I have identified several questions in my previous blog. I will begin addressing the term “heart.” In my second book, The Boundless Love of God: A Holy Spirit Story, I wrote the following comments:

To what the word “heart” refers can be confusing. It is a word used over 1000 times in the Bible and bears clarification . . . . “Heart” refers to the center of emotional, intellectual and moral activity, of will and of reasoning. “The heart in Scripture is variously used, sometimes for the mind and understanding, sometimes for the will, sometimes for the affections, sometimes for the conscience, sometimes for the whole soul. Generally, it denotes the whole soul of man and all the faculties of it, not absolutely, but as they are all one principle of moral operations, as they all concur in our doing of good and evil.” In this cited resource are listed a large number of verses from Scripture that include this word for further reference. For the purpose of this book “heart” will refer to the soul, which includes the mind, will and emotion, and the conscience interactive with the human spirit.

I have spent close to 20 years in research, written two books and now have a website and at least 20 pages of blogs that expand on the contents of my books. One can ask, “So what?” Why have I spent so much time and energy on this task? Let me answer.

I find that many people who consider themselves Christians, and this includes pastors, cannot differentiate between the spirit and the soul and their relation to the body and fail to give full explanation to the human spirit and its relation to the Holy Spirit. Reference is made to the “heart,” but no explanation is given to what constitutes the “heart.” Yes, the Bible refers to the heart, but what IS the heart in this context? And what does it mean when it is taught that the Holy Spirit indwells the body, the “heart?” OR, did the indwelling of the Holy Spirit cease at the closure of the Canon? Does the Holy Spirit indwell repentant mankind in our time? What exactly does it mean to be indwelled by the Holy Spirit? Can we only pray TO God, or can we yet hear FROM and receive Counsel FROM God through His indwelling Holy Spirit, sent as promised by Jesus Christ upon His resurrection, as documented in the Book of Acts? And how do we hear from God, or can we only pray TO Him? Is being “spiritual” merely signified by the raising of hands in song or by other physical actions? What IS worship anyway? Is it expressed only in song and when we “feel” the “moving of the Holy Spirit,” however that is expressed in an emotion?

In a very recent communication with a dear friend I made the following statement: “My research really does not deal with consciousness but rather with the cognitive, immaterial mind/soul of humanity and how it relates to the spirit both of Man and of God in dualist interaction with the material neural synaptic networks of the brain.” But the fair question is, “So what?” So many questions! IT HAS BEEN THE PURPOSE OF MY WRITING IN MY BOOKS AND IN MY BLOGS TO ADDRESS THESE SEVERAL VERY CRITICAL QUESTIONS. We are now living in an era when science is “king,” and we must ask if there is concordance between properly conducted and interpreted science, including of course, neuroscience, and properly interpreted Scripture in context. In my next blogs I will endeavor to succinctly address these questions. It is important to the Great Commission given to all mankind by Jesus Christ. Please stand by.

An article was published on April 3, 2014 entitled “Dissociating the Neural Correlates of Experiencing and Imagining Affective Touch.” The authors are Molly V. Lucas, Laura C. Anderson, Danielle A. Bolling, Kevin A. Pelphrey and Martha D. Kaiser. The investigators shared that “both experiencing and viewing affective . . . touch recruit similar neural mechanisms.” An observation from earlier studies suggests that “some components involved in touch perception do not require physical sensation. . . .The anterior insula of the brain is involved in subjective feeling states and affective learning.” The investigators “sought to characterize . . . stimulus-independent activations, which may be coding the affective aspects of gentle [imagined] touch.” Their hypothesis was “that some aspects of brain mechanisms for processing touch may reflect stimulus-independent, cognitive-based, responses, which code for the affective response to touch. . . . While the posterior insula showed activation only during the physical experience of touch, the anterior insula was responsive to both experienced and imagined touch, suggesting that this region plays a role in the interpretation of the affective meaning of the touch.”

I propose from my studies that the mere imagining of touch in the prefrontal cortex generates specific wave forms that stimulate spike trains of action potentials transmitting neural codes with meaning through synaptic networks. The cognitive mind is the interpreter of the codes. That the anterior insula “plays a role in the interpretation of the affective meaning of the touch” is explained by the synaptic transmission of neural codes within specific regions of the brain that the cognitive mind “reads” through a lifelong process of learning archived in memory. It is important for neuroscientists to account for the activity of the cognitive mind in such interpretation.

I have come across an interesting article that is relevant to research that supports dualist interaction between the immaterial mind and the material brain. It is entitled “Neural Encoding of Actual and Imagined Touch within Human Posterior Parietal Cortex,” authored by Srinivas Chivukula et al in eLife and published on March 1, 2021 (https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.61646) I am posting excerpts from that article along with my comments:

“Recent human neuroimaging studies suggest that the PPC [posterior parietal cortex] is also recruited during touch cognition in the absence of actual tactile input (e.g., seen touch or imagined touch), supporting a notion that both higher-level touch processing and tactile cognition share a neural substrate. . . . we found that a shared PPC neuronal population coded for overt movements as well as cognitive motor variables including imagery, observed actions, and action verbs. . . . The tactile imagery task evoked body part-specific responses that shared a neural substrate with actual touch. Our results demonstrate that PPC neurons that discriminate touch are partially reactivated during a tactile imagery task in a body part-specific manner. The latter represents a novel finding . . . and suggests PPC involvement in the cognitive processing of touch. . . . Recordings were made from a chronic implanted array, and thus neuronal waveform sorting resulted in both well-isolated neuronal waveforms and multi-neuron groupings.”

The authors asked the important question, “Are neurons that encode tactile sensations also recruited during tactile imagery?” Recall the comment above, “. . . and thus neuronal waveform sorting resulted in both well-isolated neuronal waveforms . . . .” Previous blog posts have identified the compelling possibility that the cognitive mind has the capacity to generate waveforms that interact with neural synaptic networks to transmit specified information through neural networks in the form of linguistic neural codes within spike trains of action potentials. It is important to note that “. . . during the imagery task, no stimulus was delivered to the participant.“

In previous blogs and as discussed in my books a nonclassical, immaterial energy generated by the immaterial mind may interact with material neural networks as waveforms with amplitude and frequency that are transmitted through neural synapses by quantum tunneling. Are we getting closer to at least a partial understanding of how the Mind of God communes with the mind of Man?

Researchers from The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published an article in 2020 that addresses information flow through the brain. The title is “Preservation and Changes in Oscillatory Dynamics across the Cortical Hierarchy.” and the authors are Mikael Lundqvist, Andre M. Bastos and Earl K. Miller. An excellent review of the article appeared in Science Daily on September 8, 2020 to which I now refer. To produce … thoughts and actions, [the] brain processes information in a hierarchy of regions along its surface, or cortex. … many studies have looked at how synchronized the phases of a particular frequency are between cortical regions. … [The authors found] a systematic shift in preferred frequencies across regions. [In their animal studies three regions were studied, the visual cortex, the parietal cortex and the prefrontal cortex, and the animals were given the task of correctly identifying an image they had just seen. The authors tracked the waves produced by this activity in the three regions.] In each region they found that when an image was either being encoded (when it was first presented) or recalled (when working memory was tested), the power of theta and gamma frequency bands of brain waves would increase in bursts and power in alpha and beta bands would decrease. When the information had to be held in mind, … theta and gamma power went down and alpha and beta power went up in bursts. … the bursts of theta and gamma power were closely associated with neural spikes that encoded information about the images. Alpha and beta power bursts … were anti-correlated with that same spiking activity. … As you move from the back of the brain to the front, all the frequencies get a little higher. … the inverse relationships between frequency bands … are consistent with a model in which alpha and beta alternatively inhibit, or release, gamma to control the encoding of information - a form of top-down control of sensory activity. … The increased frequency in the oscillatory rhythms may help sculpt information flow in the cortex.”

I cite this article because it shows how brain waves in different frequencies work in synchrony to provide the flow of information through different regions of the brain. As I stated in “Waves in Our Brains,” Part Two, energy in wave forms is transmitted through the brain’s synaptic networks linguistically encoded to convey semantic information, and this article elaborates on that point. My objective is to identify work that supports dualist interaction between the immaterial mind and the material neural networks of the brain involving wave forms generated by the intention or attention of the immaterial mind.

I am continuing my research into dualist interactionism as it applies to communion between the immaterial mind of Man and the Mind of God and the material neural synaptic networks of the human brain. As I come across scientific articles that are relevant to the interaction I will provide summaries in my blogs. But, the search for such articles will be difficult since materialist reductionism still dominates the perspectives of many published neuroscientists. For those who are following my blogs I first thank you and second ask for your patience. I am careful in my selections and summaries of them and require that they can reflect concordance between the neuroscience discussed and Scripture. sola Scriptura applies.

It is important to explain the relationship between the mind and the soul. In my writings I have defined the soul as consisting of the mind, the will and the emotion expressed by the living human being. Yes, there are “soulish” animals, such as dogs and horses. If you have ever ridden a horse (as I have on many occasions over 35 plus years) you have been exposed to its emotions and its will, such as when it has tried to rub you off its back against a fence or beneath a low limb! It is with its mind that it expresses its will or intention to get you off of its back! But, to the best of our theological knowledge “soulish” animals have no spirit, as does Man, and it is not known if “soulish” animals have immortal souls. But how about Man? Is the soul of Man immortal? Scripturally we have reason to believe that indeed the soul of Man IS immortal, as is his spirit.

Michael Egnor wrote an article on January 31, 2021 that speaks to this issue. It appeared in “Mind Matters.” (https://mindmatters.ai/2021/01/your-soul-has-no-off-switch/) Egnor states that “Man has a soul, and the mind is several powers of the soul - sensation, perception, sensus communis, imagination, memory, sensitive appetite, reason, and will.” He continues saying, “But there is no evidence - either philosophical or scientific - that the mind or the soul (of which the mind is an aspect) has an “on switch” or an “off switch.” The most reasonable scientific inference is that we are never “unconscious,” nor are we “conscious” in any meaningful sense. Our mental life is a composite of abilities - arousal, sensation, perception, locomotion, reason, etc., and these abilities appear to subsist in modified form despite dramatic changes in the body and brain….Even after death, we often seem to retain awareness that can be verified, and even have heightened awareness, as the massive literature on near death experiences demonstrates….Our minds are never off; we just have states in which one or more powers of the mind - sensation or perception or memory etc. - are temporarily inactive….Most egregiously, the concept of “consciousness” perpetuates the lie that we are extinguished at death. There is every reason - philosophical and scientific - to infer that man has an immortal soul.” Our mind is an immortal reality.

Throughout my writings I have referred to quantum wave functions and to wave forms that vary in frequency, amplitude and shape. In “Waves in Our Brains,” Part Two (to which I referred in a very recent blog on March 1, 2021) I have shared that wave forms now appear to be generated by the immaterial mind of Man (and by the Mind of God, I would add) that transmit specified information to and through neural synaptic networks. The term wave function consists of all the information wave forms can assume in a probabilistic manner. W. A. Dembski has referred to the “small probabilities” that describe the specification of information that can be transmitted between a sender and recipient. Wave forms, if you will, are expressions of “small probabilities” by which wave functions can be specifically manifested, for example within linguistic neural codes.

But are quantum wave functions real? Colbeck and Renner have addressed this question and have found that they are elements of reality in a one-to-one correspondence. (https://cqi.inf.usi.ch/qic/ColbeckRenner2012_2.pdf) The authors maintain that the wave function corresponds to an element of reality that objectively exists, and it does not depend on whether it is measured or not. Colbeck and Renner’s claim is that “…the wave function includes all information that is in principle available about the system….” So we can justifiably assume that wave forms correspond to specified elements of reality.

My research and writing have emphasized the reality in our time of the indwelling by the Holy Spirit in people who are in repentance and desire to live Christ-like by the Counsel of the Holy Spirit. It is a reality that was made possible by the sin sacrifice of Jesus Christ by God’s grace and boundless love for Man with whom He wants a dualist interactive relationship restored, lost at the Fall of Adam. It has been my goal to identify a compelling explanation for the “how” of this relationship drawing upon current neuroscience in concordance with Scripture.

I recommend the ministry of Joyce Meyer who bases her teaching points on Scripture and a personal experience with the indwelling Holy Spirit. Though she does not explain the “how” of the interaction, she speaks clearly how Counsel by the Holy Spirit is manifested in a person’s life.

I have referred to my blog, “Waves in Our Brains,” Part Two, several times since it was posted on October 3, 2020. I invite your review of it to refresh your understanding of dualist interactionism between the immaterial mind and the material synaptic networks of the human brain. In that blog I referenced an important and exciting study that provides compelling confirmation of this interaction. I am copying the work of the authors of that study here that I summarized in that blog. It will serve as the basis for my subsequent blogs that will expand on their findings. My research continues investigating how the mind exerts an energy expressed as wave forms that transmit information through synaptic networks of the brain within linguistic neural codes.

THE NEURAL CODES OF OVERT AND COVERT SPEECH

THROUGH PART TWO OF THIS BLOG REFERENCES HAVE BEEN MADE TO COGNITION, ATTENTION AND INTENT, AND WE HAVE SEEN THAT WAVES ARE TRANSMITTED INTRINSICALLY THROUGH NEURAL NETWORKS TO BRING ABOUT SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS SUCH AS TO MOVE AN EXTREMITY.  WHAT IS LEFT IS TO ADDRESS THE QUESTION RAISED ABOVE, HOW DOES THE IMMATERIAL MIND RELATE TO THESE PROCESSES IN A DUALIST INTERACTION?  DOES THE HUMAN MIND GENERATE WAVES EXTRINSIC TO THE BRAIN ITSELF THAT CAN ACT CAUSALLY ON IT?  STEPHANIE MARTIN AND EIGHT COWORKERS PUBLISHED AN ARTICLE IN FRONTIERS IN NEUROENGINEERING THAT ADDRESSES THIS QUESTION WITH EXCITING FINDINGS. (17)  I CONCLUDE THIS BLOG WITH A DISCUSSION OF THEIR FINDINGS.

THE MODEL USED WAS ECOG IN SEVEN EPILEPTIC PATIENTS WHO PERFORMED AN OUT LOUD AND SILENT READING TASK.  SUBJECTS READ SHORT STORIES THAT WERE PRESENTED TO THEM BOTH ALOUD AND SILENTLY.  A HIGH GAMMA (70-150 HZ) NEURAL DECODING MODEL WAS BUILT “TO RECONSTRUCT SPECTROTEMPORAL AUDITORY FEATURES OF SELF-GENERATED OVERT SPEECH.”  THE DECODING MODEL TRAINED FROM OVERT, SPOKEN SPEECH WAS USED TO DECODE THE NEURAL ACTIVITY OF COVERT, SILENTLY READ SPEECH (WHICH DID NOT INVOLVE AUDITORY SENSORY INPUT, ONLY INPUT FROM MENTATION!). SPECTROGRAMS WERE GENERATED IN CONTROLS AND IN SUBJECTS WHO USED OVERT AND COVERT SPEECH TO RECONSTRUCT NEURAL RESPONSES WITH A HIGH STATISTICAL ACCURACY.  EVIDENCE WAS PROVIDED THAT SHOWED THAT REPRESENTATIONS OF OVERT AND COVERT SPEECH COULD BE RECONSTRUCTED SHARING A NEURAL SUBSTRATE.  IN OTHER WORDS, OUT LOUD SPEECH AND READ TEXT COULD BE RECONSTRUCTED IN NEURAL NETWORKS MONITORED VIA ECOG.  NO WIRES CONNECTED THE TEST SUBJECTS TO THE CORTICAL MONITORS, INDICATING THAT THE CEREBRAL NETWORK RESPONDED TO WAVES GENERATED BY THE MIND OF THE TEST SUBJECTS.  THE HIGH GAMMA BAND RELIABLY TRACKED NEURONAL ACTIVITY AND CORRELATED WITH THE SPIKE RATE OF THE UNDERLYING NEURAL POPULATION.  THE KEY TEST OF RECONSTRUCTIVE ACCURACY, ACCORDING TO THE AUTHORS, WAS THE ABILITY TO USE THE RECONSTRUCTION TO IDENTIFY SPECIFIC SPEECH UTTERANCES.  THIS WAS POSSIBLE ESPECIALLY FOR OVERT SPEECH.