I now return to posting blogs that address findings from the neurosciences that give compelling support to dualist interaction between the immaterial mind and the material synaptic networks that are involved in cognition.

My first post addresses the findings of O’Craven and Kanwisher reported in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 12:6, (2000) pp. 1013-1023. The authors refer to the “mind’s eye” of mental imagery that engages many of the same cognitive and neural mechanisms involved in visual perception of physical stimuli. Cortical regions selectively involved in the visual processing of a material object physically present show similar selectivity during mental imagery in the absence of a material stimulus. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) responses in the brain were robust to the extent that a single mental event could be determined with high accuracy in the inspection of raw fMRI data. Their “data are the first to show that the content of a single thought can be inferred from its fMRI signature alone.” I conclude with the authors’ statement, “The present study takes the final step . . . by showing that content-specific neural activity in . . . visual cortex can be created by a pure act of will even when no visual stimulus is present at all.”

The stimulus, whether real or imagined, could have generated wave forms actualized with specification within neural codes transmitting information through synaptic networks interpreted as to meaning by the cognitive mind of the subject.

Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. But some of them said, “By Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.” Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven. Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall.” (Luke 11: 14-17)

I conclude posting verses from Scripture (NIV) that reveal the immaterial communion between Jesus and individuals and the indwelling of the mind/soul by the Holy Spirit with its power to commune with the saints. As has been emphasized in my writings, the indwelling of those in repentance continues to this day. It is a bidirectional dual interaction that is beginning to be understood in the neurosciences.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand. (Luke 6: 7-8)

Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.” Jesus turned and saw her, “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment. (Matthew 9: 20-22)

And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. “Who touched me,” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” (Luke 8: 43-48)

We see evidence of an immaterial communion in these passages between the woman and Jesus, a power that flowed from Jesus to the woman. In my writings am I beginning to give description to that . . . power . . . manifested in our space-time?

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. (1 John 4:12-16)

Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us. We know it by the Spirit he gave us. (1 John 3:24)

Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:20-21)

My next post is from 1 Corinthians 12-16:

We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

I will be posting verses that are drawn from Scripture (NIV) and reflect the immaterial communion between Jesus Christ and people in his time. As noted in my writings perhaps we are beginning to come to at least a partial understanding of this kind of communion between human minds and the Mind of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. I begin with Romans 5:5.

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.