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Hence it follows that the human mind is part of the infinite intellect of God; thus when we may say, that the human mind perceives this or that, we make the assertion that God has this or that idea, not in so far as he is infinite, but in so far as he is displayed through the nature of the human mind, or in so far as he constitutes the essence of the human mind, but also in so far as he, simultaneously with the human mind, has the further idea of another thing, we assert that the human mind perceives a thing in part or inadequately. Baruch Spinoza, Ethics, 1677
Another source of conviction in the existence of God, connected with the reason and not with the feelings, impresses me as having much more weight. This follows from the extreme difficulty or rather impossibility of conceiving this immense and wonderful universe, including man with his capacity of looking far backwards and far into futurity, as the result of blind chance or necessity. When thus reflecting I feel compelled to look to a First Cause having an intelligent mind in some degree analogous to that of man; and I deserve to be called a Theist.
This conclusion was strong in my mind about the time, as far as I can remember, when I wrote the Origin of Species; and it is since that time that it has very gradually with many fluctuations become weaker. But then arises the doubt – can the mind of man, which has, as I fully believe, been developed from a mind as low as that possessed by the lowest animal, be trusted when it draws such grand conclusions? May not these be the result of the connection between cause and effect which strikes us as a necessary one, but probably depends merely on inherited experience? Nor must we overlook the probability of the constant inculcation in a belief in God on the minds of children producing so strong and perhaps an inherited effect on their brains not yet fully developed, that it would be as difficult for them to throw off their belief in God, as for a monkey to throw off its instinctive fear and hatred of a snake. Charles Darwin, Autobiography: Religious Belief
The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong. Carl Jung
The best minds will tell you that when a man has begotten a child he is morally bound to tenderly care for it, protect it from hurt, shield it from disease, clothe it, feed it, bear with its waywardness, lay no hand upon it save in kindness and for its own good, and never in any case inflict upon it a wanton cruelty. God’s treatment of his earthly children, every day and every night, is the exact opposite of all that, yet those best minds warmly justify these crimes, condone them, excuse them, and indignantly refuse to regard them as crimes at all, when he commits them. Your country and mine is an interesting one, but there is nothing there that is half so interesting as the human mind. Mark Twain, Letter from the Earth
When I am king they shall not have bread and shelter only, but also teachings out of books, for a full belly is little worth where the mind is starved. Mark Twain, The Prince and the Pauper
Religion is nothing more than manipulation of the human mind. Jordan Maxwell, lecture The Illuminati
A close-mindedness that amounts to an imprisonment so total that the prisoner doesn’t even know he’s locked up. David Foster Wallace
It’s been suspected for a long time that the effectiveness of medical treatment depends partly on the patient’s faith in it. This power of belief – the Placebo Effect – offers hope that the mind can heal the body or at least reduce pain. The Mind Machine: Pain and Healing, 1988
The deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence. Thomas Huxley
Obviously what we believe is affected by our upbringing. But that doesn’t mean we can’t change our minds. We all have the right to see the evidence and re-evaluate our beliefs. Richard Dawkins, The Genius of Charles Darwin part III, Channel 4 2008
The reverse baseball cap has spread like chicken pox first in America and then here. A mind epidemic, a kind of virus of the mind. Richard Dawkins, lecture 5, ‘The Genesis of Purpose’
The dull mind rises to truth through that which is material. Abbot Suger
A happy life consists in tranquillity of mind. Cicero, 100 B.C.–43 B.C.
The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind. William James
For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable – what then? George Orwell, 1984
Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. ibid.
His was not a small mind bothered by logic and consistency. Robert A Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land
He had a better mind and a more rigorous temperament than me; he thought logically, and then acted on the conclusion of logical thought. Whereas most of us, I suspect, do the opposite: we make an instinctive decision, then build up an infrastructure of reasoning to justify it. And call the result common sense. Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending
Great minds think alike. Early 17th century proverb
There is no such thing as a Scientific Mind. Scientists are people of very dissimilar temperaments doing different things in very different ways. Among scientists are collectors, classifiers and compulsive tidiers-up; many are detectives by temperament and many are explorers; some are artists and others artisans. There are poet-scientists and philosopher-scientists and even a few mystics. What sort of mind or temperament can all these people be supposed to have in common? Obligative scientists must be very rare, and most people who are in fact scientists could easily have been something else instead. Peter Medawar, Times Literary Supplement 25th October 1963, ‘Hypothesis and Imagination’
How glorious, then, appears the mind of man,
When in it all the stars, and planets, roll.
And what it seems, it is: great objects make
Great minds. Edward Young, Night Thoughts, 1742-5
The cause of Full Moon Fever here on Earth may be even harder to diagnose. What impact if any does the Full Moon have on our bodies and our minds? The Universe s2e3: Mysteries of the Moon, History 2007
There is a moment in the near future that scientists believe will transform the notion of what it is to be human. By conducting some of the most controversial experiments, scientists are unlocking the secrets of the human brain, moving us towards the moment when it will be possible to store our minds in machines. Then we will be able to change what we are and who we are. Horizon: Human v2.0, BBC 2006
We like to believe we are in control of everything we think and everything we do. But scientists are discovering that at every moment of our lives an unseen presence is guiding us all. Now, they are exploring the world of your unconscious mind. Horizon: Out of Control? BBC 2012
There’s more going on than you can consciously take in. ibid.
Your unconscious is often in control. ibid.
A rose-tinted and inaccurate view of the world. ibid.
Your unconscious mind will re-wire itself to share the load. ibid.
The sophisticated centre of everything we ever do. ibid.