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     So, when it comes down to it, I think Emily Dickinson was crazy. I am not at all in implying that Decartes was right, and found truth, because as we addressed in class, and as I believe, science isn’t about truth  (or even being right). But, if you  ask me, DeCartes was on to something. Without getting too philosophical (and all scientific proof aside), I think that there is a mind. But, the mind and the nervous  system are not mutually exclusive. I  would like to think that there is free will and that I possess the capacity for individual thought.  But the ability to choose does not come from some outside influence—I think it has everything to do with the brain. Maybe the brain has the capacity to serve as both material and “spiritual,” although I hesitate  to use that terminology.

            Dickinson was right—the brain’s capacity, like the sea, is infinite, and I am a strong believer in that. But, the idea that you, and I, and  everything I can  see right now is somehow only present because I perceive it is a crock.  I think these things exist, with or without me, in my reality and in yours. But, I believe my presence allows  me to perceive it my way. It just reminded me so strongly of that old conundrum: If a tree falls in the forest… you know the rest.  Though there is no way to  prove it, because there  are in fact no witnesses, I am inclined to say that if while I am present a tree makes a sound, and makes one every time as I am present, then my summary of these observations is that when a tree falls, it makes a  sound.  Whether or not I am present is irrelevant, and I see no reason to doubt it. So why should “reality” be any different. Time and time again, I see you (in a very uncreepy way) and others see you, and you see you. You are acknowledged; you exist. My  summary of these observations: you exist; even if I wasn’t present, you would still exist—maybe not as my friend, or my classmate, or whatever you are to me (my perception of  you), but you still exist.

            And this brings me back to my first point/contemplation: perception is most definitely a working of the brain.  Specific cells are involved in the process, and all we  see and hear and do is perceived by us through this process. And, how  I perceive  a certain situation influences a choice I make about that situation, choosing being a function of the mind. So, the “mind” cannot exist without the brain, and  the two are most definitely overlapping—can  I say—functions of the same system.