The three minds: A framework beyond biopsychosocial medicine
Anoop Kumar, MD, MMgt
Anoop Kumar, MD, MMgt
Quote:In the First Mind configuration, the mind is felt to be localized in or near the head or body of the individual. The mind is felt to be a subtle, internal, subjective phenomenon, in comparison to the more solid, palpable feel of the body and surrounding objects in the external, apparently objective environment. Here, mind and matter feel, and therefore are imagined to be, fundamentally different. Most essentially, the First Mind is characterized by boundedness (‘me’ in here and ‘world’ out there), and as a result, dichotomy. This First Mind is the most popular mental configuration, and therefore the most popular worldview today. It is the lens through which popular culture, politics, science, and healthcare operates...
Quote:...As the boundary of the First Mind begins to dissolve, the sense of identity starts to de-localize and the apparent boundary defining all objects is seen through. A different experience of self and world becomes apparent. This (de-)localizing identity which can neither be said to be within the body nor without the body (because both are body-boundary-dependent) is the Second Mind...
Quote:...The Third Mind is the undifferentiated potential state of the world, prior to interpretation as discrete experiences across any subject-object interface. Therefore, the Third Mind can also be referred to as no mind, since in the absence of difference all concepts fail....
'Historically, we may regard materialism as a system of dogma set up to combat orthodox dogma...Accordingly we find that, as ancient orthodoxies disintegrate, materialism more and more gives way to scepticism.'
- Bertrand Russell
- Bertrand Russell