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mcchen's picture

Reflecting on the semester

 In the beginning of the semester, I was definitely leaning towards the Descartes story more than the Dickinson one.  I felt that the Descartes story was more comforting in that we had two different entities the body and the mind which worked together to create the world we live in.  As of now, I am leaning towards the Dickinson story but I'm not yet ready to let go of the Descartes one.  Throughout this semester, most of what we have learned is a construction of the mind, color is a construction of the mind, and how we interpret what we see is a construction of the mind.  Our memories and stories we utilize on a daily basis are all constructions of the mind.  Even through all we have learned about the construction of the mind a part of me still wants to believe that there are somethings out of my control and not within the scope of being a construction of my mind.  

This class definitely made me keep an open mind about how we perceive things.  While I have not fully accepted that everything is a construction of the mind I am open to more observations that prove it is so.  I have learned that the key is to be skeptical, and to question everything in order to learn and to learn from others.  I think it is important for others to be aware of the I-function and how we think about consciousness.  There is such a fine line between being conscious and unconscious about the world around us.

Three questions involving the brain and behavior that I would like to pursue are:

1. Are there any ways we can potentially increase our consciousness? such as being able to be more aware of the world than we are now?

2. Will there ever be a non-pharmacological treatment for psychological disorders that will work on everyone?

3. Can physical health be any indication of mental health?

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