion between them which prevent contact, and they move freely in this ether or mind substance.

The ability of states of matter to interpenetrate and exist within other states is one of the great secrets of Nature. Higher states come into contact with the lower, and are harmonized into one single organism. Man cannot combine the lower forces with the higher, but Nature can, and this makes living organisms.

This is also the explanation of the so-called fourth dimension, which means the ability of a higher state of matter to interpenetrate and exist within a lower state. The fourth dimension is not measured at angles, length-breadth-thickness, but proceeds directly through matter.

In reality there is no definite line of demarcation between matter, mind and spirit, as they are the same substance at different rates of vibration.

Emerson gives us the clearest and most concise description of mind.

He says:

"Mind is an ethereal sea, which ebbs and flows; which surges and washes hither and thither, carrying its whole virtue into every creek and inlet which it bathes. To this sea every human house has a water front. But this force-creating nature, visiting whom it will, withdrawing from whom it will, is no fee or property of any man or angel. It is as the light, public and entire to each, and on the same terms."

"Where is the mind located?"

There is considerable diversity of opinion on this score. Many believe that the mind is within the skull. We said previously that mind is a universal substance permeating the universe. Emerson spoke truly when he said: "No man or angel has a monopoly on it, but is equally free to all."

The sum total of mind is fixed, although, like matter and energy, many changes can take place within itself. All the knowledge that ever has been or will be in the world is in it now. Our inventions and discoveries are but reinventions, rediscoveries. Truly, there is nothing new under the sun. It is man's duty and privilege to develop his instrument, the brain, and draw unto himself whatever knowledge and power he desires.

Mind cannot be separated or divided, although in appearance it may seem so. Each individual mind is connected with universal mind. Every mind is in constant contact with all other minds and its Divine Source. That one mind is ever separate from others is pure illusion and the major cause of man's suffering. Everyone knows how contagious thoughts are and how easily communicated. All are living in this vast ocean of mind where the waves of other minds are passing on all sides.

"How is the mind connected with the body?" Practically all philosophers and thinkers have believed the activities of the mind to be in close connection with the brain. But that the brain is the sole seat of the mind is as erroneous as the belief that the mind is in the skull. There is no clearly defined spot of which we can prove that here, or there, at this place, the mind comes into relation with the cerebral organ. The mind exerts its influence through the parts of the brain, which differ according to the muscles or functions to be employed. All the parts of the brain are connected, but there is no common center through which all these activities pass.

The brain is the primary, but not the only vehicle of mind. The brain is the physical instrument without which no mental act is possible in a material world. There are no faculties so purely mental as to have no connection with the body. The primary seat of consciousness is in the brain, but there is a secondary one in the solar plexus.

Mind is dependent on the body, not for existence, but for the power of acting in the material world. Mind can function without the body, but not the body without the mind. In reality the mind functions much more actively and freely without the impediment of its physical instrument. This is demonstrated during the dream state, hypnosis, trance and astral traveling. "The mind, though intangible, is the real structure, like a field of force," says Stromberg, the famous scientist and astronomer.

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