"Bio-mind: Mind over matter. A theory about existence."
By John McGondel

Life is Death and Death is Life. Life is Pain, Death is Not.

The concept of pain is not understood by most people. One must confront pain when pain is present, for only by this confrontation can one conquer pain. To be exposed to pain should lead to enlightenment, and only after achieving this enlightenment, can one rid our minds of the fear of pain, which enables us to confront the reality of our mortality, as individuals.

The conquering of pain is controlled by the mind, as the mind is trained by repeated exposure of the physical body to pain. It is not necessary to employ the wide range of substances that are available for pain relief, because they interfere with the harmony of the natural self, and therefore serve to weaken the spirit. It is the mind that one must exercise in order to allow it to accomplish the freeing of the flesh from pain.

This can only be accomplished by the serious and sincere desire to win the battle with pain, and the only way in which to measure one's progress is to experience pain. Many people use Zen, as a way of pain-control, and this is an admirable feat. However, it is not necessary to study the Zen philosophy, which is a useful tool but which is in reality an elaboration of a far-simpler process.

To conquer pain one must realize that the pain must be ignored, and the educating of the brain to not recognize the pain must be practiced. For those whom have not mastered this art, there must first be an understanding that the mind already has the ability to control our pain, and that training which is necessary for one to do, is the learning of how to allow the mind to perform the task.  The next concept that must be clearly understood is that the brain, body, and mind are distinct from each other. The brain and body are physically present in their organic forms. They can be seen, felt, and observed in a scientific way, whereas the mind cannot. Except in the case of physiological abnormalities, the brain has no direct influence on the mind. But, the brain does control the body, of which it is a part. Even while we sleep, the brain monitors and regulates our respiratory system, heartbeat, and muscle tension. And while conscious, the brain sends out natural chemicals, endorphins (which are similar to opiates), in response to serious trauma such as limb-loss, severe burns, etc. This is an automatic, reflexive brain response, and involves pain blocking and suppression.

The mind can control the brain, which can result in the using of the mind to order the brain to refuse to acknowledge the fact that pain exists. This is not automatic, such as in the previous examples, as it requires a very conscious effort on our part. Anyone can do this, and a lot of people actually do it without being aware that they are 'willing' a source of unpleasantness to go away. A simple example of this is a mother's ability to hear a cranky baby's constant screaming. They have mastered the art of 'tuning out' the source of irritation, while still remaining cognizant of the baby's welfare.

Many of us are able to be within arm's reach of a talking person while not hearing a word they say. This commonly happens with spouses and teachers, and is the proof that the mind can issue commands to the brain. Since the brain is the judge, jury, and executioner of the central nervous system, it can act to block pain (which, again, is different than the automatic, unconscious releasing of pain-killing chemicals). Thus we have a starting point for our training of the mind to over-rule the brain's instinctual and reflexive acknowledgement of the body's pain signals.

This is very different from the act of self-immolation practiced by some Hindus and Buddhists, since they remain in a fixed position until they die. The main difference is that upon mastering the art of 'mind over matter', we can perform our daily functions while not allowing the pain to cause us distraction. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.

The process of achieving this goal can vary greatly from person to person. Some progress faster than others, but all are capable of releasing this captive, caged power, often within a few to several weeks of concentration. An excellent shortcut is the use of biofeedback recognition and subsequent control thereof.

At this point, it is a matter of self-discipline and repetition, which means that it is really only a question of the time frame in which one wishes to master this art form.

While the object is the conscious manipulation of the pain signals, the lateral benefits can also be most welcome. One of these is a sense of serenity and oneness with nature, which can lead to a better quality of life, as well as an increased level of productivity and satisfaction with scholarly pursuits and work-oriented endeavors.

The next stage is much harder, as it involves the using of the mind to control emotional and psychological pain. In effect it is the mastering of the art of training one's mind to heal itself. Many psychiatrists do not favor this concept, which is understandable since it would decrease the need for psychiatrists.

Psycho-emotional pain can often be far more devastating than physiological pain; however again as with physiological pain, it can be conquered if there are no physiological brain abnormalities present. There are several, in fact many psycho-emotional types of pain, such as those originating from divorce, rejection, post-traumatically induced stress, phobias, manias and the death of a loved one. These are very different pains, involving different time-frames for conquering and the last one, death of a loved one, brings us back to one of the opening statements, the dealing with the pain of confronting our own mortality.

This type of pain and extreme anxiety is typically present in everyone, and mankind has developed several ways of coping with it. One of the most common ways is the use of religion, which works best when one is exposed to a dogmatic principle from a very early age on. However one can also see that it is never too late for it to become a powerful source of tranquilization, especially for the severely troubled. An example of this is what I refer to as “The Faith Shield.” The faith shield is a tool that ministers, pastors and the like employ to quickly ease the emotional distress and extreme psychological anxieties that all too often comes to those whom have suffered a recent, profound and devastatingly ultimate shock to their inner self: The certainty that they are indeed going to die. And the fear that there is nothing beyond death.

Once a person is emotionally stripped raw and feels exposed and vulnerable and terrified, the process of rebuilding that person’s shattered ego must begin as quickly as is possible, before a full sensory overload and subsequent nervous collapse occurs. At this critical point in time, the person is the most suggestible and that is how cults ensnare them. The thought of an instant ego-massage and the feelings aroused by the appearance of a warm, safe and fuzzy emotional blanket counteract the effects of the initial traumatic event, which instantly establishes a new dogmatic principle to replace the previous one. An instant born again Christian, or an instant Moonie, or an instant Mansonite (or Mensanite?), all too eager and willing to go out and do anything which they are told is necessary, in order to keep the bad thoughts away. This again is a validation of the theory that the mind, in one way or another can cope with the ultimate pain and terror.

Another way is to withdraw into a trance-like state of consciousness and block out the emotional pain. This approach is a much more cognitive one and does not cause any radical changes in lifestyles or philosophy. But it does have the drawback of disallowing one to continue functioning in a consistent manner with everyday tasks.

This then brings us to the real thing, the ability to order our mind to control our brain and thereby stop the brain from over-reacting with chemical releases. To allow the brain to carefully release only the exact smallest dose which is necessary to do the job. But even more advanced than that is when one allows the brain to analyze itself, identify the existing source of discomfort, and use itself to correct the problem. This is sort of like having a flat tire fix itself. Well these days there do exist tires that are built to do just that very thing. Just as we are built to be able to do that very thing.

The way to tell if one can do this is to put oneself in a position designed to cause instant and intense psychological stress, and then to try to deal with it effectively and without external help. Wartime soldiers do this quite frequently, although no small amount of them crack under the strain of trying to cope with what they would have, before their soldiering days, referred to as being an insane situation.

So it has hopefully been established that both physiological and psycho-emotional pain can be controlled by the mind, which controls the brain, which controls the body. Again, that was because, where the brain is a reactive agent, the mind is the active, cognitive agent in charge of the reactive brain.

Thus then it is one’s mind that is the great conqueror of pain and fear. And since the thought of death is mankind’s most primal, bone-chilling fear, then it stands to reason that by "conquering the fear of death, one experiences (sic) the death of fear" (G. Gordon Liddy). And the highest consciousness that a man can achieve is the evolving beyond the recognition of any form of fear, the refusal to acknowledge that fear has any power over him, and that in fact, fear does not exist, and never really did.

Which brings us back to the mind, and its severability from the organic brain. How can the mind exist without an organic host? The obvious answer would be that the mind is a form of energy, call it psychic energy. It simply. . .is. As with other forms of energy of which we are aware, energy changes, but does not simply vanish. So, when the physical body ceases to function as a living organism, the psychic energy does not simply disappear. It merely changes its locus. Most minds are very closely, and monogamously, tied to the physical brain to in which they primarily operate. Most. But not all, for there are too many examples of minds connecting with other minds, vis a vis, concepts such as telepathy. These minds for whatever reason, do not stay bound to their host brains, but venture out into areas where they communicate with other minds. This is often quite confusing for the host brain, which is trying to fit the experience into one of its known pigeonholes of reference. Other brains are able to deal with the concept and the experience, and go along willingly and eagerly with it. The owners of such brains are held out to be frauds, and the majority of society is quick to label them as cheats, liars, or mentally disturbed.

Which may mean that, currently, some of our most attenuated minds are either living as isolated hermits, have become socially autistic, are in asylums, or have suicided.

But sad as that may be, their psychic energies have not simply dissipated, and eventually even their minds' energies will be freed from their host organic brain.

So where does the psychic energy, once released, go to? That is the million-dollar question. The answer could account for reincarnation. Or the concept of angels. Or ghosts. Or heaven. Or karma. Or hell. Or séances. Whatever the real answer is, it seems certain to me that when we die, it is only our fleshly body which goes away. Our minds, through their psychic energies, continue on to some other level and location, both of which are probably beyond our consciousness' ability to comprehend.

That release, is for most of us terrifying, yet for all of us, I am sure, will be exhilaratingly beautiful.

When the mind is allowed to expand to this point, the point at which fear is non-existent, then and only then can it begin to understand the ALL, and proceed to the next, higher forms of consciousness and an ultimate awareness of the true nature of this Universe . . .