I was sitting out on my back porch the other night while my little dog was outside for his evening sniffs of the yard, when an image about the nature of the brain and thought became perfectly clear. I was sitting at my table looking at my oil lamp burning on the table--yes, you read it correctly, my oil lamp--and it struck me that the lamp was an almost perfect metaphor for how we think, for the relationship between the brain, "mind," and our thoughts. Its an even better metaphor than the one I used in my book.
The lamp itself-the body and the wick-represents the brain. Alone, it has the potential, but only the potential, to produce light. It is not, obviously, the light itself. The brain has the potential to produce thought, but it is not thought itself. Unless the lamp is filled with oil and lit, it does nothing but sit there. Unless the brain is fed nutrients to keep it alive and functioning, it does nothing. It takes some kind of stimulus to make it active as well. The brain is an object that could be used to produce thought, in the same way that the lamp is an object that could be used to produce light.
There are several factors that will determine the quality of the lamp, and thus of the light it produces. Is the lamp itself built correctly with the proper size opening? Is the wick of the right material? Is the oil the best oil for that lamp? We can ask the same questions about the brain. Did it grow properly, or is it sick or injured? Does it get the proper nourishment? We know that without the proper nutrition the brain will not function properly, If all of these questions are answered affirmatively, we will get a good light from the lamp, and clear thoughts from the brain.
The light itself produced by the lamp is analogous to the thoughts produced by the brain. As long as the lamp is working, as long as the wick remains and there is oil, the lamp will produce the flame, and hence the light. When the wick is burned, or the oil runs out, the lamp goes out, and darkness returns. When the brain cells die, the thoughts die with them. Yes, the light that was produced continues on, as do our thoughts in the minds of those to whom they were shared. But the light dissipates, eventually, and the memories die out as well.
Notice that we do not even need an analogy for the entity we call "mind."
