Where Did My Mind Come From?

We've all had discussions like this: the person we are talking to, is telling us something that we think is nonsensical. A common phrase we may say, (usually out of frustration) is: "Think about it!" or "Just stop and think about what you are saying (or going to do!)" What are we asking them to do? We are asking them to use their brain, so they can be of a sober mind, when saying, or doing something.

What is the mind's relationship with the brain? The brain is a simply an organ in the body. It works the entire physical body, including all physiological responses that the organism goes through such as shivering. While the mind is the variable where things like thoughts and emotions are derived from. There is some common ground that both the mind and brain share.

1. Both your brain and your mind are 100% dependant on each other and both are indisputable. Nobody can dispute the existence of either someone's brain and mind.
2. All mental facets (e.g. thoughts, emotions, etc.) are also dependant on both the brain and the mind. The mind conceives these metaphysical realities while the brain processes them.
3. Both mental facets and the brain can be revealable.  

However there are some very big differences in the natures of these two realities of the human being.

1. When we tell someone: "use your brain!" we are asking them to use their brain to do something, namely think or be conscious about what they are saying or doing. Their brains can't be the thing they are used for anymore than a pen can be the words that it writes; we use our brains to think thoughts, but our brains are not the thoughts we think. 
2. The brain is a measurable object: It can be experienced with all 5 senses. It has a weight, length, width and a height that can be measured. It has a physical appearance that can be mimicked in art form. The mind however has no physical appearance to be duplicated in picture format and nor can it be experienced by any of our five senses. It also cannot be measured as it has no weight or dimensions.
3. Even though both the brain and someone's thoughts and emotions are revealable they are only so in their own unique ways. Our memories and the processes that we use to arrive at conclusions are private, the brain is not. A neurosurgeon can take off the top of your skull to reveal your brain; but there is no type of surgical procedure that can reveal your thoughts. Your thoughts can be discovered by you, but their discovery is likewise a private moment; but for them to become public knowledge you have to convey them. In sum thoughts have to be conveyed, they cannot be uncovered.
4. Thoughts are not only private, they are also personal. It is true that there is a lot of information that we can get from books, people and other information mediums. However our reactions to various stimuli is very personal. I could learn how most people react in a situation, but that won't negate how I will react if I was put into that situation; my response may be shared by the majority of people, and I may share the same thoughts; or my reaction and thoughts may be different; but either way my responses and thoughts are my own and nobody elses'.

So we know what the mind does, but what is it? The answer that someone derives to, rightly or wrongly, depends on their presupposition of God's existence. From a theistic worldview, the mind finds its origins in the supernatural deity. From the Christian worldview, God is all-knowing, His nature is knowledge, and we humans are made in his image, (Genesis 1:26-27). Therefore we humans, can know things, and all knowledge gives rise to thinking, as we have knowledge to think about. When we tell someone to "stop and think" we are telling them to consider what they know (or at least we assume they do or should know) and act accordingly.

From an atheistic worldview however thoughts can only be merely responses of the brain; so someone's thinking is a mere reaction to stimuli which derives from learned information - of which is itself stimuli. So your brain, causes your ears to hear the crashing sounds in your backyard at 3:00 AM, causing you to be startled awake in a cold sweat. You have only one image in your mind - a burglar. Why? Over the course of your life your brain has received stimuli (information) that burglars exist; and they exist in your city. However why doesn't your mind gravitate to a racoon, as they exist, or the neighbour's cat, as it also exists? Or why can't it be a martian invasion? The knowledge your brain was given is that cats and racoons are nothing to be a afraid of; but a man breaking into your home is; and since the information your brain received regarding martians is that they don't exist, the martian option is simply not viable. So, in sum neurones fire off in your brain causing your ears to hear the crashing sounds, which causes you to wake up; and then other physical reactions happen which develops the image of the masked burglar to appear, where? In your mind. However from an atheistic paradigm, the phrase "in your mind" is a misnomer as there is only the physical organ in your skull, your brain. Therefore the only way the atheistic worldview can interpret something like 'the mind' is to call the mental reactions of the brain, 'the mind'. This way you can have the two separate realities that work in unison: the brain and its reactions.

So, is the mind something that could be chalked up to being mere reactions to stimuli in the brain? Or is the mind a separate reality of the human being; a reality which works in unison with the brain and its functions? It would be erroneous to argue that the metaphysical and physical realities of the human being do not work together. One of the realities of the human being is we respond, intellectually to stimuli just as much as we respond physically to it.

We all have experiences; some good, some bad and some blasé. Stimuli comes at us every day and in many forms, and it affects us 100% of the time. Sometimes we recognize its affect on us immediately, while other times we recognize it sometime in the future, and with other stimuli we don't know how it has affected us, or even what the stimuli was or is. However our response to all stimuli is both intellectual and physical. This morning it was cold and wet when I woke up. My physical body was affected by the cold weather and so was my intellect. What did I do? I got dressed in long pants, shirt and a sweater. Of course my brain was given the information that to alleviate the shivers, I can cover my body with warm clothes; however, I am just as intellectually capable of resisting the temptation, and not put on a sweater. I didn't have a choice to shiver, but I did have a choice to put on, or not put on a sweater. This means my mind, isn't just mere, electrical pulses in my brain. Those electrical pulses caused the shivers and allowed me to filter through all the options that was at my disposal; but in the end it was my mind that chose, A over B and C.

So to conclude, the mind, is something that is not the brain, but which works with the brain. Where did this mind come from? It is not something physical and so it cannot have come from a physical source. Therefore it came from a metaphysical source: God; but whose God? Mine? The Muslim's? The Hindu's pantheon of gods? The worldview that best fits reality is the one whose God is the right God.